Jan, thanks for your response. Our spelling is "CARITHERS", but that in
itself is not definitive. Our best information is that they came to PA and
migrated to VA-TN (possibly NC since the VA-TN borders were indefinite in the
late 1700s - the State of Franklin, etc.). There were Caruthers is NC around
Mecklenburg - you know the story of the "Black Boys" of Alamance ? (Robert
Caruthers being one of the participants, so the story goes.) If these
Caruthers were part of our direct line, then they were also in NC. Later my
greatgreatgrandfather, Joshua, migrated to Clinton Co., OH where he married
Nancy Mercer in 1834 and a few years later they moved to IN where this family
line has pretty much resided since. Also, his brother, David, and his
sister, Susanna Carithers Bright, moved to Indiana in the 1830-1840s from
VA-TN.
This has been a 40-year search for my sister. I have only gotten involved in
the last four years via the internet and trips out East. Joshua's
granddaughter, who was my grandmother, when she was quite elderly, told my
sister (after some thought on the subject) that her greatgrandfather's name
was James. She never knew him, since he died before she was born in 1876.
This is what we have been going on in our search - realizing, of course, that
she could have been mistaken. Have you noticed that often each generation
uses the same names for their children - a big help when doing research,
don't you think??? This "James"s children were born in the later 1790s and
first decade 1800s. I would guess that he was born around the 1770s and came
to the US as a child, since his son, David, in a later 1800s census said that
his father was "foreign" born and his mother was American-born.
Hope this gives a little background on our ?-James and please let me know if
you run across anything "relative" - no pun intended!!
Good luck in your own research.
Best Regards,
Marilyn in Michigan