The person using screen name "sholsan(a)neb-sandhills.net" requested
information about the Dabney Carr "who married his cousin, Betty Carr" - no
date give, and the "Dabney Carr who married Martha Jefferson". He/she then
alluded to an undocumented source indicating that "Dabney Carr came from
Ireland" and was supposedly progenitor of a Carr line in St. Clair Co.,
Illinois.
Dabney Carr of Goochland Co., Virginia (1743-1773), son of John and Barbara
(Overton) Carr of "Bear Castle", Louisa Co., Virginia, married Martha
Jefferson, dau. of Peter and Mary (Randoplh) Jefferson, in Albemarle Co.,
Virginia on 20 July 1765. Dabney died eight years later, having fathered six
children. He and Martha named their youngest child - a son - "Dabney" (b. 27
Apr 1773 (hereinafter Dabney Jr.); Dabney Sr. died a month later.
Dabney Carr Jr. (1773-1837) was reared for some years by his uncle, Overton
Carr, s/o John and Barbara (Overton) Carr of "Bear Castle". He married, on
28 Jun 1802, his first cousin, Elizabeth "Betsy" Carr, d/o Overton and Anne
(Addison) Carr. Dabney Jr. became a lawyer and eventually a Judge on the
Virginia Court of Appeals, a position he held until his death in 1737.
John Carr of "Bear Castle" (whose mother's maiden name was Mary Dabney), had
married twice. His first wife, Mary Garland, died after giving birth to
their first child, Thomas. Thomas Carr, half-brother of Dabney Sr., married
twice. He fathered, by his second wife, Lucy (Barksdale) Carr, a son they
named Dabney, b. 1777. This Dabney Carr died in North Garden, Albemarle Co.,
in 1862.
I'm unaware of any evidence that puts anyone named "Dabney Carr" in the
British Isles in the 18th or 19th Centuries, much less in Ireland. This name
first appears in Louisa Co., Virginia with the birth of John and Barbara's
son in 1743. It was almost surely used by them to honor John's mother's
surname!
There IS evidence, however, from research done by Jeff Carr and others, that
at least some of the Carrs (or Karrs) of St. Clair Co., Illinois had
Scots-Irish (Prsebyterian) roots. This line, however, does not seem to have
any relationship to the Carrs of Albemarle County, Virginia.
Bill Carr
Spring House, PA
(Researching ALL Carrs in ante-bellum Albemarle Co., Virginia)