from "Representative Men & Old Families of R.I.", 1908
pp. 2164 -
"CARR (Warren family). The vital records of Warren show that the family of
Caleb and Ruth (Miller) Carr is the first of this name of record there, and
on investigation that these parents were of old Portsmouth-Newport stock.
A little later are of record in Warren the births and deaths of the family
of Robert and Lydia (Turner) Carr. Beginning in this territory in the first
years of the eighteenth century, when it was yet a part of Swansea, Mass.,
the name has since been continuous in the town of Warren and reflected
credit and honor upon the town, as had the earlier generations upon the
settlements of what became the county of Newport, where figured
conspicuously the colonial governor, Hon. Caleb Carr, a brother of the
progenitor of the Warren Carrs, in name Robert Carr, whose family in
England, says tradition, reaches back to the time of William the Conqueror.
This Warren line of Carrs in the earlier settlements, too, allied itself to
one of the most distinguished of Rhode Island families -- that of the
Greenes of Warwick. From the Warren family have come such men as Major
Caleb Carr, and his two sons, Capt. Caleb and Major Turner Carr, men of
maritime and ship-building note; Capt. William Carr and son, who followed in
the footsteps of the elder, bore his Christian name and title, and, of still
a younger generation, the late George Washington and William Carr, both long
substantial men and useful citizens of Warren. Then from this Warren stock
also came the distinguished George Wheaton Carr, M. D., still active in
professional life in Providence.
There follows a sketch of the lives of some of the Warren Carrs and as well
their lineage. The Roman characters designate the remoteness of each
generation from the first American ancestor -- Robert Carr.
(I) Robert and Caleb Carr, brothers, sons of Benjamin Carr of London,
England, born respectively in 1614 and 1616, came to New England on the ship
'Elizabeth Ann', which sailed from London, England, May 9, 1635. After
residing a short time at Bristol they removed to Newport, R.I., where they
accumulated considerable property. Robert was one of the original
purchasers of the Island of Conanicut in Narragansett Bay, which contained
about six thousand acres. He was admitted an inhabitant of Portsmouth in
1639. In 1681 Robert Carr made his will and died in that year. The
brother, Caleb Carr, was treasurer of the Colony, assistant and governor,
succeeding to the latter office Gov. John Easton. He was a Friend in
religious belief. The children of Robert Carr were: Caleb, Elizabeth,
Mary, Robert, Esek and Margaret.
(II) Caleb Carr inherited from his father the latter's land in Conanicut,
alias Jamestown. He married Phillis Greene, born Oct. 7, 1658, in Warwick,
R.I., daughter of Major John and granddaughter of Surgeon John Greene, who
came to Boston in 1635 in the ship 'James', settled at Salem, where he was
associated with Roger Williams, and later, in 1636, joined Williams at
Providence, and was the ancestor of the distinguished Greene family of Rhode
Island. Caleb Carr and his wife settled on the estate above named, where he
died in 1690. Their childen were: Robert, born Jan. 2, 1678; Caleb, born
March 26, 1679; William, born Oct. 16, 1681; Robert (2), born June 7, 1683;
Job, born in 1685; Mary; and Phillis, born Dec. 8, 1688.
(III) Robert Carr (2), born June 7, 1683, in Jamestown, R.I., married Oct.
21, 1708, Hannah Hale, born May 8, 1690, in Swansea, Mass., and after their
marriage they settled in the latter town. Mr. Carr died there Oct. 12,
1722. Mrs. Carr died in Warren, R.I., May 31, 1771. Their children were:
Mary, born March 2, 1710; Robert, July 2, 1715; Hannah, Sept. 18, 1717; and
Caleb, June 3, 1719.
(IV) Caleb Carr (2), son of Robert (2), born June 3, 1719, in Newport, R.I.,
married Jan. 4, 1740, Ruth Miller, and their children, all of town record in
Warren, R.I., were: Robert, born May 5, 1741; Caleb, born Sept. 4, 1743,
who was a soldier in the Revolution; John, born Jan. 12, 1746; Samuel, born
Dec. 8, 1748; Jonathan, born March 8, 1751; Hannah, born in April, 1753;
Mary, born June 19, 1755; Nathan, born April 3, 1757, who was killed in the
Revolution; Philip, born June 4, 1759, who was lost at sea; Ruth, born Aug.
