Carroll
A Midwest Pioneer Family Settles In Illinois
Raford R. Carroll was
born 3 Nov., 1808, in North Carolina. In 1828, he moved to Tennessee.
There he
met and married Sarah Elizabeth Jernigan
(picture, right), who was born 30 Jan., 1812, in Tennessee. On 16 Mar., 1829,
the pair were married, and the next day, they set out in an oxcart and headed
north, settling in Fayette Co., IL.
Raford Carroll settled in Seminary Township, and his descendants (through Carroll Bone) still inhabit the farm and land he pioneered. Some have said that he was the first to settle on land in this township of Fayette County, but records show that there were some before him. However, he was the first to settle on and own his farm there.
The homestead has seen at least three houses built on it, all near each other on a bend in a road overlooking a pond in rural Fayette County. Whenever I am in the area, I try to drive through the place where my ancestors first settled.
Raford Carroll was a man of integrity who held wide respect. He served as Justice of the Peace and Tax Assessor at different times. Little else is known about his background and ancestry, but his descendants continue to carry on his values of family and community in Fayette County.
Raford died 26 Feb., 1856, in Fayette Co., IL, leaving a large family and his wife, Sarah E. Jernigan Carroll. Sarah was the matriarch of the family for another 34 years, dying 17 Nov., 1892, in Fayette Co., IL. The pair are buried in Evans Cemetery near Vandalia, IL, as are many of their children.
