Recently a speculative timeline was placed online related to the immigrant
ancestor for most of the Carman's in this country.
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Woods/7636/johnplym.htm
Rev 16 May 99
patriciat(a)erols.com
The Web author, Patricia Tidmarsh, states up front that the
article is strictly speculation. However, there are a number
of inconsistencies with the analysis. I would like to thank
Ms Tidmarsh for once again raising the many myths which plague
the Carman Genealogy. They are repeated so often that the
myths become fact. I hope the following will clarify a
number of incorrect points.
First a John Cannon or Carman arrrived on the Fortune in 1621.
A John "Kirman" did not arrive in 1621. Keeping in mind that
this is the Plymouth Colony and not the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Agreeing with the author of this article, there is nothing to tie
John Cannon of Plymouth to the immigrant Carman Ancestor
of Roxbury in the Massachussetts Bay Colony. However,
in providing a matrix to illustrate an estimated birth date for
John-1 Carman, she uses facts from both the John Cannon or
Carman of Plymouth and the John Kirman or Carman of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony which makes the assumption that
they were one and the same to illustrate a birth year.
To read the matrix, the top row is evidently various birth dates
for John Carman. The suceeding rows are events and the age
which the individual would have been if born based on the date
on the top row.
One event listed for the John Cannon or Carman of Plymouth is
Land to Widow Billington 1629. I have no information on this date.
However, reference is made in 1638 that John Cannon or Carman
and his partner, bequeathed the land to the Widow's husband
at an earlier date (unspecified).
The author does mistakenly associates John Carman of Sandwich,
Plymouth Colony with that of the Early John Cannon, which she
identifies as "John Kirman". The John Carman of Sandwich is
indeed the one and same immigrant ancestor, who settles in
Hempstead, Long Island. He migrated to the settlement for a
short time after leaving the Massachusetts Bay Company Colony.
John Carman, the immigrant ancestor died in 1653 not 1654. There
are currently no current facts to determine his birth year and it is
suggested that the date be left blank vice using conjecture.
The author stated the following speculation:
"Say he came on the second boat in 1621 at 21, left Plymouth in 1627,
transferring his land holdings to the Widow Billington -- either wandered
around New England and came back to settle in Roxbury.
or went back to England and tried his luck again with the
husbandmen, arriving again in 1631."
There is no evidence to support the age of 21, John Cannon or
Carman did not transfer his holdings to the Widow Billington.
There is no evidence to support that he was the same man as
John Kirman of the husbandmen nor that he returned to England.
As matter of fact the facts support contrary conclusions.
Patricia closes her article by stating,
"These are presented purely as speculation, since there are no facts about
him available to us at the present time."
I disagree, as a matter of fact there are many facts that we have on both
men. A detailed study of the time period, the culture and the
related facts have built a very interesting picture of the men
involved.
A more comprehensive article on the immigrant ancestor which
also includes background on the John Cannon of Plymouth and
citations can be found on the Carman Meeting Place Web Site:
http://home.att.net/~carman_family_history/