Saturday, October 29, 2011

Surname Saturday - The "Lost" Cary Family of Horton, NS

This is Part III in a series of posts demonstrating evidence that my 3rd great grandfather, David Fuller married Mary Cary. Up until now, It has been widely accepted that his wife was Mary Curry.


Please read the first two posts to see all the evidence.
Part 1: Can a published genealogy be wrong?
Part 2: Mary Curry's TRUE husband

In the previous posts, I have demonstrated how David Fuller removed his family to Portland, Maine from Horton, Nova Scotia, the fact that he had 6 previously unknown sons and the fact that the woman that was believed to be his wife, Mary Curry, actually married Silas Hatch.


The one missing piece is "Who was Mary Cary"? If David Fuller did marry Mary Cary, how did he meet her, since according to the Horton Township books, there was no Cary family living the settlement. What information do we have about her family? Where was she from?


The answer is that we know very little about her.  


According to the 1850 US Census records, Mary was born in Massachusetts and according to her son, David Bishop Fuller's death record she was from Plymouth, Mass.  Although, later census records indicated that she was born in   Nova Scotia.  Her Maine death record does not include her parents names or places of birth.  Her death notice from Sept 16, 1873 is short.


I was unable to find any specific records which pertain to Mary Cary coming to Horton, Nova Scotia from Massachusetts. I will keep digging...


But, Yes, Virginia, there was evidence of a Cary family living in Horton, NS.  


Even though, there is no record of a Carey family in the Horton Township Books, there are land transaction records pertaining to Cary families.  And to sell land you must have at least purchased the land and more than likely lived there.  Looks like the Cary's probably arrived in late 1700's.  I have found records for John, Joshua and Samuel Cary.  They may have been Mary Cary's brothers or one was her father.

Here is a record of them selling land.  
Not to mention, the 1838 Horton census records.


During the 1920's and 1930's there were a series of articles published in Nova Scotia which was intended to track the genealogies of many of the families of Nova Scotia.  The series was called "New Englanders in Nova Scotia".  In one addition, it references a woman named Lydia Cary and identifies her as a descendant of the pilgrim, John Cary.  I have included an excerpt.  While this isn't proof of Mary Cary being descended from John Cary or the descendants from his family that arrived in Nova Scotia, it does say in the article that "John Cary has many descendants living in Nova Scotia."


One last thing, the marriage record which is recorded between David and Mary on the Familysearch.org(LDS) website indicates that David Fuller married Mary Cary.  

Phew!  That is it.  That is my case.


Have I convinced you, yet?


Also, if you have any clues or information on the Cary family of Horton, Nova Scotia.....please contact me at pilgrimage1620@gmail.com . Thanks!!


3 comments:

  1. I was also convinced at Part I.

    As you know, David Fuller is also my 3rd great-grandfather, through his daughter Lavinia. Although some records have her born in NS, other records have it as Maine.

    There has always been a Maine connection with this family, and what you've discovered goes a long way in understanding that mystery. Thank you so much, Chris!

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  2. Thanks! I wish everyone was so easy to convince :-). The good thing about being challenged on my facts is that it made me really dig to find all this supporting documentation. I am glad I did it. I would love to find more about Mary Cary's family. I am sure I will find more in time.

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