Carrie (Hunter) Putnam of Hillsdale Co., MI
I have two Carrie Hunters in my records and am trying to figure out if they are the same person or two different people.Both Carrie Hunters were born in the same county in the same year.
The first Carrie Hunter was the daughter of Isaac and Rachel (Silvernail) [Moon] Hunter.Rachel was married first to Benoni Moon and they lived in Hillsdale County, Michigan.They had a number of children together.Benoni died and Rachel remarried to Isaac Hunter.Rachel and Isaac had one daughter together, Carrie Foretta Hunter, born 09 Nov 1861 in Hillsdale County, Michigan (perhaps Cambria Township).I found the Civil War Pension records of George Moon, Rachel and Benoni Moon's only son.George was killed during the Civil War and Rachel applied for her son's pension since he had never married and had no children.According to the pension records, Isaac Hunter was a common drunk who deserted his wife and daughter and offered them no means of support and had no property for them to go after.Carrie Hunter was briefly mentioned as an invalid.I have in my handwritten notes that Carrie Hunter died young.That statement is unsubstantiated.I don't know where I found that information.
The second Carrie Hunter in my records was the first wife of Alfred E. Putnam, also of Hillsdale County, Michigan.I show her name to be Carrie L. Hunter in all records I've found of her (so the middle initial doesn't match the Carrie Hunter named above).Her death record showed she died 13 Dec 1898 in Freeport, Barry County, Michigan, age 37.That would make her year of birth as 1861, same as the Carrie Hunter named above.Her parents were named simply as father:Hunter and mother:Moore or possibly Moon.(that's a perfect match to the Carrie Hunter listed above).I found the marriage record of Alfred E. Putnam and Carrie L. Hunter on Family Labs.It says she was born in North Adams, Hillsdale County, Michigan.It doesn't mention who her parents were.Carrie was 17 and Alfred was 25 at the time of her marriage.If Carrie's father was a drunk and had abandoned his family, it would make sense for her to marry young to get out of the house.
I keep going back and forth on whether it's the same person.I think it HAS to be the same person because they were the exact same age and came from the same locale.Even the death cert shows that they could be the same person.Then I start thinking about the difference in the middle names and the fact that I showed the first one died young.Ugh!Can anyone give me any more clues or help?
Thanks,
Terri Mulliken Allen
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