Almarian and Sal Carey

Related page:
Mt. Pleasant Methodist Church

The name Almarian turns up in our family history files as:

This man's name was spelled in many different ways and we'll preserve all the variants in this page, just for fun. (We've also seen Almariah in certain family history documents.) I'll go with Almarian, though, at least until we find convincing evidence to the contrary, based on R. D. Clark's insistence on that name. Old R. D. sounded very sure of the name of Sal Clark's husband, perhaps because he knew him well.

From this very minimal beginning, additional bits and pieces of data have been provided by cousins or other researchers which have helped fill in some of the blanks about this mysterious Carey non-relative and his family. I'll list, at the bottom of this page, some of the people who have contributed to our knowlege. What you'll see here represents our best guess as to the chronology of Almarian Carey's life, and the names of some of his descendants.

Birth. Based on (take your pick) the 1850 and 1860 census, Almarian Carey was born in New York, either in 1810 or 1803. We haven't been able to identify him positively in any earlier census. There are no surnames in the 1830 Fulton county, Illinois, census which resemble Carey. When I first looked at census records, I thought his birthplace was NJ, but when I compared the second letter of his birthplace with the J in the June enumeration date, I was convinced that it was actually NY.

War service. Almarian Carey arrived in Illinois in time to enlist in the state militia and serve in the 1831-32 Black Hawk War, according to the state of Illinois' site, which lists Almaran Cary, a private in J. Sain's company, Bogart's brigade, which was organized in Fulton county. After Chief Black Hawk's surrender on 1 August and the signing of a peace treaty on 21 September, Private Carey would have mustered out and returned to Fulton county to embark on the next stage of his life's journey...

Almarian's first marriage. The Illinois Marriage Index reveals that Almeron Carey married Mary Ann Jewell 20 Dec 1832 in Fulton county.1 Based on the 1850 census records, the couple had the following children:

The list of Early Voters of Menard County at the Illinois Trails site includes a "CAREY, A." who registered at Lynchburg 1 Apr 1839. Since Menard was separated from Sangamon county in 1839, there may be records of Almarian and family in both counties.

We found an A. Carry listed in the 1840 U. S. Census in Menard county, Illinois. That census didn't list individuals in a household, nor did it indicate locations within a county. This person's line includes

If this is indeed Almarian, the census record suggests that he and his first wife were both born in the first decade of the 19th century. The two female children are possibly Lucretia and Louisa. The older of the two male children could be Mary Ann's son Charles Jewell. Could the younger boy be Francis or Henry?

Mary Ann's first marriage. Almaron and Mary Ann are both listed among the many individuals in the Ancestors of Thomas W. Lambert data base at FamilyTreeMaker.com, with the same marriage date and place as in the Illinois Marriage Index. Mr. Lambert gives her maiden name as Mary Anne Smithson, and lists her as being born "about 1801 in England", the daughter of Thomas Smithson and Rebecca Bennington, and as having married John Thomas Jewell (1795-1829) 8 Aug 1819 in Washington county, Ohio.

Mary Ann's death is listed in the Lambert files as having occurred "about 1850" in Liverpool, Illinois. Mary Ann and John are said to have had three unnamed daughters and the following named children:

The 1830 census for Fulton county lists a Mary Ann Jewell as head of household, which is consistent with her first husband dying in 1829. Coincidence or not, a Thomas Clark is listed on the next line, and there are several other Clarks listed in other pages who may or may not be a part of Sal's family. The number of people itemized in Mary Ann's entry agrees with the Lambert data:

The Lambert data base lists only two children for Almeron and Mary Ann, which may imply that its compiler didn't have access to the 1840 or 1850 census information:

Besides being listed by Lambert, there's also a mention of Almeron and Mary Ann in the Smithson Family Exchange Newsletter, which was once available at http://www.cavescove.com/smithson/newsletter/5.html. In the Fall 1991 issue, there is reproduced a complete copy of the will of Mary Ann's father, signed 23 Nov 1845 and probated 5 Feb 1857, as found in Volume I of the Washington county will record. Even though there's a comment in the web page that Mary Ann died in April 1850, her name is not mentioned in the will, which suggests that she had already died by 1845. The will includes the following clause:

Fourth, I give, devise and bequeath to my grandchildren CHARLES P. JEWELL, REBECCA A. JEWELL and LUCRETIA CARY and FRANCIS M. CARY the sum of twenty dollars each.

It looks like the Lambert and Smithson sites got their information from the same source, or from each other, since they list the same children for each of Mary Ann's marriages, both give her an 1850 death date, and both seem to be unaware that Almarian had already remarried in 1846. One mystery about Thomas Smithson's will -- why were Louisa and Henry, who were both alive as late as 1850, not mentioned in it?

