GENERATION 13

GENERATION 12

Biography

The name of the father of the four sons is unknown. All that is known is that all four of the sons were born in London, Middlesex, England, around the end of the sixteenth century. The three youngest sons emigrated to America in the early 1620's. BENJAMIN, the oldest, remained in London, and died there about 1635.

William Carr was born in London, June 17, 1597. He married Susan Rothchild, in London, May 16, 1619. She was born in Devon, England, Apr. 30, 1598. They came to America in the fall of 1621, in the ship Fortune, Capt. Roger Williams, with thirty-five passengers on board. They landed at Plymouth, Plymouth, MA, Nov. 7, 1621. They stayed the following winter in Plymouth, and on June 1, 1622, they started in a south-westerly direction through the trackless wilderness with an Indian for a guide, and after a journey on foot of forty-eight days, they located a home, July 18, 1622, where the town of Bristol, RI, was afterward built. The town was laid out and named in 1636, by Roger Williams. William Carr died in Bristol, June 4, 1672, and his wife Susan died in the same place, May 3, 1671.

George Carr was born in London, about 1599. He married Lucinda Devenport and came to America, bringing his young wife with him. His wife died not long after arriving. A few years later he settled in Ipswich, and from there removed with the first settler of Colechester (Salisbury), Essex, MA. He was granted an island in the Merrimac river for a home and the purposes of a shipyard, and it was called Carr's Island. The action of the town in relation to the grant of the island was as follows: "At a general meeting of the freemen of the town of Colechester, the 3rd day of the 5th month, 1640, it was ordered yt (that) George Carr shall have the island where he now dwells, as well as the marsh and upland, it being the greatest island within the town limits, in the Merrimack river, to him and to his heirs and assigns forever." Oct. 7, 1640, it was ordered by the General Court that "Colechester is henceforth to be called Salisbury."

The island was the home of the Carrs for a number of generations, and the possession of this island gave the family the monopoly of the ferrying business across the river in ye olden times. This ferry at George Carr's death was considered to be worth £400. Two of the family were drowned while attending the ferry. The large house on Carr's Island was destroyed by fire, May 9, 1797. George Carr died in Salisbury, April 4. 1682, and his second wife Elizabeth, died in the same place, May 6, 1691.

James Carr was born in London, about 1601. He ran away from home when a boy and went to sea, and afterward became a sea captain. He was drowned while on voyage from the West Indies to Boston. It is presumed he had no family.