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Descendants of Thomas Carder (1795-1848) of Virginia and Putnam County, Ohio |
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Thomas Carder was born about 1795 in Virginia
or West Virginia. His parents are not known, due to lack of available
records. He is probably connected to the William and Sarah Carder family
of Culpeper County, Virginia, Hampshire County, West Virginia, and Ross
County, Ohio, but no proof of this has been found. Thomas Carder did have
a son named Abbott Carder (1834-1916), and the only other place the name
Abbott Carder appears is the family of Abbot Carder, son of William and
Sarah Carder. Abbot Carder, Sr. (1771?-184?) did have several children who
moved to Ohio in the late 1700s and early 1800s. The name Thomas Carder
does not appear in the settlement of Abbot Carders estate in 1886,
which named 22 children of Abbot Carder. These were supposedly all of
Abbots children, but at least one is known to be left off the list of
22, Catherine Carder Wamsley. Another possible child, Henry Carder, who is
listed as if he were Abbots son on the 1883 summons for all heirs of
Abbot, is also not listed on the final settlement. Henry Carder was living
in Ohio in Pickaway and Franklin Counties, and bought land in 1835 in
Putnam County, Ohio, during the time that Thomas Carder lived there. The
possibility exists that both Thomas and Henry Carder are connected to
Abbot Carder, Sr. However, at this time there is not enough evidence to
make the connection.
Thomas Carder obtained a license to marry Martha Martin in Clark County, Ohio, on 15 February 1823. This is the first official record of Thomas Carder. A Katherine Carder married John McDavel or McDaniel in Clark County, Ohio, in 1819. She could be a sister to Thomas Carder. In 1827, Thomas was in Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio, where he is listed on the tax list with one horse, value $40, and one cow, value $8. In 1828 he was in Perry Township, Williams County, Ohio, and owned one horse, value $40. This property was later Jackson Township, Putnam County. Over the next few years, Thomas Carder purchased land in Putnam County. In 1838 his wife Martha died. In 1844 he married Laura A. Rich in Putnam County. Thomas Carder died in Putnam County, Ohio, in 1848. According to John N. Carder (1896-1989), Abbot Carder, son of Thomas, ... was an Englishman..... his mother died when he was 3 years old and he was raised by an Indian squaw. Imogene Elwer of Ft. Jennings, Ohio, contributed much of the information on the Thomas Carder family and his descendants. Here is a write-up that she put together on Thomas and Martha Carder. Some of these stories have been handed down through her family and are not documented, but they are interesting examples of oral tradition, which makes up a big part of family history, especially in a family like ours which did not keep written records of their earlier days. Imogene believes that the story about Thomas Carder being buried alive is not true, because the newspapers carried a notice of his death and did not mention anything about him being buried alive. In those days, the more gory a story was, the more chance it had of getting a large article written about it. Perhaps Thomas had told a story from his drover days, and over the years of the story being retold, it became Thomas who was buried alive. Thomas and Martha Carder, Early Settlers
of Putnam County, Ohio Stories persist in my Carder family that
our earliest known ancestor, Thomas Carder was buried alive. From time to
time, a new set of circumstances surrounding Thomas death surface. Drovers whom I have researched seemed to follow a set pattern. They took their animals to market in late fall, after pork-packing houses opened. On their journey home, they stopped at a public auction, and bought land. My predecessor bought land in December of 1834 and 1835, so he may have been a drover then. But he bought no further land, so he probably gave up droving shortly thereafter, possibly after the death of his wife about 1838. Additionally, on March 21, 1848, James McKenzie informs readers of his KALIDA VENTURE that Thomas Carder died last Thursday at his home in Perry Township (now Jackson). The latest story Ive heard about the death claims Thomas went to Kalida to collect for something hed sold. When he became ill, some acquaintances brought him home. Believing Thomas dead, the men buried him. His daughter knew Thomas should have money, so the grave was dug up, and it was then discovered that Thomas had tried to dig his way out of the grave. I can accept this tale, because early in the same year of his death, Thomas sold thirty-three acres of land to John Comer. Its possible that he was collecting some of this money when he became ill at Kalida. The few Putnam County histories that remember Thomas Carder indicate that he moved his family to this county in 1830. However, tax lists reveal that they moved to then Perry Township from Bethel Township in Clark County, Ohio, sometime between mid-summer 1827 and June of 1828. Thomas Carder and Martha Martin applied for a marriage license in Clark County in February of 1823. How many children were born to this couple and moved here with them is not known. 