Tuesday, July 23, 2013

1837 Pamphlet "Articles of Faith & Form of Covenant", Churches of Oxford Conference, Oxford County, Maine; Owner's Name: S. Carsley or L. Carsley


1837 pamphlet entitled "Articles of Faith and Form of Covenant Adopted by the Churches of Oxford Conference".

The pamphlet, which measures approximately 7" by 4-1/2" and contains 23 numbered pages, was printed by W. E. Goodnow of Norway, Maine.


The cover bears the handwriting of the owner: either S. Carsley or L. Carsley, of 233 Washington Street, Boston, dated 1850. 


If S. Carsley, the owner might have been the Seth Carsley (1782-1874) who lived in towns in Cumberland County and Oxford County, Maine, and who was involved in the religious community as a Deacon. But did he live in Boston in 1850?


If L. Carsley, the owner may well have been Leonard Carsley (1832-1853), son of Benjamin Kimball Carsley (1810-1849) and Roxana (Ingalls) Carsley (1813-1895).  Sadly, Leonard, who was working as a clerk in Boston at the time of the 1850 Census, died there of typhoid fever in 1853. It's likely that he was helping to support his widowed mother and younger brother Albion Carsley (1840-1929); Leonard's death must have been a further terrible blow, after the death of his father in 1849.

Benjamin Kimball Carsley had left his family, farm and hotel at North Bridgton in late February 1849, to travel overland to California, presumably to mine for gold or to use his farming and hotel keeping skills. Sadly, he died along the way that May in Independence, Missouri. This information appears on pages 108 and 109 in The Genealogy and History of the Ingalls family in America, giving the Descendants of Edmund Ingalls, by Charles Burleigh, M.D., published in 1903.

It's possible that the Charles Frost who served as Clerk of the Oxford Conference was Rev. Charles Frost (1796-1850), pastor of the First Congregational Church of Bethel, Maine.  Other names mentioned include Brother Walker and Brother Soule.

If you have a theory as to the identity of S. Carsley or L. Carsley, please leave a comment or contact me directly.


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Oxford County, Maine [Note: in 1837 Oxford County was larger than what the current boundaries show.  It lost towns to Franklin County in 1838 and to Androscoggin County in 1854 and gained the town of Otisfield in 1978.]



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