15, 1761; and William, born Nov. 11, 1764.
(V) Capt. William Carr ('son of Caleb and Ruth') married March 16, 1788
(Bristol record), Elizabeth ('Betsey') Hoar, and (second) Aug. 3, 1794
(Warren record), Rebecca, daugher of Samuel and Sarah Phillips. Two
children came to the first marriage: Betsey, born in March, 1789, who died
May 17, 1790; and William, born April 14, 1790. The following named were
born to the second: Nathan, born March 24, 1796; Betsey, born March 22,
1798; Harry Phillips, born Nov. 5, 1799, who died June 17, 1816, at St.
Lucas; Rebecca, born Jan. 17, 1802; Lydia Miller, born June 21, 1805; George
Washington, born April 18, 1808; Abigail Phillips, born Dec. 20, 1810;
Charles, born Sept. 3, 1813, who died July 10, 1835, at Havana; Mary
Phillips, born July 4, 1815; and Harry Phillips (2), born Feb. 16, 1821, who
was captain of a transport during the Civil war and died at Beaufort, South
Carolina.
(VI) Capt. William Carr (2), born April 14, 1790, married Sept. 3, 1820,
Temperance Smith, born Feb. 14, 1799, daughter of Joseph and Hannah, and to
this marriage came children as follows: William, born July 9, 1821; Betsey,
born in April, 1824 (died Jan. 8, 1846); Seraphine, born Oct. 29, 1836
(married June 6, 1859, William Penn Hyde, of Palo Alto, Cal., who was born
in Stonington, Conn., Feb. 15, 1828); and Josephine, born Jan.8, 1839.
(VI) George Washington Carr was born in Warren April 18, 1808, probably in
the house in which his daughter now lives, at the south end of Water street,
this dwelling having been built in 1800. He received his schooling there,
and went to sea quite early, following the water for several years, at first
before the mast, and making a final voyage as captain between Rhode Island
and New Orleans in the spring of 1835. At the solicitation of his mother he
gave up sailing, and in the autumn of 1835 he entered the Warren Bank, now
the National Warren Bank, as cashier, holding that position for almost
thirty years, until September, 1863, when failing health oblilged him to
resign. Mr. Carr was a born accountant and had the reputation of being one
of the most correct in his section in his day. Furthermore, he took the
deepest interest in his work, and was ever conscientious in its performance.
Outside of the bank he had interests in the merchant marine, and he was a
director in the Warren Manufacturing Company. He was a man of very genial
disposition, fond of his friends and especially of his home, for his tastes
were very domestic. He was decidedly musical, and he found his greatest
recreation after banking hours in playing on his flute. His daughter's
earliest recollections of singing are associated with her father, for when a
mere child she sang all the popular melodies of the day to the accompaniment
of her father's flute. Mr. Carr was not a member of any church, but like
his father was a regular attendant of St. Mark's Church, and served as
vestryman for ten years. His political principles were those of the
Republican party. He was public-spirited, and served as a member of the
town council and as one of the trustees of the Campbell fund, a bequest of
Nicholas Campbell for the establishment of a school for poor children. He
died Dec. 2, 1869, and his wife passed away Jan. 25, 1886.
Mr. Carr married Elizabeth Read, daughter of Preserved Read, and to the
union came two children: (1) Clarence Lyndon, born July 18, 1842, died May
4, 1879, at Napa, Cal.; he married Cecelia Schiller, of San Diego, Cal., and
they had two children, George S. and Charles Read. (2) Alice Elizabeth was
born Sept. 12, 1845."
[portrait: Geo. W. Carr}
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Beth Hurd
Johnston, RI USA
beth(a)the-hurds.com
http://www.the-hurds.com
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