THE CARRS OF CARR'S COVE
An Historical Research Paper
by
Claudia A. Chappell
April 11, 1962
English 102
Section 8
Mrs. Wuetig
Pages
I. Hartman Carr 3rd Today
................................1,2
II. Forebears
A. Great-grandfather,
James Carr................2-7
B. Grandfather,
Hartman Carr, Sr.........6 -7
C. Father, Henry
Clay Carr ...................7- 11
III. Hartman Carr 3rd
.............................................11-16
IV. Bibliography ........................................................17-18
V.
Acknowledgements.............................................18
Page (1)
THE CARRS OF CARR'S COVE
A few months ago there
appeared a feature article in a local newspaper, "The
Citizen-Advertiser", of Auburn, N. Y. about the Carr family of Carr's
Cove. This brought to my mind that I had studied about a James Carr in Social
Studies when I was in the seventh grade. My curiosity being aroused, I thought
it would be interesting to learn more of this old family. I knew that there
were Cars still living on the shores of Cayuga Lake at Carr's Cove, so I
decided to investigate.
Carr's Cove is located on
Cayuga Lake about fourteen miles south and west of Auburn, New York, and one
and one half miles south of Union Springs, New York. It is within the Town of
Springport and is entirely contained within the Cayuga Indian Residence
Reservation. The "Cove", as it is referred to by the natives, is a
calm, peaceful body of water opening into Cayuga Lake and is unique for the lovely
Lotus lillies that bloom annually at its southern end. Nature made here a
natural protection for water fowl and its waters abound with many types of game
fish. At this beautiful location stands the “homestead” of the Carr
family, surrounded by lovely old trees. It is now the home of Hartman Care and
his wife Leona, who, also before her marriage was a Carr She was, in fact, her
husband’s fourth cousin. Hartman, or "Hart" as he is
affectionately known, is the great-grandson of the James Care I had originally
heard of
Page (2)
in school.
Upon entering the home I was
immediately impressed with the beautiful blue eyes of the elderly gentleman who
rose to greet me. I noticed that he had been sitting in a charming antique
Boston Rocking chair which had been finished in the natural wood. On a cherry
drop-leaf table next to his chair, were some items of interest he had gathered
to show me. Hart is an extremely cordial gentleman. He walks with a slight limp
which is a result of a wound received in World War I. His manner is gracious,
his attitude keen and his lively interest in all things about him belie his
eighty five years. Most of this gentleman’s life has been spent right
here, in Carr's Cove near the very spot where his great-grandfather James Carr
built his first log home.
Great-grandfather James, was
the founder of this fine family. He had been a soldier in the Continental Army
and a Captain in the French and Indian Wars.1
He first saw this area when he was with Lieutenant Col. Butler, whose
men laid waste the Indian villages on the east shore of Cayuga Lake. Camp was
pitched September 21, 1779 at Gewauga, the present site of
1.
Frederic Cook, General John Sullivan’s Indian Expedition of
1779, Auburn, New York, 1887, p.318
Page (3)
of Union Springs, New York.2 This occurred during the Sullivan
Indian Expedition of 1779. On
October 10, 1780, James Carr was captured at Fort Anne, New York and was
conveyed to Montreal, Canada where he was kept prisoner until November 1782. At
that time he was exchanged.3
Following the war, James
married Miss Margaret Morrell of Cambridge, New York. They resided at
Johnstown, New York for a number of years where their first six children were
born.4
During the Sullivan Campaign,
James Carr was very much impressed by the large yield of Indian Corn and the
abundant crops on the peach trees which were cultivated by the Indians.
Although their military orders had been to destroy these crops, the fertility
of the soil in this area was indeed apparent. For this reason, many young men
returned as permanent settlers.
Since the financial situation
of the national government at this time could not afford monetary payment for
military services, the soldiers were given land grants in lieu of cash.
James Carr received
approximately 1,600 acres as his payment. In addition to this land grant, he
purchased from the
Indians, the small area
surrounding Carr’s Cove.5 In 1797 he
2. Galpin, Central
New York, an Inland Empire, 1941, Vol. II, p.15.
3. Clinton S. Care, Record
of the Carr Family in America, n.p., p.1.
4. Ibid. p.1.
5. Ibid. p.7.
Page (4)
returned alone, cleared some
of the land and built a log cabin near the shore of the Cove. He worked the
land each spring, summer and fall and then returned to his home in Johnstown,
New York for the winter. He
walked each way every spring and fall for three consecutive years; until in
1800 he returned with his wife and six children.6 On this final trip, they came through
the wilderness by ox team with their household goods, seeds and plant cuttings.
