I have just received a message from Rebecca Carden of Alabama, with kind
remarks on my postings, asking for help with her family, her great
grandfather being Owen Hendrix Carden, born 1862, probably from Georgia. I
am posting my reply to the List in case it is of any general interest, and I
hope she does not mind.
I am afraid I cannot be of any help to Rebecca whatever. Many years ago I
decided to keep no records of Cardens in USA, as so many of you, like Chuck
and Beth, are doing such a fine job. I decided to concentrate on Cardens
outside the USA and that is a big enough task! So far I have produced about
50 draft chapters (mentioning about 2,000 Cardens) for forthcoming books to
be called "Carden Family - Irish Branches" and "Carden Family - English
Branches." These of course include descendants of these branches in USA,
Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, etc, but I have abandoned any attempt to
cover USA branches whose connection with Ireland or England is unknown.
If any of you discover the name and date of an English or Irish ancestor,
please get in touch and I will see if I have any record of him/her this side
of the ditch. As regards emigrant information I am posting a separate
message today.
I think a large number of Cardens in USA emigrated in the 19th century from
County Sligo or County Mayo on the west coast of Ireland, all Roman Catholic,
and it is vital to discover the religion of immigrants. These Cardens are
all descended from someone who owned a piece of land called Carrowcarden in
Co Sligo just across the border from Ballina in the 16th century. They are
quite distinct from the protestant Cardens who emigrated to Co Tipperary from
Cheshire England in about 1665 (my branch), none of whom live in Ireland any
more. A few emigrated to Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand and founded
protestant Carden families there. Most of the protestant Cardens in USA are,
I reckon, descended from English emigrants (no Scots at all, as far as I know
- that's nonsense about the name being Scottish, as various misinformed
reference books claim) over many centuries, with many coming via the
Caribbean Islands or to fight in the American Revolutionary War (as we call
it).
It appears that the Carden name may have originated separately in three
places. On the west coast of Ireland, as mentioned above. In Cheshire
England where it was spelled Cawarden, traced back to the 13th century. And
in the south of England - Joan Carden of Spain has apparently found an entry
in the Domesday Book (11th century) and when I visit her at the end of March
I hope to find out more about that.
Anyone have other theories?
Arthur Carden (currently in the Algarve, Portugal)