I've long wondered why several fellow family historians record a marriage of my 2ndGreat-Grandmother to a Mr. Carman.
Many family trees have our Hannah with CARMAN as either her maiden name or her surname at the time of her marriage to Samuel Leeper in 1853. Tonight I reviewed the sources attached to these trees, and found a clue.
But first, a brief timeline of our Hannah.
My paternal ancestor Hannah was allegedly born in 1824 at a location the 1870 U.S. Federal Census indicates as "Hamburgh." That is the only reference I've found listing Hamburg as her birthplace. She first appears in a U.S. Census in 1860. Both the 1860 and 1880 Federal Census indicate only a birthplace of "Germany." However, her four young sons have "Saxon" as their birth location in the 1870 census. Saxon = Sachsen or Saxony. There were several thousand German immigrants living in southeast Texas before the Civil War. I imagine few census takers spoke their language. So spelling errors must be considered.
With that in mind, the very first surname I find attached to Hannah is in her April 19, 1853 marriage certificate to Samuel Leeper. Written in cursive, it appears to be Wosta. Or Woste. Is it a maiden name or a married surname? Maiden names were traditionally requested. And why does she not have the same last name as each of her four young boys: Louis Wiser, Barney Wiser, Amiel Wiser, and Henry Edward Wiser? Because of her different surname, I'm inclined to think Wosta is her maiden name. Have you a different opinion?
My cousin-researcher, Doris Weiser Jarvis, obtained a certified copy of Hannah and Sam Leeper's marriage certificate. Mrs. Jarvis shared this transcription to the copy attached below:
The State of Texas, County of Galveston. "To any regular ordained Minister of the Gospel, Judge of the District Court, Judge of the County Court, or Justice of the Peace. I hereby authorize any one of you to celebrate the rites of matrimony between Samuel Leeper and Hannah Wosta and due return of your proceedings hereon to me, at my Office, make within Sixty Days, as the law directs." Signed my county clerk, and certified by F. B Whiting, Justice of the Peace. Marriage celebrated on 19th day of April A.D. 1853.
-- Galveston County Courthouse, Record Book No. B, pg. 87, numbered 214.
Samuel Leeper was 58+ years old when he married Hannah. She was about 28. Exact birth months or days are unknown. Birth years are known only from the censuses held every ten years. At the time of this marriage, Hannah's eldest son was ten and her youngest was one. Only one year old. What few family legends that are remembered in the 21st century speak of our ancestors crossing the Atlantic to America. Surely our Hannah didn't make the transatlantic voyage while pregnant or with an infant! I can't imagine how difficult this might have been for her. Had her husband recently abandoned her? Or died? Would a young mother with little children make such a difficult voyage on her own?
No immigration record has yet been found. Several of us have spent hours searching. But my Great-Grandfather Amiel Wiser told his daughter Nora that they had immigrated from Germany when he was six years old. He was born May 31, 1845. (Our only proof is his headstone). So his family may have immigrated about 1851? Amiel was also known as Lemuel or Emeal. His daughter Nora spelled her dad's name as "Emeal" in her letter to her nephew, Urban Weiser, dated June 11, 1957.
Urban's daughter Doris W. Jarvis transcribed her Aunt Nora's letter and shared this excerpt in July of 2004. I am ever so happy to have it!
"I couldn't tell her much for our parents never did talk much about the family. I heard Dad (Emeal) say he came over from Germany when he was six years old. A Mrs. Lafore raised him. And I talked with Mrs. Lafore once when Ed and I was going down to Double Bayou to see old Dr. Morgan. She lived at the mouth of the Bayou there where Dr. Morgans office was. She took me over to her house and showed me the organ our Dad used to play on when he was a little boy. When Dr. Morgan told her I was Lem Wiser's daughter she grabbed me and hugged me. I thought she would never let me go, then she took us over to her house and fixed us a nice dinner, and wanted to know all about our Dad, how he died and where he lived. I don't know why Dad never did tell us about her. Dad had two step-sisters Aunt Racy and Aunt Hannah. They were twins. Old Mrs. Weiser seemed to have married three times, as Aunt Racy and Aunt Hannah's names was Mason."......"Uncle Sam Leaper, (son of Hannah and Sam, Sr.) if you remember, lived with us awhile. and moved there close to Uncle Ben Abshier's, and he died at Ed Clayton's home. Ed Clayton was Aunt Racy's son." (Unquote.)
Hannah's daughters, Rosa Theresa and her twin sister Hannah (or "Lina") were born June 18, 1860. Rosa's name appears as "Racy" in one census, as spelled by her niece Nora, above. The twins appear on census records with the last name of Leeper. However, Sam Leeper had died April 1, 1855--five years before the twins' birth according to his direct descendant Norma Webb Broach.
