Cut Short:  Mary J. (Williams) Carley

As I introduce Jason and Lucy Williams’ children, I’ll go in birth order with one exception: I’ll be saving Martha for next-to-last. You’ll see why once I get to her. Mary J. Williams was born April 8, 1826 in Salem, Washington County, NY, the oldest of Jason’s and Lucy’s children known to me. Sometime before 1850, she married Newman Bowen Carley, a blacksmith from Whitingham, Windham County, VT. I’m not sure how they met; perhaps through Jason who was also a blacksmith. As I mentioned in my last post, Mary’s youngest sister Lucy Ann (age 11) lived with Newman and Mary during the 1850 Census. I don’t know when Lucy Ann came to live with them. It’s entirely possible that their mother Lucy and Lucy Ann lived with the Carleys prior to the census. One authored source mentioned that Lucy Ann was educated in Providence, RI, so perhaps her Vermont stay was short. In any case, Mary began to grow her own family with two children: Catalina (who later went by “Kitty”), born around 1852, and…