On This Day - January 1st

GIDEON WINSTON CARR  1711-1783

FACTS

     Gideon Carr was born on January 1, 1711.  His father was William Carr and his birth and baptism are recorded in Christ Church Parish in Middlesex County, Virginia. His mother is not listed on the christening which was recorded on 2 Feb 1712. There is very little information about his early years. It is believed both his parents died while he was still young.  He received 400 acres located in the  Southwest Mountains of Albemarle County, Virginia from his Uncle Thomas Carr. There was a condition attached - he must live on the land. He accepted and lived there for the rest of his life, his death occurring 11 April 1783. His will is dated 19 Mar 1776.  In it he mentions his wife Susannah, to whom he leaves his land, plantation and five Negroes during her natural life. At her death the estate was to be divided equally among his eight living children: Thomas, Elizabeth Fitch, John, Nancy, Gideon, Mary, Micajah and Meekins.  His son William predeceased him and he left his heirs one shilling 3 pence. The first copy of his will was destroyed when Tarleton's Calvary invaded Charlottsville attempting to capture Governor Jefferson in June 1781. His sons Thomas and Micajah, executors of Gideon's will, submitted and swore to a true copy of the will in 1794.

FAMOUS NEIGHBORS

    Gideons's uncle Thomas has acquired 10,000 acres north of Charlottsville in Southwest Mountains along the Rivanna River.  Most of this land was left to his sons and they built large estates. So there were many Carr families residing in the area.  Among the earliest families in the area was Nicholas Meriwether, on the east side of the ridge, Jonathan Clark, on the other side of the ridge, and Robert Lewis further to the west. Peter Jefferson received 1,000 acres on the Rivanna River that included the small mountain that became Monticello. So along with the explorers Lewis and Clark was the future President Thomas Jefferson.

     Gideon's cousin Dabney Carr (1743-1773) married Thomas Jefferson's sister Martha.  Thomas and Dabney were classmates, both studying law at the College of William and Mary. Dabney was also elected to the House of Burgess. He was the one to introduce the resolution to create inter-colony committees of correspondence in 1773.  This in turn led to the creation of the  Continental Congress in 1774 which Dabney did not live to see.  Dabney is buried at Monticello.

GIDEON'S CHILDREN

1. William Carr (abt 1741- abt 1776)
        The following is the from Virginia Magazine of History and Biography Vol. VII, pg 249, publisihed 1893.  It the "Reminiscences of Wester Virginia 1770-1790 by John Redd:

      William Carr was another longhunter, he was raised in the county of Albemarl, Va., and at a very early period removed to the frontier. In 1775 I became acquainted with him in powels valley, he lived on the frontier for some 20 years or more and had spent the whole time hunting. Carr hunted over in Kentucky beyond the Cumberland montaine to the right of Cumberland gap in a place called the brush. Car always returned with his horses loded with fur and skins, he described the game as being so gentle that the animals would rarely ever run from the report of a gun. Car was the most venturesome hunter that I ever knew, he would frequently go on these hunting expeditions alone. After the breaking out of the Indian war in 1776, few men ventured on these long hunts. Car determined to take one more long hunt and as no one would go with him he determined to go alone, accordingly he provided himself with a good supply of powder and led, his steel-trap, two good horses and set out on a long hunt and was never heard of afterward, he was no doubt killed by the Indians.

2. Thomas Dabney Carr (1742-1821)
     Thomas was born in Albemarle County, VA.  He served during the Revolutionary War and received bounty land and later a pension for his service.  He married Ann Sanders in 1770 and they had 14 children.  They moved to Wilson County, Tennessee about 1807.
      From the Central Gazette, Charlottesville, VA, 6 July 1821:

       Died at his residence in Wilson County Tennessee 5th May 1821, Thomas Carr, age 79 years.  He has left a widow and very numerous offspring to lament their loss. He was a native of Virginia, his father Gideon Carr was the first settler of the north side of the Southwest Mountains where the deceased lived until he was 65 years old. He had long been a respectable member of the Baptist Church. May his godly walk prove a blessing to all who knew him.