The trip took seventeen days. When we stop to consider the stamina of this
early pioneer and all that he and his family had to accomplish to carve a home
in the wilderness, we can better appreciate the pride and patriotism which exists
in the Carr family today.
James Carr was a great friend of the Indians and he and the Red Men lived together in peace. When the Cayuga Indians transferred to their reservation in Canada, because of the over population of the white man, Canistoga, who was the chief of all of the Cayugas, was then a very old man, lie asked James if he could be permitted to live out his days beside the lake so dear to him, where he had spent so much of his life. His tribe, including his squaw and his children, all left him there. He
6. Elliot G. Storke & James H. Smith, History
of Cayuga County. New York 1789-1879,
Syracuse, New York, 1879. p. 364
Page (5)
lived for about three years
afterwards and was cared for during his last illness by James Carr and three of
James' sons, Jonathan, Jacob and Hartman.7
When Canistoga died, the
Carrs buried him according to known Indian rites. He was wrapped in his
Chief’s blanket, and laid in the grave beside him were his favorite
musket, extra leggings and moccasins (for his long Journey to the far land),
food for several days, a fur cap and some pottery vessels.8
His grave was dug where his Wigwam had stood for so many years. This was
on the west ridge of The Great Gully, next to Mr. Utt's barn.9 It is located on what is known today
as “The MacIntosh Farm”.
Another famous Indian who
lived south of Carr’s Cove near what is now known as Farley’s Point
was Kanistagia, Chief of the Tuscaroras. He was called ‘Steel Trap’
and was the King of the Tusoaroras. His wife, Esther was queen.10 Steel Trap was a great friend of Tames
Carr and his family and lived with them for several years. Indeed, the little
log cabin provided shelter to many of the Indians on frequent occasions. They
were
7. Carr.
p.2.
8. Storke
& Smith. p. 31
9. Carr. p.
2
10.
Storke & Smith. p. 389
Page (6)
always welcome. Some years
later, about 1810, Steel Trap was poisoned by a white man and died.11 He was buried by James Carr, his son
Hartman and grandson Henry. Soon after Steel Trap’s death, his wife
Esther and the small band of remaining Tuscaroras moved west to what is now
Buffalo, New York.12 Legend has it
that the Carr family was asked to keep secret the final resting place of this,
the last of the Tuscarors Chiefs. The secret has been handed down from father to
son to this very day. No other white man knows the location of Steel
Trap’s grave.
After James had settled his
family in their log home, the family was increased by the birth of four more
children, making ten in all. 13
In September of 1832, James
Carr applied for a war pension which he received. After his death his widow was
also entitled to be pensioned. He
died May 3rd, 1839 at Springport, New York at the age of 78. He is buried in
the old Quaker Cemetery in the Village of Union Springs. His wife died April
7th, 1843 and is buried next to her husband. 14
Hartman Carr, son of James
and grandfather of Hart, the subject of this paper, was born in 1797 at
Johnstown, New York.
11. Storke & Smith. p. 369
12. Temple R. Hollcroft, A Brief History of
Union Springs, p. 3
14. Ibid. p. 2
Page (7)
He came with his father to
the Cove and lived all of his life near the old homestead.15 In 1821 he married Ann Brook and
they had fourteen children.16 Hartman Carr was a Brick Maker and
carried on this business until his death. l7 During their married
life, Hartman and his wife Ann were to see the region transformed from a forest
to a populous community.
In 1850 records show that
Hartman Sr. owned 4 1/2 acres of “second class land” in the Town of
Springport, valued at $483.00. Included with this land, was a house and small
barn. His taxes at this time were forty three cents, a meager amount campared
to present day rates · 18
Four of Hartman's sons were
in the Civil War. Ashbel and Henry C. (father of Hartman III) were in the 3rd
New York Artillery. Jonathan was a captain in the First Ohio Cavalry and
Hartman Jr. was in the Union Navy, Pacific Squadron, Flagship
"Lancaster". 19 According to his grandson, Hartman Sr. was
a fifer in the 19th New York Regimental Band and Hartman Jr. participated in
the battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac.
Henry Clay Carr was the fifth
son and ninth child born to Hartman and Ann Carr. He was born December 24th,
1844. 20 He
15. Carr. p.4
16. Ibid. p. 4
17. Ibid p.7
18. Town of Springport, Assay Book for
1850-51.
