Luther Carey

One of the joys of maintaining our Carey Family Album is to be contacted by cousins who have discovered the site and wish to add to our knowledge of some of the distant branches of our family tree. This information was provided by Diana (Carey) Timmer...

Luther A. Carey was born 7 Feb 1852 in Ohio, and died 23 Nov 1922 in Marion, Grant county, Indiana, the son of George W. Carey and Rebecca Ann Winans. At the time of the 1880 census, Luther was still living with his father in Adams county, and was listed as a "farmer", but in subsequent censuses, in Marion, he was listed as a "laborer". He is buried in the IOOF Cemetery in Marion, Indiana. Cause of death: Pulmonary tuberculosis.

Luther married Rosannah or Rosanna Comer, who was born 3 May 1853 in Adams county, Indiana, and died 30 Mar 1933 in Marion, Indiana. They were married on 2 Sep 1885 in Adams county, Indiana. She is also buried in the IOOF Cemetery in Marion.

Luther and Rosannah had four children:

  1. a girl who died at birth
  2. John Carey, born 31 Jan 1886 in Marion, IN, died 29 Jul 1946 in Kokomo, IN. He married Lena Mabel Zell, born 18 Feb 1900 in IN, died 11 Mar 1972 in Tampa, FL. They were married in 1921. John was a pattern maker at the foundry. After he and Lena divorced, he bought a restaurant/bar in Kokomo. John and Lena had 5 children:
    1. John Roland Carey born May 1923, married Joyce, last name unknown.
    2. Eugene Victor Carey born 3 Sep 1926, died 11 May 1971 in Kokomo. Married to Tina, last name unknown.
    3. Una Mae Carey born 16 Feb 1928. Married to Harold Peters.
    4. Ruby Carey born 9 Oct 1932, died November 1982 in Tampa, FL. Married to R. L. Wyatt.
    5. Sheila Carey born 26 Apr 1934, married to Clyde Hambright.
  3. Bert Carey born 30 Jan 1890 in Decatur, IN. Died 18 Aug 1982 LaPorte, IN. Married Arva Charlotte Crosthwaite, born 23 Feb 1896 in Clinton, IN. Arva died 13 Jul 1980 LaPorte IN. They were married on June 24, 1916 in Marion, IN. They were married 64 years! Bert and Arva's son George writes,
    Bert lived across the street from Arva. One day he saw her father trying to clean catfish. He saw that 'Nate' was having problems so he hung his hat and coat on the fence, took out his pocket knife and began to show him an easier way to clean the fish. He soon won his future father-in-law over!
    Following are excerpts taken from a letter to Diana from Bert and Arva's daughter Joyce:
    Your grandfather, Bert Carey was a quiet, gentle man. He rarely raised his voice. He quit school after the 8th grade as most boys did in that era, and went to work in Wisconsin farming and living with Etta and John Sommer, his half sister and brother in law...

    John and Arlie, Bert's brothers, married at an early age, Arlie at 17, leaving Bert to care for his widowed mother. Back in Marion, Indiana, he worked for a while as a core maker at the Mallable. Several of our combined families were employed there. Bert later worked at the Glove Factory in Marion, Indiana. Mother (Arva) worked there also...

    Mother and Dad were neighbors, their mothers being best friends, and when Dad was about 16 he would pass the Crosthwaite home on Saturday night dressed in high fashion for a date. As he passed the Crosthwaite home mother and her brother Dallas would peek out from the bushes and yell, "Hello, pretty boy, are you going to see your girl?" After a few times of this happening, Dad stopped and said to mother, "How would you like to be my girl?" Well, embarrassed, that ended Mother's Saturday night tease. Mom was 6 years younger than Dad so she couldn't even think of dating him...

    Back to the Glove Factory - a few years after the Saturday night teasing ended, the factory employees got ready to leave at the end of the day and discovered the weather had turned into a deep snow and still snowing, very windy and cold. Remember 81 years ago there were no plows, crews to work the roads. While everyone stood with their coats on not wanting to leave the building, but knowing they had to, Bert walked over to Mom and said, "Come on Arva, we go the same way home, same neighborhood. Follow in my footsteps. She did and they started dating and six months later were married. And Mother did follow in Dad's footsteps for 64 years, until her death. And Bert was lost...

    After their marriage 6-24-16, Mother and Dad moved to Terre Haute, Indiana where Uncle John Carey and his wife Lulu lived. Uncle John had a job waiting for Dad in a foundry where Uncle John was a draftsman. Dad and Uncle Dallas heard about work in LaPorte and both moved with Aunt Martuyle and Mom to LaPorte. First, Dad worked at Advance Rumely and was asked to work full time at LaPorte Foundry since he was there so much every day estimating Job prices and how to 'core' them properly for the iron. He stayed in LaPorte Foundry as Supt. of Core room until retirement...

