Isaac Carter: Determining the Identity of Same Name Rev War Soldiers, Part 1

Have you ever come upon some information that was published in a book by credentialed individuals and assumed that because they said it was so, it must be?

I’m sure that at one time or another, we’ve all done that. But can authors make errors? Certainly. There are some cases where the only people who might be able to spot such a mistake are those who have first-hand knowledge of a family’s history because it is their own. When presented with what appears to be a find, they accept it as a clue and take it to the next level.

It’s a bit like being a detective.

This latter group of researchers is familiar with the names associated with their family. When a clue is revealed, they possess the instinct to know if the information is sound, or if there might be some room for interpretation. Such was the case of Isaac Carter’s Revolutionary War record. (March 2008)

My husband’s CARTER ancestry takes us back to colonial North Carolina, to New Bern in Craven County. His 3^rd great-grandfather Isaac Carter, Sr. was born a Free Person of Color about 1760 and married Sarah Perkins, on February 3, 1786. She was the daughter of George Perkins and sister of Isaac Perkins. You can see them enumerated here on the 1790 Census.

Isaac Carter's family of five (5) were living adjacent to his brother-in-law Isaac Perkins (2) and two up from his father-in-law, George Perkins (4). Note that the only record was the total number of All Other Free Persons of Color living in the household.

Following the 2007 George Family Reunion in North Harlowe, NC, my husband and I paid a visit to the Kellenberger Room at New Bern-Craven County Public Library. After giving some background information to Local History Librarian, Victor Jones, Jr., he immediately pulled Paul Heinegg’s award-winning book, Free African Americans of North Carolina and Virginia, 3rd Edition, 1997.

"Isaac Carter, called a "Mulatto" in his Revolutionary War pension application, enlisted in the 8th North Carolina Regiment on 1 September 1777, was taken prisoner, and was discharged on 20 February 1780 [Crow, Black Experience in Revolutionary North Carolina, 98]. He was head of a Craven County household of 5 "other free" in 1790 [NC:131]." <<http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/revolution.htm>>

There it was. Our Isaac Carter recorded in the 1790 Census had served in the Revolutionary War. But that was too easy. I decided to stay on the trail and examined the next clue.

I went to my home library's North Carolina Room and checked the original citation in Jeffrey Crow’s book, but it didn’t record any more information than the transcription that Heinegg had cited.

Believing that there had to be more information somewhere to identify this Isaac Carter as ours, I started looking at sources detailing the 8^th North Carolina Regiment . . .

Honoring our Ancestors: Free Black Patriots of the Revolutionary War

When I was first contacted last October to assist in some research for a member of the DAR who was looking for the burial ground of her ancestor, Isaac Carter, I had no idea it would lead to such a wonderful tribute--with full honors--to our free black ancestors of Craven County, North Carolina. Nor would I have guessed that I would be meeting together with Ms. Maria William Cole, National Vice Chairman Insignia, of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, and a host of other dignitaries, from the highest officials of the SAR to state and local political and community service leaders, to pay tribute to these patriots. The turnout exceeded my expectation when this event proceeded on a cold and rainy Sunday afternoon, with close to a hundred and fifty people or more, seated on folding chairs under three canopy tents. The microphone cable lay along the wet grass and soon died out, and we, the speakers, were asked to use our "mother's voices" to make o...

How Family History Writing Forces Us to Dig DEEPER

February is Family History Writing Month During the month of February, I went on hiatus from the Civil War Pension File of Isaac Carter in order to participate in the Family History Writing Challenge. My goal was quite ambitious, but I did succeed in setting up the framework of the family history memoir, and wrote a rough draft of the opening scenes. The memoir focuses on a promise I had made to our Cousin Hattie Carter Becton in an interview, following the the 2009 George Family Reunion in North Harlowe, North Carolina. In case you missed the Challenge, you can find the posts here . The site was developed especially for writing challenges, beginning with this year's; so, you may want to go back to the first posts in the archive. March was memoir reading, research & development month Last month I continued working on the writing, but also began focusing on webinars and YouTube videos related to writing memoir. Two really great sites are National Association of Memoir Writ...

Those Places Thursday -- Robert Livingston House, Little River, SC

In July of 2008 we attended the Prince Livingston Family Reunion in Wampee, Horry County, South Carolina (my husband's maternal family). During our down time we decided to take a drive through Little River where the plantation owner, Robert Livingston, had once lived. We inquired at the Visitor Center, and learned that the Robert Livingston House had been preserved as an historical landmark. The brochure we received listed several different sites that interested us, but the Livingston House was our first destination. We drove along Highway 17S and drove past the turn off for Lakeside Drive. At the next light we turned around and headed back down the highway until we came to the street. About two-thirds of the way down the road we saw a sign along the roadside: 19th Century Victorian Home for Sale. Was that the house? The number on the mail box was 4441. That's it! We got out of the car and looked around only to find that the owner was at home, and he was in the process...

Root DiggerJuly 16, 2011 at 3:23 AM
What I found interesting in the 1790 Census document you posted is that there is a William Dove. I am really assuming that the William Dove that bonded my 3G Grandfather William Cully and My 3G Uncle James Cully, might be the same one. Our families were living in the same vicinity.

In Black and White: Cross-Cultural Genealogy

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