Husband James Oliver Carson 1 2
Born: 4 Feb 1796 - Greencastle, Franklin Co, PA 1
Christened:
Died: 14 Jun 1870 - Mercersburg, Franklin Co, PA 1
Buried:
Father: David Carson (1750-1823) 2 3 4
Mother: Jean Oliver (1760-1839) 2 3 4
Marriage: 2 Jan 1821 - Hagerstown, Washington Co, MD 5
• Biographical Sketch: from History of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Warner, Beers & Co., 1887).
To read this brief biographical sketch of his life and career, click here.
Wife Rosanna Marshall White 2 5
Born: 2 May 1791 - Ligonier Valley, Westmoreland Co, PA 5
Christened:
Died: 24 Sep 1879 - Mercersburg, Franklin Co, PA 5
Buried:
Father: John White ( - ) 5
Mother: Ellen Williams ( - ) 5
Children
1 M Ebenezer Erskin Carson 6
Born: 4 Nov 1822 - Hagerstown, Washington Co, MD 6
Christened:
Died: 1 Feb 1823 - Hagerstown, Washington Co, MD 6
Buried:
Spouse: Did Not Marry
2 M David Carson 6
Born: 23 Mar 1824 - Hagerstown, Washington Co, MD 6
Christened:
Died: 13 Sep 1862 - Baltimore, MD 6
Buried:
Spouse: Mary E. Patterson ( - ) 6
Marr: Sep 1845 6
3 F Ellen Jane Carson 6
Born: 12 Apr 1826 - Hagerstown, Washington Co, MD 6
Christened:
Died: 1 Oct 1881 - Mercersburg, Franklin Co, PA 6
Buried:
Spouse: Duncan James McNaughton ( - ) 6
Marr: Sep 1845 6
4 F Elizabeth Erskin Carson 6
Born: 18 Mar 1828 - Mercersburg, Franklin Co, PA 6
Christened:
Died: 1 Jul 1869 - Mercersburg, Franklin Co, PA 6
Buried:
Spouse: Thomas Clarkson Grove ( - ) 6
Marr: 1852 6
5 M James White Carson 6
Born: 12 Feb 1830 - Mercersburg, Franklin Co, PA 6
Christened:
Died: Aft 1887
Buried:
Spouse: Rebecca M. Darrah ( - ) 6
Marr: 15 Dec 1857 6
6 M John Lind Carson 6
Born: 30 Aug 1832 - Mercersburg, Franklin Co, PA 6
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Mary Masters Ruely ( - ) 6
General Notes: Husband - James Oliver Carson
During a long and active life he was prominent in the business and industrial life and development of southern Pennsylvania. He was for many years an associate judge of Franklin County, and a man of influence and power in the section of the county in which he resided. He was a man of stern but sterling qualities of character, of strong convictions and decided opinions, of unflinching moral courage, of excellent executive ability, and as a disciplinarian in the family and in business he had few superiors. His education was such as the schools of his native town afforded. At about the age of seventeen or eighteen he left his home and entered the service of John and Hugh Kennedy, at Hagerstown, Maryland, as a clerk. This firm's business operations, which included mercantile, milling and other interests were the most extensive in the state of Maryland at that time, outside the city of Baltimore. The Messrs. Kennedy were not only enterprising business men of marked ability, but were highly cultured Christian gentlemen, one of them, John, being an accomplished Latin, Greek and Hebrew scholar. It was in this school, with such men as instructors, that Mr. Carson received his business training. He always esteemed it a kind providence which cast his lot with them upon leaving the parental home. Until married, his home at Hagerstown was in the family of Mr. John Kennedy, by whom he was taught to speak Pennsylvania German with fluency, as if "to the manor born," an acquirement which through life proved to be of great value to him in his business. Soon after reaching his majority he was admitted to an interest in the mercantile branch of the business of John & Hugh Kennedy, and continued in business with them until 1826, when he moved to Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, where he resided the remaining forty-four years of his life.
The considerations which suggested and induced his leaving Hagerstown at that time, may be regarded by many as unique. His business was prosperous, his social relations satisfactory, but his church connection (Associate Reformed Presbyterian) did not satisfy his mind and conscience. He believed that church was growing lax in doctrine, not "contending for the truth once delivered to the saints," and for that reason decided to remove from Hagerstown and locate where he could enjoy church privileges in connection with a communion whose testimony for the truth accorded with his own views. In days of rationalism and the "new religion," he might be regarded by many as a very narrow minded man upon questions of religious doctrine, but there can be no doubt of the conscientious sincerity of his belief. Since he always had the courage of his convictions upon issues both secular and religious, his decision to leave Hagerstown and the reasons therefore, were entirely consistent with his character. After deciding to make a change, he for some time balanced in his mind between making Baltimore City or Mercersburg his future home. The scale was turned in favor of the latter by the fact that an Associate Presbyterian Church was established there, and that he would be within easy reach of his widowed mother, then still living at Greencastle.
He was appointed associate judge for the 16th Pennsylvania District in 1856, reappointed in 1861, and again appointed in 1864. He also represented his district in the legislature of Pennsylvania. The later Mercersburg Hotel was his mansion house, where it is said he rarely sat down to a board of less than twenty covers, entertaining all the celebrities of the day as they traveled from Philadelphia in the east and Baltimore on the south to the west and north or vice versa over the old pike.
General Notes: Wife - Rosanna Marshall White
About 1805 or 1806 she traveled on horseback from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, to Hagerstown, Maryland, to make her home with her aunt, Mrs. Sarah White, widow of John Wagoner, who lived at the old homestead of Peter White ("End the Strife"). She lived with this aunt until May, 1818, when upon the death of her cousin, Mrs. Margaret Wagner, wife of John Kennedy, she entered his family and took charge of his house. Thus she and Mr. Carson became members of the same household.