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Author: pandrus72
Surnames: Carver, Smith, Barnes, Gillette
Classification: biography
Message Board URL:
http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.carver/8.588.1/mb.ashx
Message Board Post:
Kathy I know you have found a lot more on the family since you posted here last. The
first part you know already, the second half should help add to and round out Zalmon T.
Carver.
Zalmon T. Carver, Sr., the eldest son of Dyer and Lucy (Rathbun/Rathbone) Carver, was born
17 November 1800 in Scipio, Cayuga Co., New York. This is also where his father Dyer is
found in the 1800 and 1810 censuses. By the 1820 census his father Dyer had moved to the
western New York county of Chautauqua and was enumerated there in the township of Pomfret.
Zalmon may or may not be one of the 2 sons listed with Dyer in the 18/26 age group for
that census.
1823-24 Zolman Carver is in Michigan.
History of Oakland County, Michigan by Durant, Samuel W. Philadelphia: L. H. Everts &
co., 1877. "The Village of Auburn - The first store was opened by Zolman Carver, who
married a daughter of Ebenezer Smith, and brought in a stock of goods about 1823-24. One
of his finest trades was with the Goodrich boys, who sold him forty "coon-skins"
at twenty-five cents each, Carver sold them at eighteen and three-quarter cents, charged
the difference to profit and loss, and went out of the fur business for a while."
This basically appears to be the only mention of him.
Zalmon married Achsah Smith sometime around 1823-24 and after a short stay in Michigan the
family seems to have bounced around between New York and Ohio. Their first son Lafayette
Carver was born about 1824 in either Michigan or Ohio depending on the source used.
Daughter Mary Ann Carver was born 10 Oct 1827 in Syracuse, Onondaga, New York and son
William Carver b. 1830 in Ohio.
1830-c.1835 New York, Genesee (now Wyoming) Castile Twp.
The 1830 census finds the family in Castile Twp., Genesee (now Wyoming), New York and
there is only 1 son (Lafayette) and 1 daughter (Mary Ann) under 5 years old with them. It
is very likely that the next two children, William b. 1830 supposedly in Ohio and James M.
b. 7 Mar 1833 New York were both born in Perry, Genesee (now Wyoming), New York.
In 1835 Zalmon and Achsah Carver defaulted on a mortgage of $217.43 that was due 25 July
1835 for a home and property in Perry, Genesee (now Wyoming) New York. A legal notice for
the default and date of the auction of the property was set for 27 Aug 1836. It appeared
in the Batavia Republican Advocate? (Unknown date,
Fultonhistory.com). This means the
census puts them in Perry in 1830, the family purchased a home there before 1835 and they
were probably gone by 1836.
Daughter Harriet Carver was born Oct 1837 in Bellevue, Sandusky, Ohio as is her sister
Helen Carver in 1840.
1840 Ohio, Sandusky, York Twp.,
Zalmon, Achsah and the six children are enumerated together.
By 1850 Achsah "Acxy" (Smith) Carver is in Michigan where several other members
of her family have already settled. She is in the household of her nephew Mortimer Smith.
Her youngest son James Carver is also with her. Zalmon is noticeably absent. He
didn't die in Ohio before they moved to Michigan nor did he die after they got to
Michigan.
He left Achsah and the children and started a new family. What caused him to leave will
probably always be a mystery. It may have been his age. It may have been a case of
wanderlust, who knows, but being in the midst of a group of family and friends who were
successful entrepreneurs probably didn't help his ego much. Several books have
repeated his being bested by the Goodrich boys while running his store in Oakland,
Michigan so it must have been something the Goodrich family was very proud of. I
can't imagine the ridicule he must have put up with as a young man when he was just
starting out. He probably never heard the end of it. This may be the reason they left
Michigan and went back to New York. Turning around and losing the home in Perry may have
been the last straw for him and/or Achsah. He definitely did not seem to have the talents
for business displayed by her side of the family.
Nevertheless, the move to York Township, Sandusky, Ohio appears to have been a major pivot
point in his and Achsah's lives. In the neighboring township of Townsend lived a
recently widowed mother of three young children. Her name was Minerva Barnes and she had
lost her husband Sardis Barnes in 1838. Minerva left Ohio around 1843 (according to her
son George W. Barnes) and ended up in Iowa where she stayed until around 1847 when she and
her new husband moved to Sheboygan, Wisconsin. George never mentions his step-father by
name but the 1850 census tells us she is with Z. T. Carver. It is unknown whether they
left Ohio together or they had a chance meeting but it is probably a safe bet that she and
Zolman headed west as a couple because March 8, 1847 a son, Zalmon T. Carver, Jr. was born
to them.
