SHEBOYGAN HISTORY

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 From the Portrait and Biographical Record of Sheboygan County, Wis., 1898:

M. Carr, Page 202

 

M. CARR.  Among the many worthy early settlers of Sheboygan County of English birth, must be mentioned the gentleman whose name heads this sketch.  He was born in the town of Lutton, Yorkshire, England, on the 17th of May, 1819, and is a son of James and Betsey (Megginson) Carr.  His ancestors on both sides for many generations remote were also of Yorkshire birth.

    Mr. Carr spent his childhood on his father's farm, where hard work was the order of the day from the time he was old enough to be made useful, and that was at an early age.  When ten years old he was bound out as an apprentice to a shoemaker, and served the customary term.  After completing his trade, he worked at it as a journeyman until twenty-two years of age.  Hard work and close confinement impaired his health to such a degree that the doctors pronounced him consumptive.  With the hope of improving his health, he determined to take a sea voyage, and emigrated to America.  he shipped with seven other passengers on a little sailing-vessel bound for New York, and so feeble was he for a time that the sailors carried him from his berth to the deck and back.  The passage was a rough one; the comforts of life were few; in fact, for the twelve weeks they were upon the salt water, the ordinary comforts were not attainable.  The sea air acted like a tonic, and on his arrival in the United States he was a very different man.  After a few years' residence under the clear skies of the New World, he entirely recovered, and ever since has found his lungs sound and strong.

On coming to this country, Mr. Carr made his home in Oneida County, N. Y., where he had an elder brother.  For several years he was employed at his trade at that place, and in 1851 was united in marriage there to Mary Lewis, who was a native of that county.  In 1855 he removed with his young wife to Sheboygan County, Wis., where they located on a farm, in the town of Greenbush, which is a part of his present home.  Mr. Carr first bought forty acres from the Government, to which he added, by subsequent purchase from the State, an eighty-acre tract adjoining, giving him a farm of one hundred and twenty acres, which he still owns.

Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Carr, a son and a daughter.  Ellen became the wife of William Clark, and for several years resided in Calumet County, in the town of Brant.  Her death occurred at Appleton recently, she being forty years old. Lewis, the only son, married Miss Ida Humphrey, the ceremony being performed in Ontario County, N. Y., November 12, 1877.  Mrs. Carr, Jr., is a daughter of William and Harriet Humphrey, and was born in Ontario County, where her parents still reside.  Lewis Carr and his wife have two children, a son and a daughter.  Ray, the former, is now ten years old, while Daisy, the latter, is four. Lewis Carr carries on the old homestead farm of his father in Greenbush Township.

Mr. Carr, Sr., conducted his farm until 1884, when, from overwork, his health became impaired.  Leaving the farm in the hands of his son, he and his wife took up their residence in the village of Glenbeulah, of the same township, and after seven years of ease and rest he found himself fully recovered.

In April, 1891, Mr. Carr was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who had shared his troubles and joys for forty years.  Mrs. Carr was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a woman possessed of many estimable qualities.  On the death of his wife, being left alone, Mr. Carr returned to the farm, and has since made his home with his son.

In politics, our subject is a Republican.  For many years he was a member of Greenbush Lodge No. 78, I. O. O. F., and served as its treasurer until the labor of attendance, while living on the farm, became too great a burden, and he withdrew from the order.  Although having attained the age of seventy-two years, Mr. Carr is erect in figure and seems robust and well preserved, both phsically and mentally.  He has led an active and useful life, and by his strict integrity and good will of his old neighbors and fellow citizens.