Category Archives: Carlisle

Carlisle

Possible Clue for Robert Carlisle?

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Finding parents and/or siblings for my 5X great grandfather Loyalist Robert Carlisle has frustrated me for many years.

When I’ve managed to break through other brick walls similar to this, I’ve found that the mystery family was so difficult to find because a spouse had died young and/or the person only had sisters – no male siblings to hunt down.

At the moment, my theory is that Robert Carlisle’s father might have died when he was young and Robert’s mother remarried.

Robert’s exact birth year is unknown, but wife Catherine’s birth year was c1761 per her widow’s pension file. Robert served as a lance corporal during the battle of Fort Cumberland, today in New Brunswick, Canada, in 1776.

A lance corporal is a low-ranking military position. With Robert’s wife born c1761 and his estimated year of marriage being 1785, probably in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, Robert was probably born between 1755-1760.

In 2019, I was lucky enough to visit the Provincial Archives of Nova Scotia, for a couple of hours while off a cruise ship.

I found a marriage record for Dennis Heffernan of Halifax to Mrs. Jane Carlisle on 19 December 1761.

Dennis Heffernan wrote his will on 5 May 1784 and it was proved in court on 14 June 1784. No wife was mentioned, but he did name his three sons and four daughters.

Online family trees, for whatever they are worth, claim with no source cited that Jane (MNU) Carlisle Heffernan died in 1777.

Unfortunately, if Robert Carlisle was Dennis’s stepson, he wasn’t mentioned in the will.

However, it turns out that there is an estate file for James “Carlile” filed in Halifax. For whatever reason, Halifax County didn’t opt to share it’s probate files on FamilySearch, but an online index includes an entry for “Carlile, James, Reel 19399, File C022.”

Jane Carlisle is identified as “Mrs.” in the marriage record and her deceased husband was James Carlisle.

Further research found a probate record for James Carlile dated 17 April 1761, widow Jane, and this tantalizing clue: INNHOLDER.

Why is James Carlile’s occupation of INNHOLDER so interesting?

Look at this land petition for Robert Carlisle in 1793:

The Memorial of Robert Carlisle Humbly Sheweth that Your memorialist Settled Eight years ago at the portage on the Cumberland Road Adjoining the land appointed by Government for the purpose of Keeping a tavern for the Accomadation of Travellers and have received part of the Money Appropriated by the Honble Council and Assembly for that purpose.

There is more, but the important part is that Robert was a TAVERN KEEPER for the accommodation of travelers. Sounds like an inn keeper to me.

My question now is whether it is just a coincidence that both James Carlile and Robert Carlisle were inn keepers?

Depending on how old Robert was when James died in 1761, if he is James’s son, he might or might not have any memories of his father. However, if Jane was his mother, wouldn’t she have told Robert about his father and perhaps even pointed out the location in Halifax where James worked?

A request is in for a copy of the estate papers of James Carlile. It’s possible that only his wife is named – she might have served as the estate administrator – and it’s also possible if Robert was about the same age as his wife Catherine, that Robert was born soon after the death of his father.

Therefore, the estate papers might not prove anything.

So far, the pieces fit my Robert Carlisle puzzle. Robert even had a son named James. No daughter named Jane, but since there are no birth/baptismal records for most of the children, he could have had a daughter named Jane who died young and unmarried.

It will be interesting to see if this possible bread crumb leads anywhere.

Carlisle

Maternal Branches on the Family Tree: Abigail Carlisle (1793-1871)

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Today’s life sketch will look at Abigail Carlisle, sister of Catherine, who was featured earlier this month.

Although I have a number of cousin intermarriages in the 1600s and early 1700s, Abigail and Catherine are the only relatively recent examples of pedigree collapse in my family tree, which occurred when Catherine’s son married Abigail’s daughter.

I mentioned in Catherine’s post that the two sisters led very different lives after marriage. Catherine moved three times while married to John Stewart for 55 years. Abigail’s life turned out much differently.

Abigail Carlisle was born in 1793, most likely in Sussex, Kings, New Brunswick, Canada, the daughter of Robert and Catherine (MNU) Carlisle. She was the fifth born child, but the first daughter.

