Genealogy Jottings

My Carter ancestors, Mary (Templeton) and John Carter, were born in Tennessee and settled in Kentucky after the War of 1812. The family migrated to Coles County, Illinois from Wayne County, Kentucky to become original pioneers in 1830. They remained in Illinois where John died in 1841 and Mary in 1857. Both are buried, side by side, in the Ashmore, Illinois cemetery.

Together, they had nine children who survived infancy, Susan, Shelton, Nancy, Bailey, Thenia, Jane (my ancestor), Joseph, Elizabeth, and Catharine. I have spent many hours in 2015 researching this family.

Once I had plenty of information on all these folks, I hoped to post my findings on Family Search’s family tree. Imagine my surprise when I found Mary Templeton Carter already there with two husbands, both named John Carter.

One was her true husband, John Carter (1790-1841) who was born in Tennessee and died in Illinois. The other was obviously a different John Carter (1795-1864) who had been born in North Carolina. All of Mary’s children were erroneously attached to him!

This week I have tried to untangle this mess on Family Search. To begin, I was not familiar enough with the software operations necessary to complete this task. I have learned as I have gone along, but I am still not finished.

The project is worth the time, though. John Carter of North Carolina needs to find his own family. So far as I know, he does not belong in mine.