1850 Wisconsin, Sheboygan, Sheboygan
Carver, Z. T. 49, b. NY
Minerva 43, b. PA
G.W.B. 14, b. OH
Mildred 13, b. OH
Z. Carver Jr., 3, b. Indiana.
Even though all of the children are listed as Carver, the two oldest are actually Barnes.
Next door is Ezra Rathbone and his family who also came from Townsend Twp. in Sandusky,
Ohio. I don't know if Ezra is related or not.
The history of Reedsburg says that "The year 1849 brought Z.T. Carver and his wife
and two children came.", but the family was enumerated in Sheboygan. In another area
of the history it says that before 2 July 1851, Reedsburg had 114 inhabitants and that
Z.T. Carver's family had 6 individuals. This probably included Zalman, Sr., his wife
Minerva, his son's Zalmon, Jr. and Frank (who was born in Wisconsin around 1851) and
his stepchildren George W. and Mildred A. Barnes.
An ironic twist involves Zalmon's stepson George Washington Barnes b. 19 Jan 1836
Sandusky, Ohio. George W. married around 1855 a young school teacher named Euseba Mead
Livingston, had a son George Sardis Barnes b. 1858 and then promptly took off in 1859 for
the western territories never to return. He too remarried. He had no children with his
second wife. Sounds similar to what his step-father did to his first wife, Achsah Smith
and the children he had with her. Achsah (Smith) Carver ended up depending on her family
for awhile. Euseba (Livingston) Barnes and her son George lived with Zalmon, Sr. and
Minerva for awhile too after George W. left them. George W. Barnes has a vanity write-up
in "Progressive Men of Montana" that needs to have about Ÿ of it "taken
with a grain of salt" as it is defiantly slanted in regard to the actual facts.
1860 Wisconsin, Sauk, Reedsburg
Carver, Z. S. (T.) 59, b. NY
Minerva 53, b. PA
Frank 9, b. WI
Barnes, Uceta (Euseba) 21, b. VT
George 1, b. WI
Minerva (Gillette) Carver b. 1807 PA, d. 2 July 1861 Reedsburg, Sauk, Wisconsin, buried
Green Wood Cemetery, Reedsburg.
1866 May 6 - Z. F. (T.) Carver of Reedsburg, WI, born Scipio, NY s/o Dyer Carver and Lucy
Carver marred Mrs. Genette (Jeanette) A. Benz d/o Harry Ward and Lucretia Ward or Jennette
A. (Wood) Brown (d/o Harry and Lucretia Wood)
RootsWeb.ancestry.com and
Familysearch.org
records Wisconsin marriages.
Familysearch.org and
Rootsweb.ancestry.com Wisconsin Sauk
marriages
1870 Wisconsin, Sauk, Reedsburg
Carver, Zalmon T., 69 b. NY
Jenette 48, b. NY
Frank 18 b. WI
Zalmon T. Carver, Sr. b. 17 Nov 1800, d. 19 Oct 1879 Reedsburg, Sauk, Wisconsin, buried
Green Wood Cemetery, Reedsburg. He is buried next to his second wife Minerva.
Zalmon T. Carver, Jr. b. 8 Mar 1847 Ohio, d. 8 May 1916 Sauk, Wisconsin, buried Green Wood
Cemetery. Wife Elizabeth W. (Williams) Carver b. 26 Feb 1850 Wisconsin, d. 14 Aug 1937
Sauk, Wisconsin, buried Green Wood Cemetery. Zalmon Jr. was in the Civil War for 1 month
and 28 days. 8 Mar 1865 to 6 May 1865. He was in Co.F, 51 WI Inf. He and Elizabeth
Williams were married in Sauk Co. 11 Apr 1869.
Iron River Pioneer Vitals - "Zell Craver, 76, died at Reedsburg Mary 8 (1916), uncle
of George S. Barnes
I have not found what happened to the other son Frank Carver other than he married 20
September 1875 Emma S. Seamans or Sullivan.
Zalmon Carver, Sr.'s step-daughter Mildred A. Barnes b. Jan 1838 OH d/o Sardis G. and
Minerva (Gillette) Barnes married 21 Oct 1857 at Reedsburg, Sauk, Wisconsin to William
Nelson Carver s/o Daniel and Ann (Skidmore) Carver
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