This week's most interesting rabbit hole was the question from David on WikiTree asking "Is it still possible to locate the Martin Carringer farm?"
I did a lot of research on Martin Carringer (1758-1835) in my first 20 years of doing genealogy (up to about 2008). He is my 4th great-grandfather. My mother was born a Carringer. Other researchers have done some excellent research also on Martin's life, descendants and ancestry. I visited this area on my 2004 vacation, and did some research in the Mercer County Historical Society but I did not stop to find the farmhouse or burial ground.
I wrote a genealogy sketch for Martin in 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 81: #96 Martin Carringer (1758-1835) back in 2015. It includes information about his military service, receiving 200 acres of Donation land in what is now Perry Township in Mercer County, his transcribed will, and much more information. However, the sketch did not include much information about his farm in Perry Township, Mercer County, Pennsylvania.
Between 1988 and 2008, I collected as much information as I could find about Martin, including published books, and plat maps of the location of his land. Here is the map of the Donation Lands for Perry Township:
Martin's land is in Warrant No. 941, and is in the 3rd column and 6th row of the map above:
Note that the map says "Martin Garringer."
Two other maps in published works show the approximate area where Martin's farm was located. The 1860 plat map of Perry Township is:
The location of four Carringer names are on this map (below the large E in PERRY, with Warrant No. 941):
The roads on the map above are Fredonia-Hadley Road, coming south to the cross road, which is also Fredonia-Hadley Road which turns west and then south. The diagonal road is Wolfe Road. The road to the west opposite the G. Carringer house is Shay Road.
According to my research, the four persons noted in 1860 are:
* G[eorge] Carringer (1795-1876, a son of Martin) on the east side of the north-south portion of Fredonia-Hadley Road opposite the intersection with Shay Road. * probably Cornelius A. Carringer (1834-1916, a son of Henry, and grandson of Martin) on the south side of the east-west portion of Fredonia-Hadley Road about half way to the intersection with Wolf Road * Jos[eph] Carringer (1805-1869, a son of Martin) on the north side of the east-west portion of Fredonia Road * H[enry] Carringer (1800-1879, a son of Martin, my ancestor) on the northeast side of Wolfe Road.
In his will Martin Carringer bequeathed to his son Henry 150 acres "...laid off the east end of the plantation..." and bequeathed to his son George " ...the residue of the aforesaid plantation..."
The 1873 plat map of Perry Township is:
The view of the area of interest is:
The only Carringer on this 1873 map in this area is G. Carringer opposite the end of Shay Road. Two of the sons of Martin - Joseph Carringer (1805-1869) Henry Carringer (1800-1879) - moved to Iowa after 1860. Cornelius A. Carringer moved to Crawford County, Pennsylvania before 1870.
On a current Google Map, this area looks like this (in satellite view):
There are buildings on this map, and it is not possible to determine how modern they are. The George Carringer property on the 1860 and 1873 plat maps is opposite the end of Shay Road. There are also buildings in the area where C. Carringer and H. Carringer resided in 1860. I think that there is not a building where the Jos. Carringer land in 1860 was located.
I am certain that the Martin Carringer farm was near the location of the G. Carringer farm in 1860 and 1873. I don't know if the original farm house is still on the land - my guess is that it is not.
Martin is buried in Kelso Cemetery (south of Wolfe Road, 0.2 miles east of Fredonia-Hadley Road), along with his wife, his grandson Henry killed in the Civil War, and Henry's first wife, Sarah. but it is on private farm property and searchers need to ask permission to go there. It may be located on the land of the house intersection of Wolfe Road with Fredonia-Hadley Road in the Google map above.
I emailed the above information to my correspondent, David. He is my 4th cousin once removed with Martin Carringer as the common ancestor.
This was a fun rabbit hole to explore because most of the data was on paper that I collected between 1988 and 2008. I have digitized the maps and some of the supporting data for Martin Carringer. I love using maps to do my research!
It's time for some carrots to keep up my energy levels!
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