    (Bert) loved to garden but did not like tending to flowers. But, he planted seeds and cared for flowers without comment because Mother loved them and like to give bouquets to the neighbors...

    The Crosthwaite family had doubts of Dad's marriage to Mother because he was so good looking and dressed flashy and they thought he would not be faithful to Mom. After six months being married, the whole family was in love with Dad. When a household problem needed attention Aunt Iva and Aunt Roxy would ask Dad to repair - their husbands were good men but not repairmen.
    Bert and Arva are buried at Pine Lake Cemetery, LaPorte, IN. They were members of the First United Methodist Church in LaPorte.

    Bert and Arva had 3 children:
    1. Margaret Ann Carey born 30 Nov 1920 in LaPorte. Died 19 Sep 1924 in LaPorte.
    2. Joyce Elaine Carey, born 7 Dec 1922 in LaPorte. Married Leonard R. Cooper, born 12 Nov 1903 in Bloomington, IL, died 27 Apr 1973 in LaPorte. They were married on 16 May 1966 in LaPorte. They have no children.
    3. George Edward Carey was born on 15 Dec 1932 in LaPorte, IN. He married Donna Jean Schultz, born 20 Sep 1937 in LaPorte, died 17 Jul 2005 in LaPorte. They were married on 8 Nov 1958 in LaPorte, and divorced on 13 Feb 1967. George worked in the insurance field until retiring. He received his BA in business from Indiana University and his Masters in Business Management from Aquinas College. He served in the Air Force. He received an Honorable discharge as a full staff sergeant. George loves to fish and all sports. George and Donna have 3 children, Diana (the source of our information), Mark and Karlene.
  4. Arlie Carey, born 6 Aug 1892 in Marion, IN, died 30 Mar 1970 in Marion. His name sometimes appears as Arley. He married May Bloom Williams, born 14 Oct 1892 in Marion, died 14 Mar 1989 in Marion. They were married on 10 May 1910 in Grant County, IN. According to George Carey:
    Bloom's parents did not like Arlie. Arlie and Bloom were divorced shortly after they were married to appease her parents. After their divorce they lived in separate apartments. However, they remained 'lovers' for the rest of their lives! Arlie lived in the apartment above the clothing store Bloom ran and she took care of him. He was on a military pension due to nerve gas exposure and was never able to work after being in the service.
    Arlie and Bloom had one son:
    1. Walter Carey, born 11 Jan 1911, died 13 Nov 1945 in Marion, IN. Walter married Margaret Hamaker and they had a son Carl David Carey.

Rosannah's first marriage. Before she married Luther, Rosannah was married to Steven Robison. They were married on 24 Mar 1872 in Adams county, IN, and had 3 daughters. After Steven died Rosannah married Luther and he raised the girls as his own:

  1. Etta Robison, born 22 Jan 1872 in Marion, IN. died 6 Jul 1951 in Antigo, WI. She married John Sommer who died in November 1940 in Antigo, WI. They had 3 children:
    1. Ivan Sommer who died in 1927 in Antigo.
    2. Lawrence Sommer who died in 1976 and had a son Jack Sommer.
    3. Helen Sommer who married Ray Adamski. They had 4 children:
      1. Saron Adamski who married a Berndt,
      2. Dale Adamski,
      3. Ginger Adamski who married a Shadelbrower, and,
      4. Gary Adamski.
  2. Delphina (Della) Robison, born 1873, died 7 Sep 1945 married Mac McKeever. They had a daughter, Georgia N. McKeever born 22 Oct 1900, died 30 Mar 1974. Georgia married John W. Stanley, born 1897. They were married in 1923.
  3. Effie Robison was born in 1877.

Luther and family in the U. S. Census. Between 1900 and 1910 Luther and Rosanna moved from Decatur, in Adams county, to Marion, in Grant county, where they bought a house on West 10th Street. Their three sons moved with them. All three boys were working in a foundry there in 1910. The following census records for the family have been located:

In 1920, Arlie and Bloom were living a block away on 9th Street with a widowed aunt and their son Walter. Arlie and Bloom were both working in an iron foundry, which seemed to be the principal source of jobs in this very small town.

Burials. The tombstones of the following members of Luther's family are listed at Find A Grave, all of them at the IOOF cemetery in Marion, now known as "Estates of Serenity":

Luther and Rosanna aren't listed.

This page was last updated 5 Jan 2012.