William Frances CAREY

Jackson County, Kansas

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This file was contributed for use in the Kansas AHGP Jackson County by Chyrl Lawrence-Bulger =========================================================================================

LIFE SKETCH OF WM. CAREY

Soldier Clipper Newspaper

February 6, 1907

Soldier, Jackson County, Kansas.

Born of farmer parents at Binghamton, N. Y., in 1829 his early life was spent on a farm, at the age of 15 we find him working on a boat on the Erie Canal. Tiring of canal life he shipped in 1848 for a sealing voyage to the Patagonian coast and Falkland Islands; here they celebrated July 4, 1849 by going ashore and killing large number of geese, on which they feasted as long as they remained in that vicinity. Many and strange are the stories which Mr. Cary could tell of wonderful sights in these far southern seas.

They cruised around Cape Horn and back the Patagonian coast unto April 1850 when they set sail for New York where they arrived with but little to show for there voyage, except their experience. Mr. Carey then went into the merchant service and sailed in various ships to London, Liverpool, Havre, Antwerp, Marseilles, and Trieste, and to most of the West Indies also. In 1855 Mr. Carey enlisted in the United States Navy and volunteered to go in the Hartstine expedition to the Artic region in search of E. K. Kane, who had sailed in 1853 in search of Sir John Franklin who had been gone for five years.

The expedition was composed of two ships, the barque Release and brig Artic with 46 men in command of H. J. Hartstine in the Release and Capt. Chas. C. Sim on the Artic. The sailors purchased their own clothes for the voyage and when they went to put on their heavier garments they found that hey were utterly worthless, completely rotten.

They were obliged to buy blankets and make clothes out of them. They went up the Greenland side until they could go no father them crossed over to the American side, they were icebound for several days and began to think that they would have to stay there all winter, when suddenly the ice cleared and they got away. They then crossed back to the Greenland side and landed at Leavery, a Swedish trading post, here they were surprised and delighted to find the man for whom they had been searching, who, with his party, had been obliged to abandon their ships and had found there way to Leavery, where they expected to sail for Sweden when the yearly trip was made by the Swedes to the trading post. There was a brother of Dr. E. K. Kane on the searching party and Mr. Cary describes the meeting of the brothers in that far northern port as touching in the extreme, the party was taken on board and set sail for home. Arriving at New York the sailors were made much of, as they were also, at Philadelphia where the father of the brothers lived.

An effort was made to have Congress do something for the sailors who had volunteered on that perilous trip or at least reimburse them for the useless clothes that they had purchased, but in vain. The Queen of England seems to have appreciated their heroism for when on a subsequent voyage to England, Mr. Cary, with the other sailors on the Kane expedition, was presented with a medal by her, this he still cherishes as among his proudest possessions.

The next move of importance in Mr. Carey's life was when he was put aboard the U.S. Ship Niagara which made the first attempt to lay the Atlantic cable; they were about 6oo miles from Ireland on their way across the cable broke and all their work went for naught. He says the sailors were disgusted at the failure that they wanted to do something desperate and tried to fix the blame on the brakeman at the reel, they run him around the boat and he took refuge in the Captains cabin and did not show himself again during the voyage. On reaching home he was paid off but immediately enlisted again and was sent on a U. S. Training Ship, Preble, on a three months cruise with the young midshipmen, here, Mr. Cary was boatswain mate and his duties consisted in teaching 30 boys for about four hours a day the art of splicing and tying knots, etc. He says some of the boys whom he helped instruct are now commanders in the navy. After this cruise, the midshipmen were sent back to school and the Preble with three other ships were sent to Paraguay, South America to bring that government to time for firing on a U. S. Revenue cutter, terms of settlement were reached without any bloodshed. The U. S. ships stopped for two weeks at Monte Video, on the homeward trip and the sailors were allowed shore leave.

Mr. Cary tells some very amusing incidents of this part of the voyage, of their attending a bullfight, etc. After this he was on ships that were cruising in Gulf of Mexico and taking a hand in Central America troubles; several ships were captured and taken to New Orleans as prizes, where they eventually fell into the hands of the Confederates. The winter of 1860 Mr. Carey spent in Ohio with a brother and sisters but in the spring the call of the deep reached him and he went back to the water, shipped for a voyage to California, but the ship sprung a leak and they were obliged to go back to New York.

In May 1861 Mr. Cary again enlisted in the Navy and was immediately sent to Norfolk where an effort was made to save the Navy yard but failed, sailing on to Hampton Rhoads Mr. Carey was assigned to duty on board the Roanoke of the North Atlantic Squadron and saw many hot fights during the bloody struggle which was then just commencing, his time expiring in 1864, he was honorably discharged. After this Mr. Cary seems to have had enough of life on the ocean wave and has never been on the water since. He learned the trade of stone mason married and settled down. For twenty five years he lived in Kansas, rearing a fine family and living a simple life of honest toil.
 

Wm. Carey of Soldier died Tuesday morning at 6: 30 of Bright's disease at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Frank Glenn in this city .… The Holton Signal, January 31, 1907.

(Note: Bright's Disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that would be described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. The term is no longer used, as diseases are now classified according to their more fully-understood etiologies.)
 

William Francis Carey is my great great grandfather. Additional information on his family tree can be found here.