M. (1) 24 Dec 1863 in Ray County, Missouri2
Husband: Simon C. Carey
M. (2) 13 Aug 1868 in Allen County, Kansas3
Husband: James Hiram Hampton
D. about 1869 in (probably) Kansas4
Elizabeth Sutherlin lived only about 25 years, but in that short time, she experienced a hardscrabble existence which included war and widowhood.
Elizabeth was born in about 1844 to Jackson Sutherlin and Mary Fleming,1 the second oldest of their seven children. The Sutherlins had come from Indiana to settle in Missouri. When Elizabeth was 6-years-old, they were living on a farm in Holt County.1 The census showed that the value of their estate was much smaller than the families around them, and they likely didn't own their land. Elizabeth’s father was deaf,4 and this may have affected the family’s circumstances.
Ten years later, Elizabeth was listed twice in the census, maybe an indication that the family had moved. On July 13th, they were enumerated in Anderson County, Kansas,5 and on July 25th, in Lafayette County, Missouri.6 It was also recorded that at age 16, Elizabeth had attended school that year.
The area where Elizabeth lived was under siege by pro- and anti-slavery forces. During the late 1850s, the border region between Kansas and Missouri was a tense battleground, with one side performing atrocities against the other and vice-versa. It only got worse when the Confederacy was formed in 1861, which sparked the Civil War. Officially, Missouri was in the Union, but many Confederate sympathizers lived there, and bands of young men took recourse by terrorizing those not on their side.
On December 24, 1863, Elizabeth married an Irish immigrant, Simon Carey, in Ray County, Missouri.2 It’s believed that neither bride nor groom were yet 20-years-old. Her choice of husband was unusual because his background was so different from hers. Simon had already done a stint in the Union army from April 1862 to May 1863,7 and he was settling down to become a farmer.
Elizabeth almost immediately became pregnant, but Simon didn’t remain at home. On August 15, 1864, he volunteered for service again in the Union army, likely enlisting for the $100 bounty7 — an enormous amount of money at that time. Although they lived in Ray County, Elizabeth gave birth on October 7th in the town of Gardner, Kansas,8 possibly where her parents lived. Her baby boy was named Thomas Michael.
When the Civil War ended, Simon remained in the service until being discharged in September of 1865.7 He may have suffered an injury while in the army, because soon after, he died of an “abscess in his side.”9 This left Elizabeth as a widow with a small child. She moved to Kansas where she married another former Civil War soldier, James Hampton, on August 13, 1868.3
Unfortunately, Elizabeth passed away just a short while later, probably in 1869. There is a family story that she died in childbirth along with a baby girl.10 After her death, her young son Thomas was raised by her parents;4 his success and offspring became Elizabeth’s only legacy.
Children:
1. Thomas Michael Carey — B. 7 Oct 1864, Gardner, Kansas;8 D. 5 Feb 1937, Coffeyville, Kansas;8 M. Bertha Gertrude Kightlinger (1875-1946), 21 Oct 1895, Burlington, Kansas11
Sources:
1 1850 U.S. census, Holt County, Missouri
2 Marriage record of Simon Carey and Elizabeth Sutherlin, Missouri, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1851-1900, Ancestry.com
3 Marriage record of James Hampton and Elizabeth Sutherlin, Kansas, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1811-1911, Ancestry.com
4 1870 U.S. census, Jackson County, Missouri
5 1860 U.S. census, Anderson County, Kansas
6 1860 U.S. census, Lafayette County, Missouri
7 Civil War military records of Simon C. Carey, Fold3.com
8 “Tom Carey is Dead After Brief Illness,” Coffeyville Daily Journal, February 6, 1937
9 RootsWeb.com message from Simon Carey’s great-granddaughter, 22 Apr 2001
10 Email to me from Elizabeth Sutherlin’s great-great-granddaughter telling family story, 23 Aug 2024
11 Marriage record of Thomas Carey and Bertha Kightlinger, K., U.S., C. M. R.
