SHEBOYGAN HISTORY

David Morrill Carson, Page 250

DAVID MORRILL CARSON was one of the early settlers of Sheboygan and Fond du Lac Counties.  A native of Mt. Vernon, Kennebec County, Me., he was born March 10, 1809, being a son of James Carson, who was also a native of Mt. Vernon.  He grew to manhood in his native town, and on November 10, 1835, was married to Miss Mary Jane Robinson, who was born in Kennebec County, near the place of her husband's birth, on the 4th of March, 1814, a daughter of Nicholas Dudley Robinson and his wife, Mary (Smith) Robinson, natives of Brentwood, N. H., who soon after their marriage removed to Mt. Vernon, Me., where they spent the remainder of their lives.

    David Morrill Carson and wife, on the day of their marriage, started for Augusta, Me., the capital of the State.  There Mr. Carson was engaged in farming, having, in connection with another man, purchased a fine farm adjoining the city.  They remained in this place for nine years, at the end of which time Mr. Carson sold out to his partner, and they returned to Mt. Vernon, where Mr. Carson was engaged in merchandising.  After Continuing that business for about four years, he resolved to go West, where land was cheaper and more productive than in his native State.  Accordingly, he came to Wisconsin in June, 1849, and selected a location.  The wife and children followed the husband and father in the succeeding October.  Mrs. Carson, with her three children, started from her home in Maine, going to Buffalo, N. Y., and thence on a steamer by way of the Great Lakes to Sheboygan, the trip consuming about two weeks.

    Mr. Carson purchased land on both sides of the line between Fond du Lac and Sheboygan Counties, the latter being in the town of Greenbush.  His first residence was in the former county.  He continued to increase his first purchase of land until he became the owner of six hundred and forty acres.  The family continued to live where the first residence was located until February, 1867, when, Mr. Carson having erected a fine new residence on the Sheboygan County side of the line, they moved into it, while the eldest son, David Morrill Carson, Jr., took possession of the old home, where he now lives.

    Mr. Carson's death occurred June 28, 1881, after much suffering.  He and his wife were blessed with five children, four sons and a daughter, all of whom are living, namely:  David Morrell; James Henry, who is a merchant of Shell Rock, Butler County, Iowa; Frederick Dudley, the next in order of birth, who was for many years a resident of Minneapolis, Minn., but has recently removed to the State of Oregon, where he is engaged in the practice of law, having been for many years preceding that engaged in newspaper work as editor and publisher; Mary Ellen, Mrs. Cary, who is the next in order of birth; and the youngest of the family, Otis Mellville, who resides at Wittrup, Kan.  The three elder children were born in Augusta, Me., the others in Wisconsin.

    David Morrill Carson, Sr., was a well-known and esteemed citizen, a man of strict integrity, conscientiously upright in all his dealings with his fellow-men, and in all respects a worthy, representative citizen.  Mrs. Carson, the wife and mother, who lives at the home where her husband passed away, has attained to the age of nearly eighty years.  She is a woman of culture and refinement, and was ever a worthy companion for her husband, sharing patiently and faithfully in the labor and trials of the pioneer days.  In training and guiding the minds of her children she performed her full share, and the honorable and useful stations in life which they occupy prove that her work in that direction was not in vain.