More thoughts on Carnes in Kansas

I have been thinking more about why Jane and her sons came to Kansas...I have a hunch that the new railroad had something to do with Jane and her sons moving to Marshall County. The Central Branch of the Union Pacific was completed about 1870 and ended in Waterville. From what I have read there was a lot of advertising about Kansas and all of the opportunities. Plus, there was the Homestead Act. It's like they got on the train and rode as far as they could, haha. Another factor may have been the aftermath of the Civil War. I know they fought for the Union but if I remember correctly they were drafted. Jane's father owned a very large plantation near Lewisburg so I wonder if the family really supported the Union. If they were Southern Sympathizers life would not have been fun in WV following the Civil War. Of course that just my thoughts... no way to prove such a theory.
I would also love to know why they left KS. I know life was not easy but I don't think that it was all that easy in WV at that time either. Jane had other children and grandchildren in Charleston, maybe she missed them and wanted to go home. I think one son died while she was in KS. It is possible that Jane died in KS and I just haven't found any record. Maybe they just wanted to move on to somewhere else... Goodness knows how those Carnes like to move around and travel.

Carnes Land in Kansas!

July 6, 2013

Dave and I took a trip 45 minutes north to Waterville, KS yesterday. I wanted to find some more information about Jane Jarrett Carnes and her sons that moved there in the late 1860’s. From records that I found earlier Isaac and Clark Carnes each purchased 160 acres of land located in Marshall County Kansas near Waterville in August 1868. Isaac and Catherine registered and sold the land 16 March 1877, this is a bit later than I thought and it also means that Alonzo Carnes was probably born in KS as I expected. Isaac bought a total of 160 acres of land but it was two ‘sections’ of 80 acres and this is how he sold the land. Eighty acres was sold to a John Peters for $450.00 and the remaining 80 acres was sold to a John Seih, also for $450.00. Both transactions took place on 16 March 1877 and were witnessed by Wm C Park and Charles Torly or Throly. The lady at the courthouse said that it was common to register and sale land on the same day. She showed us on the map where his property was likely located and Dave and I rode out to the location. The land is out a unpaved road (little tricky on a motorcycle) named Unicorn Road just outside of Waterville and backs up to the Washington County line. His brother Squire bought land in Washington and I am fairly sure that it was close to Isaac’s land.  The area is beautiful and is still all farm land.  

We were surprised to find a small cemetery, Kenyon Cemetery, along the road. The graves were quite old but the grass was mowed so someone takes care of the property. We did not find any Carnes graves but we did find the grave of John Sieh, one of the two buyers of the land.  A grave for a William Lowell Park was also there but following a Find a Grave link leads to a William Chester Park buried in another cemetery in nearby Waterville. Not sure if there is any connection to my Carnes but it was an interesting find and makes me feel that we were in the right place.  I need to take the time to look more closely at some of the other names to see if they were possibly neighbors. I’d also like to find a record of who all is buried in that cemetery because there were some obvious graves with no markers or markers that were in such bad condition that they could not be read.

I plan on going back to the courthouse to get the records for Clark Carnes property and to Washington County to get Squires. I also want to go to the Marshall County Historic courthouse that is now the county’s history museum. Although it is supposed to be open from 1-4 Monday – Friday it was closed when we were there yesterday. It was open when we drove by around 1:30 but after we had lunch it was closed. Frustrating, but it is run by volunteers and sometimes that is just how things go! 



Map of Marshall Couinty Kansas