Cousin Doug Carey sent me a family group sheet (FGS) dated 14 Jan 1986 which he received some years ago from the late Glenna Gandy. It's a good starting point for some discussion of what we know, or don't know, about George and Phebe (Clark) Carey and their children. The information in this FGS is identical, or similar, to what I've seen at a number of web sites, so the discussion here may be helpful in evaluating what you see "out there". Your comments are welcome!
I will present the information on each person listed in Glenna's FGS in purple, followed by my own comments in black on a yellow background.
Husband: CAREY, George Almasia. Birth: 1766, New Jersey. Marriage: c 1790, New Jersey. Death: 1846, Troy, Miami, Ohio. Burial: Raper Chapel, Troy, Miami, Ohio.
I've never found any reliable information on George Carey's middle name. I really doubt that he had any middle name, although I've seen "Almasia", "Almaria" or "Almarian" in various places without any clue to the origin of this information. One of Phebe's nieces married an apparently unrelated man from New York named named Almarian Carey and I suspect his name has become confused with George's.
The dates given for George's birth, marriage and death are about as good as any. The only census information I can find on him is vague and contradictory.
Family tradition, supported by his grandson's biography, places George Carey's birth in New Jersey. It is possible he died and is buried in Paulding county, Ohio, although his great-grandson, the Rev. George E. Carey, who served as pastor of Raper Chapel Methodist Church, believed he was buried there. Another descendant has photographed a nearly illegible tombstone in the Hudson-Potter-Klein cemetery, in Paulding county, which he believes to be that of our ancestor.
Wife: CLARK, Phoebe(5) Birth: 1759, New Jersey. Death: Feb. 1850, Troy, Miami, Ohio. Burial: Raper Chapel, Troy, Miami, Ohio. Father: Rev. David(4) Mother: WINANS, Sarah(4) Widow of Jacob Scudder.
I've seen George's wife's name spelled more frequently as Phebe, but this is a minor point. The "(5)" after her name may refer to the sequence of her birth among her siblings in another FGS which isn't available to me, or more likely to her generation number, in view of the numbers given after her parents' names.
Since her last child's birth is fairly well-documented as occurring in 1805, I believe the 1759 birth date given here for Phebe is too early. Also, it's somewhat unlikely she would marry a man six years her junior. Somewhere, I've seen a Phebe Clark listed with a 1759 birth date who married a different man. Possibly our Phebe has been confused with the other Phebe by various researchers.
The date of death agrees with what I see in other genealogies. It's possible Phebe is buried at Raper Chapel, although Rev. Carey couldn't find her tombstone there only a half-century later.
It is likely Phebe's parents' names are correct. However, there's no evidence for her father being a minister. Several generations of genealogists seem to have confused him with Phebe's brother David Clark who likely was a minister, or at least a local preacher, in the Methodist Church. Sarah Winans is listed in many places as having married Jacob Scudder before David Clark senior.
Child 1: CAREY, David. Birth: 1793, Essex/Union,1 New Jersey. Marriage: 13 May 1815, Miami, Ohio. Spouse: Betsey Winans. Source: P31, 1850 Cen, Miami Co., Ohio.
We've gathered a lot of information on this David Carey, who was indeed born in New Jersey and married Betsey Winans in 1815.
David is buried at Raper Chapel. His tombstone says he "died June 20th, 1832, in the 42d. year of his age." That would place his birth some time in 1790 or 1791.
The 23-year-old David Carey listed on page 31 of the 1850 Miami county census is most likely David's son!
Child 2: CAREY, Thomas. Birth: 1795, Essex/Union, New Jersey. Marriage: 3 Feb 1819, Miami, Ohio. Spouse: Mary Winans.
Once again, we have a lot of information on this son, Thomas Carey. 1795 looks like a good guess at his birth year. Thomas' 1850 census record, from Elkhart county, IN, says he was 56 years old, which could place his birth some time in 1793 or 1794. The information about his marriage appears to be correct, but he later married Mehitable "Hetty" Rollins, 26 Jun 1822, also in Miami county.
Child 3: CAREY, John Charles. Birth: 17 Jan 1797, Trenton, Mercer, New Jersey. Marriage: 14 Jan 1823, Montgomery, Ohio. Spouse: (1) CAMPBELL, Mary Stewart, (2) McKinney, Frances Clark. Death: Mar 1862. Source: P107, 1850 Cen, Miami Co., Ohio.
Glenna seems to have very complete information on John. I believe most of it was supplied by cousin Doug or his family members, since he has sent me the same set of data. With Doug's help, I prepared a page for John Charles Carey. These are my own comments on Glenna's, and Doug's, information:
I don't have any information of my own on a possible middle name for John. He allegedly served as a Methodist minister at one time. Could he have adopted the name of Methodism's founder's brother to go with his first name, which was that of the founder? Just a wild guess!
John's 1850 census record, from Concord township in Miami county, gives his age as 54 years, which makes me wonder whether he might be Thomas' twin. However, age information in census records has been demonstrated to be extremely unreliable, so I'll accept the census age as a mere approximation and stick with the more exact 1797 date which Doug and Glenna supplied.
I question the location of John's birth. There's no other information anywhere in my files which (Col. Warren Carey's research papers) has George and Phebe living anywhere in New Jersey outside of Essex county. Trenton is across the state from Essex county, but admittedly that's not very far for those of us who are accustomed to the vast expanses of territory covered by the states in the West.
Child 4: CAREY, Isaac. Birth: 1799, New Jersey. Marriage: 20 Jan 1820, Miami, Ohio. Spouse: HUDSON, Abigail. Death: 25 Nov 1850, Junction, Paulding, Ohio. Burial: Hudson-Potter cemetery, nr Junction, Ohio. Residence: Defiance & Junction, Ohio.
Glenna's information for Isaac Carey also appears to be complete, although his tombstone gives a death date of 25 Oct 1850.
Child 5: CAREY, Benjamin. Birth: 14 Aug 1801, New Jersey. Marriage: 12 Sep 1825, Miami, Ohio. Spouse: WINANS, Mary Hannah. Mary Hannah WINANS was the daughter of Stephen Winans and Granddaughter of Samuel Winans, Revolutionary Soldier. Death: 10 Mar 1877, Miami, Ohio. Mary d. 28 Jul 1882. Burial: Both bur. Forest Hill, Piqua, Miami, Ohio. Source: P379, 1850 Cen, Miami.
Glenna's information on my great-great-grandfather, Benjamin Clark Carey, is probably the most complete and correct of any in this FGS. Perhaps she got it directly from Warren Carey?
Child 6: CAREY, Jacob. [no information]
I must confess that I don't know much more about Jacob Carey than Glenna did. I hope I can remedy that situation before long!
Child 7: CAREY, Sarah/Sally. Birth: c 1805. Marriage: 11 Nov 1822. Spouse: HUDSON, James.
Glenna's information on Sarah (Carey) Hudson is correct as far as it goes.
Sources. Glenna lists the following sources for her information; except for the census pages listed above, she doesn't mention which information comes from which source:
Conclusions. Glenna's information was the best available to her at the time she compiled it. George and Phebe's family may not have been a part of the Clark lines she was most interested in researching, so she could have simply copied information which was available without verifying all its details. In any case, more than twenty years later, there isn't any really new information in this family group sheet.