Researcher Norma Broach Webb (1929-2004) has Sam Leeper's death date in her brief biography of her 2x GGrandfather in the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Patriot Ancestor Album, Vol. 2. (Published 2001, Turner Publishing Co., and available via Google Books).
And as for Hannah's twin daughters? I have not found any record showing Rosa or young Hannah with the last name of "Mason" as indicated by Nora Wiser in her letter of 1957. Not yet. I've researched any/all Masons living in southeast Texas. Have found only census pages showing twin sisters' maiden name of Leeper or Leaper.
Indeed, Rosa's marriage certificate with Josephus S. Clayton reads:
"The State of Texas, County of Chambers Clerks office 29th May 1878, To any ordained Minister of the Gospel, Judge of the District or County Court, or Justice of the Peace, Greeting; You are hereby authorized and directed to celebrate the rites of matrimony between Mr. J.S. Clayton and Miss Rosa Leaper. Herein fail not and of this License made due return within Sixty days as the law directs. Given under my hand and official seal at office in Wallisville this the 29th day of May A.D. 1878." Signed by Jno. R. Wooten, Clerk. "Received 6th June 1878 and executed same day by meeting the within named parties at the home of Mrs. Hannah Leaper at Double Bayou, Chambers County in the holy bonds of matrimony." Signed: J. W. Hankamer, Justice of the Peace
Nor can I find any record of Hannah marrying a Mr. Mason or any Mason who lived near our Hannah in Chambers or Liberty Counties in Texas. I will continue to search, as my Great-Aunt Nora's letter points to a Mr. Mason as the father of Hannah's twin girls. Family history is indeed a challenge for part-time sleuths!
BACK TO MR. CARMAN: So what is the source for my cousins who list Hannah with the surname of Carman? When I first saw this name attached to Hannah's many trees online, I scoured censuses in southeast Texas in for neighboring Carmans. In a gentler time a woman having a child outside of marriage was scandalous. Admiration for my 2xgreat-grandmother would not wane were I to discover the twins and/or other children of illegitimate birth. But I found few Carmans.
Cousin-genealogist Kevin Ladd (1954-2014) once wrote:
I still don't see any connection. Nor why the name Carman is attached to German immigrant Hannah in Ancestry "trees." But some researchers referencing a Mr. Carman indicate an 1849 marriage date. Tonight's search on Ancestry.com/ offered this record:
This record is of a Hannah Carman who married a Samuel Leeper in Mason County, Illinois. Bingo! Sam married a Hannah. Must be OUR Hannah, right? Noooo, not so fast. Do the math. Our Sam Leeper was too busy in Texas to take a buggy or stagecoach journey 800 miles to Mason County, Illinois then return home with three small boys? Only to re-marry Hannah in 1853 Galveston. The Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad wasn't built until the early 1870s. Let's see what old Sam was up to in the late 1840s. Was he anywhere near Illinois?
On May 19, 1839 Hannah's future husband Sam Leeper married Lucy Marie Carr in Galveston, Texas Republic. It was his second marriage. His first marriage in Washington County, Virginia in 1816 to Sarah Bonham sadly ended in 1823 with her death. Sam appears in tax records for 1840 and 1846 in southeast Texas. That clever Sam, age 55, appears TWICE in the 1850 Federal Census: Once at Galveston while living in the household of Mr. J H Fredenburgh, and also as Sam "Leiper" at his home in nearby Liberty. Lucy also appears in the Liberty census with her daughter Emily and her husband James Yeoman. Perhaps to assist in taking care of their one-year-old grandson, William? To further confuse researchers, a "Saml Luper" appears August 24, 1850 in a "Federal Census Non-Population Schedule" for Liberty, Texas. Our Samuel had fought at both Bexar and the Battle of San Jacinto and had been awarded hundreds of acres of "bounty land" for his military service. Land that was bequeathed to his widow, Hannah Leeper. If you've registered, please see this link of Hannah Wosta's 1853 marriage to Samuel Leeper:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F6YY-CN1
Am I missing something? If my ancestor Hannah married a Mr. Carman I would love to see the source. She evidently met with some gentleman in late 1859 (as evidenced by her twin daughters' birth on June 18, 1860). But why he wasn't living with our 36-year-old Hannah in 1860 or in the later 1870 census, I can't explain.
I welcome comments on our Hannah. She's one of my favorite genealogy "brick walls." FamilySearch is free, but requires registration. Hannah and her boys appear in the 1860 Federal Census on this FamilySearch page:
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXFX-MJC
_________
Texas, County Marriage Index, 1837-1977, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F6YY-CN1 : 22 December 2016), Samuel Leeper and Hanna Wosta, 19 Apr 1853; citing Galveston, Texas, United States, county courthouses, Texas; FHL microfilm 1,008,865