Exactly how Abigail met her future husband is something of a mystery. Israel Hicks was born c1785 in New Brunswick, Canada. The Hicks family were pre-Loyalists, having left Rhode Island for a new life in what was at the time Nova Scotia.

Israel Hicks married (1) Mary Elizabeth Wry, 29 January 1807 in Sackville, Westmorland, New Brunswick, Canada, but Mary died c1817/1818, possibly in childbirth. She was survived by her four young children, aged about 7 years and younger.

Israel needed a wife to care for these children and he married Abigail, who would have been about 25 years old. That is a bit older than the typical age for young women to have a first marriage, but not terribly unusual.

Given her age, it’s possible that Abigail traveled with her brother James, who purportedly had children born in Westmorland County or her brother John, who also lived in several counties in New Brunswick and Maine.

Regardless of how Israel and Abigail met, they married and settled down in Wellington, Kent, New Brunswick, Canada. In addition to Mariner, Silas, Pamelia and Israel, children born to first wife Mary Wry, Abigail gave birth to eight children of her own, all of whom were named in their father’s will.

Israel was a farmer by occupation, but the cause of his body being “sick and weak” on 15 May 1835, the day he wrote his will, isn’t known.

Israel’s will was proved on 9 December 1835, not only leaving Abigail a relatively young widow at the age of about 42 years, but with twelve children.

Surprisingly, Abigail never remarried. Perhaps she had enough help with her children and nearby family to maintain the farm.

Despite repeated attempts, Abigail (Carlisle) Hicks has not been found in the 1851 0r 1861 censuses of Canada nor in the 1850 or 1860 U.S. census.

By 1870, Abigail is living with daughter Elida (Hicks) Stewart’s family in Meddybemps, Washington, Maine, where she died on 27 March 1871. She is buried in Meddybemps Cemetery with Elida’s family and her son, David Harris Hicks, who died there on 27 September 1853.

Children:

1. Ira, born 3 September 1821; died 11 September 1980, McKees Mills, Kent, New Brunswick, Canada; married Matilda Abrams, 25 November 1844, Kent, New Brunswick, Canada
2. Polly, born c1823; died after May 1835, when she is named in her father’s will
3. Ephraim, born c1825; died after May 1835, when he is named in his father’s will
4. William, born c1827; died after May 1835, when he is named in his father’s will
5. David Harris, born December 1829; died 27 September 1853, Meddybemps, Washington, Maine; unmarried
6. Charles, born c1831; died after May 1835, when he is named in his father’s will
7. Elida Ann, born 1833; died 20 February 1914, Calais, Washington, Maine; married Charles Stewart, about 6 July 1850, Calais, Washington, Maine
8. Valentine, born December 1834; died 20 March 1912, Bangor, Penobscot, Maine; married Mary Ellen Nodding, c1862

What became of children Polly, Ephraim, William and Charles is unknown. The males don’t appear in the deeds index. It is possible they removed to another Canadian province or died before the 1851 census. None has been located in U.S. records either.

There are no known photographs of Abigail (Hicks) Carlisle.

American Revolution, Carlisle

Maternal Branches on the Family Tree: Catherine Carlisle (1793-1870+)

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This month, the two posts telling the stories of my 3X great grandmothers covers sisters Catherine and Abigail Carlisle, daughter of Robert Carlisle, who lived in Canada during the American Revolution and defended Fort Cumberland, New Brunswick in the 1770s.

Although sisters who grew up together, Catherine’s and Abigail’s married lives and homes were quite different. Today’s life sketch shares Catherine’s story.

Catherine Carlisle was born c1793 in New Brunswick, Canada per American census records. Yes, American!

She married John Stewart on 28 December 1814 in the little village of Susses, Kings, New Brunswick, Canada. John and Catherine likely remained in Sussex for the first few years of their marriage, as both had families living there.

The first two sons of thirteen known children were born in Canada. However, not long after the 1820 Maine census, the young Stewart family moved to Charlotte, Washington, Maine.