Almarian's second marriage. According to the marriage index, Almeron Carey married Sarah Clark 25 Jul 1846 in Mason county, which is at the southeast corner of Fulton county, between Fulton and Menard. Sarah "Sal" Clark was the daughter of Isaac Clark and his first wife, Lydia Zeliph. She was born 21 Jul 1813, probably in Miami county, OH, so she was 33 years old at the time she married Almarian Carey. Women usually married in their late teens or early twenties in those days. Could Sarah also have had a first husband who died? Maybe not. R. D. Clark implies that Almarian was Sal's first, and only, husband -- "If Sarah Clark was ever m[arried] the second time I never heard of it. My parents always called her 'Sal' Carey." Sal and Almarian's first child wasn't born until just before the 1850 census, which reported the baby, Elizabeth, as being 2/12 years of age. Based on this census and on the 1860 census, we'll credit the following children to Almarian and Sarah:

Almarian and Sal Carey may have spent most of their married life together in Liverpool township, in Fulton county, along the Illinois River, where they were enumerated together in both the 1850 and 1860 U. S. censuses. For further information on this tiny community, see our Methodist preachers page, and also our page for Sal's nephew, Rev. Jasper Nuton Clark.

Sal and Almarian's 1850 census record isn't very legible, so the copy you see in this family album is only my best guess. There's a Charles Jewell, listed between the children and the hired hands or boarders who may be Mary Ann's son, as well as all four of Almarian's children by his first marriage. The couple's first child together is listed as Elizabeth and is only two months old in 1850. A laborer named Moses Carey, whose relationship is anybody's guess, is also listed.

There are discrepancies in people's ages between the two censuses and with information available from later documents. I have a birth date for Sal in my files of 21 Jul 1813, which Lyle or Phillip may have given me. It seems plausible. She certainly couldn't be much older and still have a 3-year-old daughter with her in 1860! Deborah gives a birth year of 1807 for Almarian, and a death date of 15 Mar 1866, and agrees with Sal's 1813 birth year. The 13-year-old Louisa Carey of 1850 may be the same person as is listed in the 1860 census as 22-year-old Louisa Jewell.

Death. We have no information on the date or place of Sarah's death. According to Deborah Rosiere, Almarian died 15 Mar 1866. Since he had just been enumerated in Fulton county, and since his descendants continued to live there for a number of years, it's likely that's where he died. It's also likely that he and Sal are buried in Apple (Mount Pleasant) cemetery in Liverpool township, where a number of Sal's close relatives are buried. Deborah, who lives in Fulton county, has visited that cemetery but drawn a blank, possibly because any grave markers that old have become too weathered to read.

Descendants. Although I don't usually compile extensive information on the descendants of such a distant relative, I'll list here as much as I know about Sal and Almarian Carey's children and their families. Perhaps any descendant who comes across our page will be able to fill in some of the blanks.


I'd like to thank the following researchers who have helped make this page possible:


1 While searching for this marriage we came across the marriage of Alvin Cary to Rebecca Ann Jewell on 24 Mar 1836 in Warren county, which is on Fulton's northwest border. Is Alvin related to Almarian? Could the bride be the same person as Mary Ann's daughter, or is this only coincidental?
2 We've found evidence that Almarian's son Francis enlisted in the Union army twice during the Civil War. The History of Fulton County, Peoria: C.C. Chapman & Co., 1879, page 358, lists members of the 28th Infantry Regiment, including, in Company A among the privates, "Cary, F. M., e. Aug. 1, '61, d. Mar. 28, '62, dis." The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors site lists a Private Francis N. Carey or Francis M. Cary in Company A. The 28th was organized and mustered in at Camp Butler, IL, 15 Aug 1861. Camp Butler was a major mustering-in site and was located east of Springfield on Clear Lake. The following is Francis' line in the 28th Illinois' site at RootsWeb:
CARY, Francis M Private Fulton Co Aug 16, 1861 Disch, Mar 28, 1862; disabil.
Page 379 of the county history lists, in Company G of the 103rd Illinois, a private "Cery, Francis M., e. Aug. 6, '62, kld. Feb. 25, '65." Francis M. Cary, "of Canton, Ill.", is also listed among the soldiers in Company G of the 103rd Illinois Infantry which mustered in at Peoria 2 Oct 1862. This unit participated in numerous battles, including the siege of Vicksburg, Missionary Ridge, the capture of Atlanta, and Sherman's march to the sea. The following line in the 103rd's site confirms Francis' fate:
CARY, Francis M. Private Canton Oct 2, 1862 Killed at Columbia, S.C., Feb 15, 1865
3 In the 1860 census, an 18-year-old Henry Cary, born in Illinois, is listed in the household of Sal's brother William R. Clark, also in Liverpool township. Given the imprecision with which census takers recorded age, is it possible that this is the same boy who was recorded ten years earlier in Almarian and Sal's household as being 10 years old?
4 For a discussion of the Liverpool and Mt. Pleasant churches, read Lyle's message.
5 Dates and places per death certificate.
6 Simon's age in the 1880 census agrees with the 1900 census, which gives his birth as March 1833. For a mention of Simon's fishing activity, see Jasper Clark's page. The 1870 census listed Simon as a 52-year-old saloon keeper, living with a 24-year-old Mary I., 8-year-old Mahlon P., and 4-year-old William S. This Mary may be the daughter Mary J. who died at age 30 and is buried near Simon.
This page was last updated 19 Oct 2007.