Adam Carnahan and Ruth McElwayne

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Husband Adam Carnahan ^{1 2}

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           Born: 22 Nov 1777 - Carlisle, Cumberland Co, PA 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 25 Aug 1853 1
         Buried: 

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         Father: [Ancestor] Carnahan (      -      )
         Mother: 

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       Marriage: 

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Wife Ruth McElwayne ¹

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           Born: 25 Jan 1781 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 23 Jun 1853 1
         Buried: 

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Children

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1 F [Infant] Carnahan ³

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           Born: 1801 - Mill Creek Twp, Mercer Co, PA
     Christened: 
           Died: 1801 - Mill Creek Twp, Mercer Co, PA
         Buried: 

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2 F Margaret Carnahan ¹

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           Born: 6 Feb 1804 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Wilkes Walker (      -      ) 1

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3 F Nancy Carnahan ¹

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           Born: 18 Jan 1806 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: John Hanna (      -      ) 1

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4 F Maria Carnahan ^{1 5}

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            AKA: Maria Carnavan 4
           Born: 5 Jul 1808 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: [Unk] Walker (      -      ) 1 4

         Spouse: James Hanna (1796-1883) 4 6

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5 M James Madison Carnahan ¹

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           Born: 3 Dec 1810 - near New Lebanon, Mercer Co, Pa 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 12 Sep 1901 1
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Mary McElwayne (      -      ) 1
           Marr: 1837 1

         Spouse: Mary Wilson (      -      ) 1

         Spouse: Permelia Coulson (      -      ) 1

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6 F Elizabeth Carnahan ¹

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           Born: 16 Apr 1813 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Adam Thompson (      -      ) 1

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7 M Adam Carnahan, Jr. ¹

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           Born: 12 Oct 1816 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Lizzie Moore (      -      ) 1

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8 F Ruth Carnahan ^{1 7}

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           Born: 28 Dec 1818 1 7
     Christened: 
           Died: 1894 7
         Buried: 

         Spouse: William Zahniser (1811-1877) 7 8
           Marr: 1841 7

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9 M John Carnahan ¹

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           Born: 15 Apr 1821 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

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10 M William Carnahan ¹

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           Born: 19 Jul 1823 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

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General Notes: Husband - Adam Carnahan

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He was a soldier in the War of 1812. All his life he was a resident of Pennsylvania, settling at New Lebanon, Mercer County, sometime before 1819, on a tract of five hundred acres for which he had obtained a patent.

This man's life reads like a record of misfortunes. It appears that some adverse destiny was his, and that a fatality shaped all his ends. He took pos-session of a tract in what was afterward Sandy Lake Township, Mercer County, Pennsylvania, in the summer of 1797, having entered the region from Westmoreland County in the faint hope of bettering his condition in life. Upon this tract he built a humble cabin, made some needed improvements, and had just begun the work of clear-ing for himself a farm, with fair prospects ahead, when a stranger suddenly appeared upon the scene of action, and politely insisted that he (Carnahan) was an intruder upon another's property, and intimated that if he would take the trouble to accompany the said stranger to the other side of the tract in question he (Carnahan) would be abundantly satisfied of the correctness of his (the stranger's) assertions. Upon expressing his willingness to witness any such indubitable evidence, the stranger led off and Carnahan followed. After a short walk they arrived at a pile of upright poles, arranged in some sort of order, which the former declared was the remains of a cabin which he had him-self erected the year previous. Now Carnahan, according to all accounts, was a mild mannered man, averse to creating disturbances, so, rather than raise any question of the stranger's veracity, he merely picked up his things and got out. This was misfortune number one. From his recent home he removed to a farm near Milledgeville, where he erected a second cabin, began the cultiv-ation of crops, and, in short, undertook to retrieve his fallen fortunes. But for some unexplained reason he found it necessary to return to Westmoreland County. Being a confiding man, too, as well as mild mannered, he induced a neighboring family to occupy his cabin during his absence, hoping thereby to prevent any intrusion upon his rights. Here, though, was misfortune number two. For when he returned, after a few months' stay, the family to whom he had intrusted the keeping of his claim refused to yield possession, and, as they had nine points of law, Carnahan was again shut out into the cold, cold world. Stung by these repeated persecutions, and embittered by the reflection that he was nothing but a mere atom of destiny, he wandered off to Mill Creek Township, where in the year 1800 he at length found rest, and located upon a tract of land later occupied by Thomas Burrows. [HMC 1888, 559]

1 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 761.

2 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 340.

3 —, History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1877), Pg 56.

4 J. H. Newton, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Columbus, OH: J. A. Caldwell Publishers, 1879), Pg 487.

5 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 775.

6 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 775, 1011.

7 Kate M. Zahniser & Charles Reed Zahniser, The Zahnisers - A History of the Family in America (Mercer, PA: Kate M. Zahniser, Publisher, 1906), Pg 133.

8 —, History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Its Past and Present (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk & Co., Publishers, 1888), Pg 1018.