The reason for the family’s move from New Brunswick to Maine is not known as John worked solely as a small farmer. Perhaps land was difficult to obtain around Sussex. It is known that several Sprague family members plus John and James Carlisle also settled in Charlotte in the same time period. John and James were brothers of Catherine (Carlisle) Stewart). I’ve also wondered, but have never been able to prove a theory that Catherine’s mother might be a Sprague, as they definitely were part of the same FAN club.

The family lived happily in the new town of Charlotte with Catherine’s remaining eleven children all being recorded in the town vital records.

Children (All born in Charlotte unless noted otherwise):

1. Son, born c1816; died after 1830
2. William, born 7 July 1817, Sussex Vale, Kings, New Brunswick, Canada; died 15 January 1899, Topsfield, Washington, Maine; married (1) Eunice P. (MNU), before 1850 (2) Sarah L. Crabtree, 7 August 1864, Princeton, Washington, Maine
3. Charles Augustus, born 1 July 1822; died 24 November 1894, Meddybemps, Washington, Maine; married Elida Ann Hicks, 6 July 1850 (intentions), Calais, Washington, Maine
4. Walter, born 15 August 1824; died 13 August 1853, Bridgewater, Aroostook, Maine; unmarried
5. Robert Nelson, born 31 August 1826; died between July 1869-7 December 1875, probably New Brunswick, Canada; married Eliza Augusta Grass, 16 March 1860, Charlotte, Washington, Maine
6. Nancy Ann, born 19 July 1827; died 7 April 1909, Easton, Aroostook, Maine; married Thomas Jenkins, c1848, probably Aroostook County, Maine
7. Mary, born 20 July 1829; died 2 October 1907, Oakfield, Aroostook, Maine; married Joel Hamilton Howard, c1860
8. Abigail, born 25 August 1831; died 13 April 1910, Mars Hill, Aroostook, Maine; married Elijah Lincoln Sprague, c1849
9. Polly, born 10 October 1833; died 10 November 1833, Charlotte, Washington, Maine
10. Myrta, born 21 January 1835; died before 1850
11. George A., born 6 February 1838; died 6 July 1892, Mars Hill, Aroostook, Maine; unmarried
12. Daughter, born c1839; died after 1840
13. Eunice, born 31 August 1841; died after 1850

Catherine would have been a very busy housewife, raising her children and helping John with farm chores. There weren’t any amenities to be had and the “big city” of Calais was 13 miles away. That was a rigorous trip in 1821 and I don’t imagine the family spent much time there.

I think it’s more likely that perhaps John and several other men might have traveled to Calais to obtain needed supplies and that they were gone for 2 or 3 days. those trips, however, would have been few and far between.

John decided to relocate his family once again in the 1840s. It seems that when John was able to see smoke from his neighbors’ chimneys, it was time to move. The Stewarts’ new home was in Portland Academy Grant, Aroostook, Maine, created in 1844. Aroostook County has a small population even today, but in the 1840s, there were only a handful of fledgling towns. Today, the town is known as Bridgewater.

By 1850, when John and Catherine are enumerated in the census, only George and Eunice were still at home. In 1860, John and Catherine were at home with a twelve year old boy, Charles Rankins, born in New Brunswick, Canada, living with him. Luckily, Charles was enumerated twice, once with the Stewarts and once with his family. He was the son of John Rankins, who also lived in Bridgewater, and I suspect that Charles helped the Stewarts with farm chores. By 1860, John was 75 and Catherine was about 60 years old.

John Stewart died on 28 November 1869 in nearby Mars Hill, Aroostook, Maine, where his brother was living. He and Catherine had been married for 55 years when he died.

Catherine lived with son, George, in 1870, and likely died in Bridgewater sometime before the 1880 census.

To summarize, Catherine lived in three towns during her lifetime – Sussex in Canada, and then Charlotte and Bridgewater in Maine. She and husband John had thirteen children, but as many as six might have died in their youth. They preferred life in rural areas which were very much state frontier lands at the time they settled.

Note, too, that I have no evidence that Catherine and her sister, Abigail, ever saw each other again after the Stewarts left Canada. It’s not impossible, but no records indicate otherwise.

Later this month, the life story of Catherine’s sister, Abigail, will be shared. There were marked differences in their lifestyles.

There are no known photographs of John and Catherine Stewart or their children, at least that I’ve been able to find.