M. 24 Dec 1863 in Ray County, Missouri
Wife: Elizabeth C. Sutherlin
D. about 1865 in (probably) Kansas
Simon C. Carey’s entire life seems to have been a struggle for survival. He was born in County Clare, Ireland in about 1844, a couple of years before the tragic potato famine. There are no records of who his parents were, and only a family story that he may have had a twin brother, but it’s likely there were many more siblings in his family.
There is one record which may reveal how the time of starvation affected Simon’s childhood. A book recording the minutes of a Kilrush Union meeting dated March 5, 1853 stated that Simon Carey, age 8, was among the boys who lived there. The listing said that he was from the town of Doonbeg, and that among the other 24 boys was one named Thomas Carey, also age 8 from Doonbeg. It’s possible that this was the twin mentioned by Simon’s descendants.
My Ancestry DNA “Ancestral Journey” shows a region called Doonbeg Bay.
The Kilrush Union was a workhouse which sprung out of the Poor Law of Ireland during the 1830s. This system of charity started in England with the order that a recipient of government handouts had to live in a workhouse. The idea was well-meaning, but unfortunately in practice, the treatment was more like being a prison. Inmates would be provided food and shelter in return for doing work assigned to them, usually farm labor or simple manufacturing. The workhouses separated families, so that men, women and children lived in different buildings, and parents had little contact with their own children.
The Kilrush Union was designed to house hundreds, but during the famine, was forced to take in thousands. For many, it was a death sentence, and probably Simon had siblings who didn’t make it out alive. A family story suggested that Simon and other relatives somehow got out, and they may have been back on a tenant farm within a few years. It was told that that Simon’s father died, and the local church demanded the family cow as payment for his burial. Simon and his brother went to retrieve the animal because they couldn’t survive without it, and in the process, may have been physically violent with a priest. This is what caused Simon (and possibly his brother) to flee to America.
Conditions in Clare County during the famine.
Simon arrived in probably New York in about 1859 or 1860, and within a couple of years, he turned up in Missouri. This was a tense time in U.S. history just before the start of the Civil War. When fighting began, young men like Simon were lured into service with an opportunity to make quick money. On April 25, 1862, he joined the 71st Regiment Enlisted Missouri Militia in Marshall, Missouri, serving as a replacement for a man named Thomas Owens. A man named Lilburn Carey signed up at the same time and place as Simon, and this may have been a relative, but there are no other records of him. It’s worth noting that no DNA matches have turned up among Simon’s descendants that would suggest anyone else in his family made it to America.
Simon re-enlisted again on January 17, 1863 in the same regiment under a different captain. This record has his age being born in 1839 or 1840. The company disbanded on May 6th and he returned to civilian life. A few months later, Simon married a non-Irish woman, Elizabeth Sutherlin, in Ray County, Missouri; the wedding took place on Christmas Eve. She became pregnant, then he joined the army again, signing on with the 7th Missouri Cavalry in Hannibal on August 15, 1864. His military record said that he was 5' 7-1/2" tall with blue eyes and dark hair. His signature showed that he had enough education to at least write his name. Simon’s age on the enlistment gave him a birth year of about 1844, which matches the 1853 record from Kilrush Union.
Simon's enlistment dated August 15, 1864.
Simon served through the end of the Civil War and beyond. He was assigned to companies L, K, and C before being put in company M in January 1865. In February, he was an orderly at the regimental headquarters in Arkansas, and in April and May, he worked as a cook. This was after the war ended, but because he had committed to a 3-year enlistment the summer before, he wasn’t discharged yet. On June 28th, Simon was given the job of “escort duty,” taking him away from camp. He was finally mustered out on September 1, 1865 in Little Rock.
While Simon was in the army, his only child was born on October 7, 1864, a son named Thomas. He didn’t live to see the boy grow up, because only a short time after his discharge, Simon was said to have died of “an abscess in his side.” The date of his death is unknown. Elizabeth remarried in 1868 to another man who served in the Civil War, but she died within a couple years.
Child:
1. Thomas Michael Carey — B. 7 Oct 1864, Gardner, Kansas; D. 5 Feb 1937, Coffeyville, Kansas; M. Bertha Gertrude Kightlinger (1875-1946), 21 Oct 1895, Burlington, Kansas
Sources:
Civil War military records of Simon C. Carey
“Tom Carey is Dead After Brief Illness”, Coffeyville Daily Journal, February 6, 1937
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