19. Carr P. 9
& 10
20. Ibid p.4
Page (8)
went into business with his
father in the brick yard and during the Civil War enlisted with his brothers
and several cousins in the army. Before the Civil War, a cornet band had been
organized in the village of Union Springs Most of the members of this band were
descendants of James Carr. One of James Carr's grandchildren was the
leader of the band and another was its musical director. 21 The band provided entertainment
for many local. occasions and was indeed very popular. Many people of the day
considered it one of the best bands in the State.
At the outbreak of the Civil
War, the cornet band enlisted as a group in the Army.22 They became
the Regimental Band of the 19th New York Volunteers.23 Two of its members, Lafayette and
George W. Carr, cousins of Henry, were unfortunately captured at
Beachgrove, So. Carolina. They
were imprisoned and died at Andersonville, Georgia.24 Lafayette, it seems, was a victim of a
Captain Wirz. It is not known whether he had tried to escape prison, or if it
was a premeditated murder.
Soon after the close of the
Civil War, on November 27, 1867, to be exact, Henry Clay Qarr married Georgia
Simons.25
21. Storke & Smith. p. 385
22. Ibid. p. 385
23. Newspaper Clipping from the Scrapbook of Georgia
Carr.
24. Army Registration Book, Union Springs, N. Y. 1864. p.5
25. Carr. p.4
Page (9)
It was for this young couple
that the pleasant brick home I visited, was built. In this house their children
were born. They were: Clinton and Lewis, now deceased; Hartman III, the present
occupant of the brick house; Sidney, who live. in Ithaca and William, who lives
in Michigan.
In 1876, upon the death of
Hatman Carr Sr., Henry inherited the Brick Yard at the Cove. By 1878, six men
were employed and 400,000 bricks
were manufactured each year.26
It is from these bricks that his home was built. Dishes and pottery
objects were also made in the “yard” and some of the dishes used in
the home today were made on the premises.
During this time Henry and
some members of his family used to cut ice in the Cove in the winter time to be
sold the following summer. In 1887 we note that 300 loads of ice were supplied
to residents in the village of Aurora from Carr's Cove.27 His son Hartman III told me that they had great fun as young
people, discovering apples among the ice cakes. The apples had been stored
there the previous winter when the ice was packed in the huge ice house. These
buried apples came out in remarkable condition and this actually was early type
of
26. Storke & Smith. p. 374
27. Scrapbook of Georgia Carr
Page (10)
cold storage.
Henry Carr was greatly
interested in sports. He was a personal friend of Charles Courtney, the famous
single scull (a type of light rowboat) champion. Courtney instigated Crew
Racing at Cornell University and became their first Rowing coach. Henry Carr
was on Courtney’s own team for the first four—man race against
Cornell. Henry later became Game Protector for Cayuga County and served in this
capacity for nearly twenty years. He and his wife also conducted a Dancing
School. After his retirement as game protector, he ran a boat livery and
operated a ferry across Cayuga Lake.
A newspaper clipping
concerning the celebration of the 50th wedding anniversary of this couple notes
that in addition to the above, Henry Carr had been an attache at the State
Capitol in Albany during the Cleveland and Hill administration of 1865. 28
It is apparent that Henry and
his wife must have both shared en interest in sprots and the great out doors.
Another newspaper clipping, taken from her own scrap book tells how Mrs. Henry
C. Carr, (Georgia Simons) actually walked all the way from her home at
Carr’s Cove, to the city of Auburn to
28. Carr Scrap Book
Page (11)
visit her son, William. This
she did on Thursday, September 25, 1917 in her 72nd year. The distance she
covered in the four hour interval was 13 1/2 miles.29 Quite an accomplishment for an old lady.
Henry Carr died August 14,
1922 at the age of 83. His wife lived on to see 92 years. Her motto for a good long life was:
“Be happy and have a good time".30 This cheerful bit of philosophy has
been inherited by her many descendants.
Hartman Carr 3rd, the third
son of Henry and Georgia Carr was born December 30, 1876.31 Hartman
married his distant cousin Leona Carr, January 1st, 1899, and they started
housekeeping in Union Springs. They have three children: Henry Clay
(Hank), Harlan (Gotch) and Marjorie Carr Smith. The boys were born in the
village and their daughter in Auburn.
Throughout his life, Hart has
been extremely interested in sports. Hunting, fishing, swimming, baseball,
football and track and field games have brought him many honors.
When he was a boy, Hart
learned the Indian sign language and the finger language of the deaf and dumb.
An Indian called Walt Fox Lyon came from Canada to the Carr home. During his
stay he taught Hart and his father the indian language. Hart was
29. Carr Scrap Book.
30. Ibid.
31. Ibid.