1830 census shows only a daughter who would have been born before the move. Children known born in Putnam County to Thomas and Martha were Almira born 1830, Arthur born 1831, Abbott born 1834, and John born 1838. It is likely there were others who died young. After Thomas moved to this county, Elias Wallen sold him thirty-three acres of land along the Auglaize River, north-west of the intersection of Hog Creek with that River. In this neighborhood Thomas raised his family. The land was still in its virgin state, and thickly covered with huge trees that prevented the sunlight from reaching the ground. Consequently the area was a giant swamp. The delapidated Carder cabin stood in a small clearing near the edge of the swamp. Thomas was a frontiersman, and provided for his family more by hunting in the nearby forest, and by fishing, than by farming. There was plenty to eat in spite of the flood in July of 1834, because the family raised their own hogs and cattle to supplement the game and fish. Additionally the youngsters gathered wild berries and nuts from the forest. Life was not easy on the frontier. Death came early. Families were, of necessity, self-sufficient. Only supplies that could not be grown or found nearby were bought. Thomas sometimes went by canoe or on horseback to Defiance to exchange his produce or furs for salt and other supplies. Location of the Carder cabin provided isolationism to the family. The Auglaize and the swamp made it a fortress-like enclosure, segregating and protecting the family from outside influences. The children grew up in quite a backwoods manner. They saw so few other people that they were much more leery of other folks than they were of bears or other wild animals that roamed in the forest. Clothing was scanty for the family, and the children often went barefoot the year round. Animal furs thrown on the floor of the one-room shanty were beds for the children. None ever learned to read or write, even their own name. Martha died about 1838, in her mid thirties. Following the death of his wife, Thomas often enlisted the help of neighboring Indian squaws in caring for his family. Sometime after 1840, the oldest daughter was married or died. This may have been about 1844, when Thomas decided he needed a mate. In February of that year he married Laura A. Rich in Putnam County. Thomas and Laura had two children, Harvey and James. Two years later, at age sixteen, Almira Carder married Cyril Bacon, son of the Sugar Grove postmaster. Almira and Cyril were the parents of four children, Moses, Mary, Margaret, and Clara. Like her mother, Almira died young. She was only twenty-four when she died in 1854. Thomas Carder had died six years earlier, leaving his widow, Laura A. (Rich) Carder, and children: Almira Bacon, Arthur, Abbott, and John from his first marriage; and Harvey and James from his second. Laura Carder, with her sons, Harvey and James, soon left Putnam County. A year after the death of Thomas, they were living in Indiana. Harvey was in Elkart County, Indiana, in 1860. Almira and Cyril Bacon had a young family of their own at the time of her fathers death, and coundnt care for her brothers. The court appointed guardians for Arthur, Abbott, and John, and they worked for these guardians until they were of age. Thomas Carders remaining land was sold to pay unspecified debts. Personal property tax lists indicate only
thirty-three families, and maybe a few more uncounted, living in Putnam
County when Thomas and Martha Carder moved here. This certainly qualifies
them as early settlers and pioneers of this county. Whereas complaint has been made before me
one of the Justice of the peace in and for said county by one George M.
Phillips of the Putnam County on oath the he has just cause to fear and
doeth fear that one Thomas Carder of the county of Putnam will beat or
kill him with a deadly weapon and cause personal injury. State of Ohio } To Any constable of said
county Whereas complaint has been made before me
one of the Justice of the peace in and for the county aforesaid upon the
oath of Thomas Carder that George Phillips of the County aforesaid di on
or about the 19th day of July A.D. 1839 at the county aforesaid commit an
assault on him by throwing eggs at the defendant and also a bucket of
water on him while in the public road. These are therefore to command you
to take the said George Phillips if he be found in your county or if he
shall flea that you pursue after the said George Phillips into any other
county within the state and take and safely keep the said George Phillips
so that you have his body forthwith before me or some other justice of the
peace to answer the said complaint and be further dealt with according to
law. State of Ohio } To Any constable of said
county Whereas complaint has been made before me
one of the Justice of the peace in and for the county aforesaid upon the
oath of William Phillips wit Thomas Carder late of the county aforesaid
did on or about the 19th day of July at the county of Putnam profoundly
swear by his maker and used other undescent language and the deponent does
verily believe that the said Thomas Carder is guilty of the fact charged. I dont know about the rest of you, but I believe that if someone threw eggs and a bucket of water on me, I might profoundly swear at them and perhaps threaten bodily harm or worse, too! T1 Family of Thomas Carder (1795?-1848) and Martha Martin Carder (1802-1838) All the following children were born in Putnam County, Ohio. There were probably others who died young. According to a 1908 newspaper story from Abbott and Clara Carders 50th wedding anniversary, Abbott Carder was the seventh child of Thomas Carder. Several children born before Abbott must have died young.
Children of Thomas Carder and his second wife, Laura Rich.
Second Generation Descendants of Thomas Carder (1795?-1848) T1-1 Family of Almira Carder Bacon (1830-1854) and Cyril Bacon
T1-2 Family of Arthur Carder (1831-1912) and Margaret Keller Wallen Carder
T1-3 Family of Abbott Carder (1834-1916) and Clara Reinmeyer Carder (1838-1924)
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Abbott and Clara Carder
with their children at their 50th Wedding Anniversary in 1908. |
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T1-4 Family of John Carder (1838-1901) and Arminta Baer (1840-1882) Carder
Third Generation Descendants of Thomas Carder (1795?-1848) T1-2-1 Family of Moses Carder (1857-) and Martha J. Drake Carder (1860-)
T1-2-2 Family of Mary Carder Sybert (1858-1936) and Benjamin F. Sybert (1848-1936)
T1-3-1 Family of Arthur Carder (1860-1935) and Emma Kable Carder (1867-1939)
T1-3-2 Family of John Carder (1862-1927) and Anna Margaret Baker Carder (1865-1938)
T1-3-6 Family of Thomas Carder (1869-1937) and Elizabeth Schumaker Carder I do not have the details on
this family, but I do have their family portrait:
T1-4-2 Family of John Melvin Carder (1862-1938) and Mary Cathering Troyer Carder (1863-1954)
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