| Notes |
- Born at 11:00 p.m. -- Hale. Bond lists birth date as March 11, 1798 and marriage date as Oct. 3, 1823
JET notes that William is the "Captain" Carson mentioned many times in The History of Marion County.
"We can only speculate why William, the eldest son of Simon Carson, Jr. chose to leave his comfortable home in the Shenandoah Valley and ride west. Perhaps there was sibling rivalry, or an unrequited love. Maybe he caught the enthusiasm of the new settlers passing through the Valley, or was fired by friends such as the Boones. We only know that he set out at an early age, and spend several years in Kentucky before traveling on to Missouri. His ties with his family at "Pleasant Green" remained constant. Letters and visits back and forth indicated particularly his great love for his father.
"The land now known as Missouri had remained in the hands of the Indians until 1682. It then passed from the French to the Spanish, who encouraged pioneers from the east, and helped George Rogers Clark in his struggle against the English in the Mississippi Valley, during the Revolution. Much of what is now Missouri had been explored, and many communities had been established by 1800 when Spain returned the land to France. In 1803, France sold the entire Louisiana Territory to the United States. In 1812 the Territory of Missouri was formed, with a population of over 20,000.
"After a bitter, nation-wide quarrel between northern and southern sympathizers the Missouri Compromise was passed, admitting Missouri as a slave state in 1821.
"Arriving in Missouri in 1819, William Carson participated in the heated discussions of the time. He was a friend and admirer of Mr. Clay, author of the Missouri Compromise.
"Owing to Indian attacks on the northern and eastern frontiers of the state, the governor ordered, in 1832, that one thousand mounted volunteers be organized into a regiment. The first company of the regiment was commanded by Captain William Carson.
"William settled in New London, in what is now Ralls County, but soon moved to a farm near Palmyra in what is now Marion County, where he was a 'prominent character in the history of the county.' Starting in 1824 he was for six years Registrar of the local United States Land Office. For 14 years he was a Senator. He was Clerk of the Bank of the State of Missouri, a member of the Palmyra City Council and director of the public schools.
"While living in New London and teaching school, William had met Jacob and Mary Seeley, and their daughter Alethia, who was in William's class. Alethia's great grandfather was French and her great grandmother English. They fled to this country from England because of religious persecution, having espoused the Protestant faith. They settled in Pennsylvania, and her great grandfather had a mercantile business in Philadelphia.
"His son, John Seely, Alethia's grandfather, came to Missouri and entered a large tract of land near St. Louis, which was during those times under the French, then Spanish government. He was a physician, but unfortunately addicted to drink.
"His son, Jacob, the father of Alethia, married and settled on a farm of his own, a few miles from his father's. Here Alethia was born; and here, when she was ten years old, she lost her mother and all the family except her father with milk sickness. Her father then moved to Ralls County and engaged in the grocery business, buying and shipping produce to St. Louis. He died on one of these trips and was buried at Louisiana, Missouri.
"Alethia was married at the age of 16 to William Carson. They had five children.
"In 'The History of the Baptists in Missouri' by R.S. Duncan, we find the following:
"'Endowed with fine intellectual powers, genial disposition and good education... he [William Carson] aided the organization of the Baptist Church in New London... was present at Bethel Association, and acted as first clerk, and served for 20 years as clerk or moderator....
"'The early Baptists of Bethel Association had to fight a powerful Presbyterian element. About 1830 Dr. D. Nelson, D.D. settled in Marion County and started Marion College. He assembled a number of Presbyterian ministers around him to supply talent. They tried hard to rout the Baptists through the public press et al. He wrote a letter to the New York Evangelist and accused Baptists as being drunkards, Sabbath breakers, etc.
"'Carson, manly in a dignified way, replied, completely routing Nelson... In about 10 years Marion College and preparatory schools at East and West Ely were abandoned. Carson was present and participated in forming the Central Society in 1834. He was a member of the convention at Boonville in 1850 to locate William Jewell College.'