3. Elizabeth Carr (1744 - ?)
     Married John Fitch about 1765 and had at least 4 children.

4. John Carr (abt 1746 - 1809)
    Married Mary Elizabeth Downer in 1770.  Served in the Revolutionary War and has an insignia from the DAR on his headstone in the Rigory Gravsite at Stony Point, Albemarle, VA.

5. Micajah Carr (abt 1748-1812)
   Married Elizabeth Wood abt 1788.

6. Gideon Winston Carr, Jr. (1752-1844)
     Gideon was born in Albermarle County, VA and in 1768 married Ann Sandidge in Charlottesville. He served during the Revolutionary War and received a pension of $21 per year for his service. He and Ann had ten children. Most of his children left Virginia, relocating in Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri. At about the age of 70 he and his wife joined their children in Dickson County, Tennessee.
     Below is the letter he wrote back to Virginia, it is currently in the George Carr papers at the University of Virginia:  [Minor Bibb is the husband of his daughter Susan.]

      State of Tennessee, Dickson County, May 18, 1824.Dear Brothers and Sister:I now embrace the opportunity of informing you that I am now enjoying reasonable health at present thanks be to Almighty God for his mercy, hoping these few lines when coming to hand will find you all enjoying the like sense. I will inform you that after 36 days travel (lying out every night) I have arrived safe at son Minor Bibb’s on the 22nd day of December last without any particular occurrences on the more than I walked up Cumberland Mountain. I have taken up about 7 miles from Minor Bibb in the barons where I can go a mile and not find a tree large enough to make 4 rails to the cut, and the grass up to the cows’ belly. The land where I now live is said to produce 8 barrels of corn per acre. Game is very plenty here with the turkeys so plentiful here that they gobble all around near in hearing of the house. Son Bluford has seen upwards of a dozen deer in a day, but I cannot see to kill any of them. From what I have seen I like very well here, it occurs to me that this is the land that Moses viewed at a distance abounding with milch and honey. There is one man in this neighbourhood that has sold (after reserving plenty for himself) more pork than any four families there can kill in one season. Corn is selling at one dollar per barrel, wheat looks prosperous. I wish you to write every opportunity. I have nothing of importance to write. My Children are all in reasonable health and doing very well. I intend after further observations to write more fully, so conclude with remaining your loving brother until death.(Signed) Gideon Carr

6. Mary Carr (abt 1754- ?)
    Married Thomas Travillian in 1787.

8. Nancy Carr (abt 1756- abt 1830)
    Married Benjamin Thurman. They remained in Albemarle County and had at lease six children. Nancy was living at the time of her husband's death in 1826.

9. Meekins Carr (1762- aft 1850)
    Served during the Revolutionary War and received a pension of $20 per year. Married Nancy Wood in 1793. He had at least six children. Lived his entire life in Albermarle and the last record is the 1850 census when he was 88 years old.


GIDEON WINSTON CARR IS THE FIFTH GREAT GRANDFATHER of my husband JOSEPH FRANK TOWLES JR.

Gideon Winston Carr (1711-1783) 
    Gideon Winston Carr Jr. (1752-1844)
          Susan Hamner Carr (1779-1860)
              Sarah Mead Bibb (1807-1852)
                    Minor Mitchell Eleazer (1830-1900)
                         Van Jackson Eleazer (1864-1932)
                               Beatrice Irene Eleazer (1896-1974)
                                    Francis Lynn Hall (1925-2007)
a double relationship
              Susan C. Bibb (1813-1881)  sister of Sarah Mead Bibb above
                   Elizabeth Catherine Stuart (1835-1873)
                        William Pullen Hall (1868-1958)
                              John Loyd Hall (1891-1964) m. Beatrice Irene Eleazer his 3rd cousin
                                    Francis Lynn Hal (1925-2007)