Norm,
I'm trying to catch up on emails (now that Christmas allows me a brief
vacation from work), sorry for the delays. It's difficult to know what to
send you since we don't know what you have. I can say that with a few
exceptions, I have not seen or uncovered many "new" discoveries in my
Carmack research. Many of the early researchers did an excellent job of
ferriting out information (even before the Internet). Thus most likely you
have seen much of anything I have as I try to share it with the list.
I'm sure many of us have continued to find tidbits as they relate to our own
lines. For example, I descend from Jesse Ann Carmack. Jesse's father is
unknown, or at a minimum unproven, as well as his middle name of Ann. He is
often reported as the son of Jesse C Carmack & Ann Black. Through my
research into his suspected parents I found documented evidence that shows
Ann Black cannot be his mother and also evidence that proves Ann Black is
not Indian, or at least if she does have Indian heritage it is 3+
generations before her.
Here are a couple of "recent" discoveries worth more research and a few
other notes:
1. From the Archives of Maryland 1658-1662, Vol 41, Chapter Provincial
Court of Maryland Proceedings. This record (dated March 24th 1661)
identifies a Cornelius Micormack aged tewnty years... This record is in St
Mary's Co. MD, the 1st settlement in MD. It looks like Cornelius might have
been indentured by the wording. This preceeds any known Carmack information
and could lead to a connection to our Cornelius Carmack, b 1681, living
earliest in Cecil Co., MD (a migration path from St Mary's Co., MD.)
2. (Form Judy French) Gwen Carmack relinquished her dower rights in 1741
when Jonathan Jones, who was in Chester County, Pennsylvania, conveyed
"Jonathan's Inheritance" to William Smith of Lancaster County,
Pennsylvania.
(Md Liber HWS#1a-75.522)
"Jonathan's Inheritance" was a 100 acre plantation in CECIL COUNTY,
MARYLAND, which was patented to Jonathan Jones on 7 July 1725.
(PL6/252;ILA/523)
In order for Gwin to have dower rights to "Jonathan's Inheritance" she had
to be married to the first Jonathan Jones, if not in 1725, then sometime
after that and between 1741. The Jonathan Jones who sold the land in 1741
was probably Gwin's son.
The significance to us is that, although Gwin was married to Cornelius at
the time of Jonathan Jones' death, she was not the mother of his children as
they were all born prior to 1725. So who was Cornelius' first wife and the
mother of the children?
Do we have proof of Cornelius & Gwen's wedding date?
3. Finding and Using Published Genealogies, by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack, CG
http://www.genealogy.com/77_carmack.html?Welcome=984238636
"I recently found a published family history on the Carmacks, titled The
Carmack Family, by Charles W. Peckham Sr. (1998). Because the origins of
Cornelius Carmack of colonial Maryland have baffled family researchers for
decades, I was anxious to see if Peckham had uncovered anything new.
Peckham postulates that Cornelius was not the immigrant ancestor, as
descendants have long surmised. Instead, he believes that Cornelius was born
in Cecil County, Maryland, about 1681. Peckham also listed a possible father
for Cornelius - a Christopher Carmick - who was born probably in Scotland in
1653 and was transported to Maryland in 1678 aboard the ship St. George of
London. That's new information, but how accurate is it? Even though the
author credits numerous professional genealogists as working on the Carmack
family history, I was skeptical, considering many descendants had been
working on this line for decades and never uncovered these details.
My first course of action was to analyze the source citations. I noticed
that some of the information came from published sources, such as abstracts
of records compiled by another researcher. I then looked at Peckham's
argument for connecting Christopher and Cornelius as father and son.
Although the author carefully noted that the identity of Christopher as
Cornelius's father was "pure assumption," he apparently based this
assumption solely on Christopher coming to America before Cornelius was
allegedly born in 1681, and that this Christopher was supposedly the right
age to be Cornelius's father.
So I checked out Peckham's source. Peckham references Gust Skordas's The
Early Settlers of Maryland. This book then had a reference to the original
record - patents series of the Maryland Land Office, liber 15, folio 553 -
which allowed me to find a microfilm copy of the original record to examine
myself. The record indeed named Christopher, along with 179 other people,
who were transported in 1678 and claimed for headright land grants. It did
not give anything more, however, such as Christopher's age, where he was
from, or what became of him. For all I know, Christopher could have been
dead upon arrival, since all the headright claimant was required to do was
present a list of the names for whom he paid passage. It didn't matter if
one of the transported had died on board ship or after arrival. Maybe this
is why Peckham's researchers found no further record of Christopher in
America.
Based on this information alone, I can't accept Peckham's theory that
Christopher was Cornelius's father, so I'll use Peckham's work as clues, do
my own original research, and draw my own conclusions.
Remember, finding published genealogies on your family is a starting point,
not the end of your research. Even if the book is well documented and you
are satisfied that the lineage covered is sound, no family history is
comprehensive. There are always other surnames to pursue that aren't covered
in this particular book. Look for a published genealogy for all of your
lines. But remember to use them cautiously, not as gospel truth, until you
analyze and evaluate for yourself whether the information is accurate."
My reason for including this is not to discount Dr Peckham's reference. I
initially thought I would include Christopher as the father of Cornelius,
but after reading this felt the need to break the linkage. There is not
sufficient proof to attach him as the father. In particular, almost every
genealogy I see has Christopher listed as the father. Misinformation seems
to proliferate so fast that people tend to believe it because they see it
everywhere.
4. There is a very interesting account of Susannah Carmack Livingston's
Indian capture and rescue that I can provide if you haven't seen it.
That's all for now as this is getting lengthy (probably over my attention
level to read through) so I'll close.
Happy Holiday's to everyone!
dale
-----Original Message-----
From: Norm Carmack [mailto:lonzoc@sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Sunday, October 31, 2004 9:46 AM
To: CARMACK-L(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: [CARMACK] BOOOOOO ~~!!!
That oughta 'scare' a little activity out of this Carmack Clan, huh? Yehaw!
Happy Halloween, Carmack Cousins.......I need just a little
help...pppllleeesssee ?!
I'm working up a Historical DVD of all my photos with some voice overs (I
just hope it works) and although I have stuff from John Wesley Carmack on
down......I really would like just ANY little tidbits, documents, facts,
tales, etc. that you could share...that include : Cornelius 1681, his son
William 1716, William's Son Cornelius 1736, and Cornelius's son Cornelius
of 1759....from there I get to my John Wesley Carmack.
You know how much I thank you all for looking around and sending me what
you can ! ....oh.....and hurry! hehehe
Take care out there !!
Norm Carmack
Austin, TX
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