With St. Patrick’s Day coming up, here is a possible Irish brick wall. According to Irish genealogists the great majority of people called CARROLL are, in fact, O’CARROLLs.
Robert and Anne CARROLL lived in Montgomery County, Virginia, as seen in the 1810, 1820, and 1830 census. In 1831 Floyd County was formed from Franklin and Montgomery counties. In 1840 the family was seen in Floyd County. I believe they lived in an area that was Montgomery and became Floyd County. Robert and Anne have not been located in 1850. It is possible that Anne died and Robert was moving around as some younger CARROLL individuals have been found with other families. In 1860 Robert was seen in Montgomery County with several of these younger CARROLL relatives.
Known sons are John, Joseph R., and Robert R.; known daughters are Elizabeth, Mary “Polly”, and Catherine (all three married to sons of my Henry RUPE); several more daughters were born to this couple per pre-1850 census listings. Further research needs to be done on the younger CARROLLs found with Robert in 1860.
Polly was the last of the children to die in 1909 at the age of 101. Sally Rowe, a ROOP/RUPE researcher, wrote in 1986, “Story says her father brought her to U.S. as a child from Germany but that conflicts with other data.” This statement is not further discussed. The 1880 and 1900 census show that she and her parents were born in Virginia.
At the same time as Robert CARROLL lived in the Montgomery/Floyd area there was also a George Valentine CORRELL b. 1781 in Germany. The similarity of these surnames has made it difficult to research the families. The family story noted by Sally Rowe also complicates matters.
In 1810 a Samuel CARROLL age over 45 (b. bef. 1765) was living in Montgomery County. In his household was a woman, most likely his wife, age over 45 and three males between 16-25 years old (b. bet. 1785-1794). Could this family group have been Robert’s parents and brothers? Samuel was not in the county in 1820. Did he move or die? Who were the three young men in his household?
Were Robert CARROLL and/or Samuel CARROLL in anyway related to the following man?
Charles CARROLL (1737-1832), a wealthy Maryland planter whose grandfather was Irish-born, served as a delegate to the Continental Congress and later as first United States Senator for Maryland. He was the longest-lived (and last surviving) signatory of the Declaration of Independence, dying at the age of 95.