"As the rift grew between northern and southern states, a majority of the people of the county believed that the interests of Missouri were identical with those of the other slave-holding states, but wished to learn the policies of the new administration before considering withdrawal from the Union. Captain Carson and others wrote stirring appeals against secession; and Captain Carson headed the list of 78 prominent citizens of the county who earnestly 'sought to avoid the threatened calamity of war.' at a mass meeting on December 22 1860.
"On July 4, 1872 Captain Carson was made president of the Old Settlers Association.
"The following excerpts from Captain Carson's Obituary in the 'Palmyra Spectator' of November 7, 1873 indicate the regard in which he was held by his fellow citizens:
"'We regret to have to announce the death of another of the best and most respected of our pioneer citizens. On Monday last about four o'clock, Captain William Carson, whilst engaged in the active business of life, was taken with what is called, we believe, 'a congestive chill,; and being carried to his family home only a square or two, laid him down and quietly departed this life. Mrs. Carson was at the time absent on a visit to her friends in Pike County, and returned to find her long-tried friend and companion through many years of live, a corpse.
"'Captain Carson was born near Winchester, Frederick County, Virgina'.... [Here followed a summary of his services to the church, community, and government.]
"'His eminent social virtues combined with an ardent religious zeal and firm faith in the integrity of the Christian religion and a consistent Christian life, leaves but little doubt that he was ready for the messenger sent to call him to the skies. He was a good man, full of faith and of the Holy Ghost. In his death society loses a shining ornament, the Church a faithful and worthy member, the poor a friend, and the public a faithful servant.
"'His funeral obsequies were performed by his pastor, the Rev. Mr. Rodes, in the elegant church building of the Baptists on Main Street, where a large procession of the private and public schools, the Mayor and Common Council, Judges and other officers of our Courts, the Board of Common School Directors, and citizens on foot and in carriages, was formed, and with slow and solemn steps the long line of mourning friends and youths and little children headed by the principals and teachers of the different educational institutions represented in the processions, followed his remains to the family burial place, in the new cemetery in the suburbs of the city, where we buried him lowly in the dust of the earth, to await the sounding of the trump of God and the voice of the Archangel in the morning of the resurrection.'".... -- Bond, Marian Saunders. Some Ancestors, pp. 24-27.
Bond has a completely different listing of William and Alethia Carson's children as follows:
Mary
Marie L
Margaret
Eleanora Melissa (her ancestor)
William
"Bethel Association (N.E.)
"The early Baptists of Bethel Association had a most powerful and formidable Presbyterian element to contend with. About the year 1830 Dr. D. Nelson settled in Marion County, and commenced the establishment of Marion College. He called around him a number of Presbyterian ministers, like himself, eminent for talent. A most determined effort was made to rout the Baptists. One method resorted to by Dr. Neldon was to assail and denounce the Baptists through the public press. He wrote a letter to the New York Evangelist, in which he charged the Baptists with being drunkards, Sabbath-breakers, &c. Carson, then probably the only man in northeast Missouri able to meet him, entered the field against Dr. Nelson, and in a manley, Christian and dignified manner replied to him, denouncing his statements as a slander on the Baptists. Carson completely routed his antagonist and vindicated his bretheren. In about ten years, Marion College and the preparatory schools at East Ely and West Ely were abandoned, and the Baptists are now scarcely, if at all, second in efficiency to any denomination in those bounds.
"William Carson was present and participated in the formation of the Central Society in 1834; and was also a member of the convention at Boonville in 1850 to locate William Jewell College.
"After a short illness he died at his home in Palmyra, November 3, 1873. 'Dilligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving the lord,' express the life work of this good man." -- Duncan, R.S. A History of the Baptists in Missouri, embracing an accoung of the organization and growth of Baptist churches and associations; biographical sketches of ministers of the gospel and other prominent members of the denomination; the founding of Baptist institutions, periodicals, &c. Saint Louis: Scammell and Company, Publishers, 1882. p. 330.
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Taylor Family Genealogy
1795 - 1873 (78 years)
[1, 2]