My great-great-grandfather, Benjamin Clark Carey, was born in 18011 in New Jersey. When he was a child, he was brought to Miami county, Ohio, by his parents, George and Phebe (Clark) Carey.
On 15 Sep 1825, Ben Carey married his second cousin, Mary Hannah Winans, who was born in 18062 in New Jersey and who came to Miami county between 1820 and 1825 along with her parents, Stephen and Charlotte (Marsh) Winans. Ben and Hannah had the following children:
All children, except David, are usually listed as having been born in Miami county. David, however, was born near Defiance, in Paulding county. As Pam Dishman and Warren Carey have speculated, the family's move to Paulding county may have been related to Ben's work as a stone mason on the Miami Canal.
Another possible reason for their move, however, is that Ben and family accompanied his parents when they moved to Paulding county. George and Phebe were now in their 70s and had two other children living in Paulding. There are entries in the Miami Valley Genealogical Index which list transfers of land in Staunton township from George Cory and from Benjamin and Hannah Carey to unnamed individuals in 1836. These transfers might suggest the time of the Careys' departure to Paulding county. Ben's family seems have returned to Miami county between the 1840 census, when they were enumerated in Auglaize township, Paulding county, and the birth of Charlotte in 1841.
Ben and Hannah remained in Miami county the rest of their lives. They were enumerated there, in the town of Piqua, in the 1850, 1860 and 1870 censuses, with Ben listed as a "brick mason" or "stone mason". I have two letters which Hannah wrote to their son Samuel in 1875 in which she describes Ben's health problems and brings Samuel up to date on just about every Carey family member who is living in the area. After Ben's death, Hannah lived with Charlotte and her family, with whom she was enumerated in 1880.
Pam Dishman sent us Ben and Hannah's obituaries. Ben Carey's obituary is from the Miami Helmet, 15 March 1877:
CAREY - At his residence in South Piqua, on the 10th inst., Benjamin Carey, aged 75 years, 8 months and 17 days.1
The deceased was born August 11, 1801.1 He had been an acceptable member of Grace M.E. Church for near three years. He died trusting in Him who while upon earth said, "Him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out."
We hope to greet him again where the inhabitants never say I am sick, and where sad farewells are never spoken.
HIS SON.
Here is Hannah's obituary, also from the Helmet:
CAREY - On Friday, July 28th, 1882, Hannah Winans Carey, aged 76 years, 2 months and 21 days.
The deceased was born in New Jersey, May 7, 1806, and in early life came with her parents, to this State, and settled in Miami County, six miles from Piqua. In 1825 she was united in marriage to Benjamin Carey, who died in hope and great peace about five years ago.
When comparatively young, she came out on the Lord's side, uniting with the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which she lived an acceptable member to the time of her death...
Pam writes:
The article goes on to say that she left five children and numerous grandchildren.
Note: The write-up of Edward McConnell (son of James Boyd McConnell and Sarah Jane Carey) in Genealogical and Biographical Record of Miami County states that Benjamin Carey was one of the pioneer contractors and builders of Piqua and died there in 1877. Edward was a mason until 1875, when he began working on the Miami and Erie Canal as a foreman from Bremen to Troy. Benjamin was a brick mason, and his descendant Warren Carey (son of Rev. George Carey and grandson of David Clark Carey) recalled that he worked on the canal during the time it was being built, which may have been the reason he moved his family to Defiance for a few years (around the 1830's).
One of my cousins sent me this obituary of Ben and Hannah's daughter which was clipped from an unidentified newspaper:
MRS. CHARLOTTE A. SPEELMAN
On Sunday morning, June 14, 1914, the freed spirit of Charlotte Ann Speelman, widow of David Speelman, took its flight from its earthly tenement, for a house not made wIth hands eternal in the heavens. She was the daughter of Benjamin and Hannah Carey; was born at Piqua, Ohio, September 23, 1841, being in the seventy-third year of her age.
Another sweet and beautiful life has been lived and we have bidden her the last fond adieu.
But she has left a legacy, for no one can look back on her life without feeling that there is a reality in a Christian life.
The church, home and society lose heavily when such a life goes out, but there are compensations. Her many friends feel that she is the happier and we are all made better in heart, and richer in soul when we reflect on the life she lived. No one who knew her could help but feel that she had found the secret of happy living.
Not every one knows the secret, but she had found it in Jesus Christ. He was the center of her life and like Paul she could say, "for me to live is Christ, to die is gain."
She lived a beautiful life and died a beautiful death, triumphant in the faith. She has been a member of the Grace Methodist Episcopal church of Piqua for many years.
She leaves besides her daughter, Mrs. Ward Hunter, of Rundle avenue, with whom she made her home, three grandchildren, one great grand child, two brothers, Rev. S. W. Carey, of Dayton and David C. Carey of Urbana, many other relatives and a host of friends.
G.A.C.