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Samuel and Mary Pyeatt Carnahan

Mary Pyeatt was born February 6, 1795, (or 1797 or Feb 9, 1798) in Warren County, Kentucky, (or South Carolina) to Jacob and Margaret Finley Pyeatt. She died May 3, 1870, (or 1879) in Washington County, Arkansas. Mary married on December 10, 1818, in Arkansas Territory (later Crystal Hill, Pulaski County, Arkansas) Samuel Carnahan who was born June 17, 1796, (or 1794) in South Carolina to Rev. John Carnahan and who died July 5, 1867.

According to a biography of Peter Carnahan, below, Samuel moved to Cane Hill, Washington County, Arkansas in 1827 where he passed the remainder of his days. During the time he was living at Crystal Hill, Pulaski County, Arkansas, his father, Reverend John Carnahan, moved back to Tennessee. But after Samuel moved to Cane Hill his father made his home with him. Samuel Carnahan died in 1867.

The known children of Mary and Samuel are as follows:

The Sam Carnahan family appeared as follows on the 1840 census of Cane Hill, Washington County, Arkansas:

Living next door was Mary's brother, Peter Pyatt.

Since there were 6 boys in the household by 1840, I believe that there is probably another son that I do not have listed for this family as I only have 5 born before 1840. Also, there were 4 girls by 1840 and I only have three - leaving room for one of their daughters to have been married or deceased by 1850.

We also know from the biography of Peter Carnahan, below, that Mary was the 'mother of twelve children, nine of whom are living [in 1880], Peter Carnahan, our subject, being the eleventh child.'

On the 1850 census of Cane Hill, Washington County, Arkansas, the family appeared as follows:

This family was enumerated #34 pg 412B. Their neighbors were #29 John & Elizabeth Tilly, #30 Crawford & Minty West, #31 John & Ellen Buchanan (see below), #32 Susan Crawford, #33 Audley & Paulina Maxwell, #35 John R & Elizabeth Pyeatt, #36 David & Emily Licklyter, #37 Joseph & Amanda Love, #38 Maurice & Ruth Wright.

The Reverend John Buchanan family appeared as follows. The daughter, Martha, evenually married Peter Carnahan, son of Mary and Samuel:

Land records of Washington County, Arkansas, which seem to pertain to this Samuel are:

I believe this to be the same Samuel Carnahan as he was said to have owned 500 acres at his death in 1876.

The following is an abstract concerning the son of Mary and Sam, Peter Carnahan: Goodspeed's "History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford, Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas". Chicago: The Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1889.
Rev. Peter Carnahan, who resides one mile east of Bentonville, Ark., is a native of Washington County. Ark., born in 1838 at Cane Hill. He is a son of Samuel and Mary (Pyeatt) Carnahan and grandson of Rev. John Carnahan, who was a South Carolinian, a Cumberland Presbyterian minister and an immigrant to Tennessee in 1800. Eleven years later he moved to Arkansas Post, and a year later went to Pulaski County. He was the first Protestant minister in the State of Arkansas. His son, Samuel, was born in South Carolina in 1794, and made his home with his father until 1827, when he moved to Cane Hill, Ark., where he passed the remainder of his days. During the time he was living at Crystal Hill his father moved back to Tennessee, but after Samuel moved to Cane Hill his father made his home with him. Samuel Carnahan died in 1867. He was the owner of 500 acres of land at the time of his death. His wife was of French descent, born in South Carolina in 1797, and died in 1879. She was a daughter of Jacob Pyeatt, and became the mother of twelve children, nine of whom are living, Peter Carnahan, our subject, being the eleventh child. He was reared on his father's farm, and was attending the Cane Hill College when the war broke out, and he immediately espoused the cause of the Confederacy, serving as third lieutenant of Capt. Buchanan's company. In 1862 he enlisted in Company B, Thirty-fourth Arkansas Regiment of Infantry, and was elected [p.818] second lieutenant of the same, and after the battle of Prairie Grove was promoted to adjutant, holding the latter position until the close of the war. He participated in the battles of Oak Hill, Prairie Grove and Jenkins' Ferry. After the war he returned home and farmed on the old homestead until 1870. He was ordained a minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1866, and was given charge of a church at Pleasant Hill and one at Cincinnati, Ark. In 1870 he was called to Bentonville to take charge of the church at that point, and was pastor of the same for fourteen years. During this time he also had charge of the Mt. Vernon congregation, on Pea Ridge, which charge he still retains. In 1884 the Bentonville congregation was divided, and Rev. Carnahan took charge of the new congregation, known as Wood's congregation, the church being about two miles east of Bentonville. In June, 1862, Mr. Carnahan was married to Martha J., daughter of Rev. John Buchanan, one of the pioneer Cumberland Presbyterian ministers of Washington County, Ark., and by her became the father of six children: Stella (wife of D. C. Lewis), Otho, Edgar, John Hurley, Harry Pyeatt and Earl. He has a good farm of ninety-four acres, and is a Democrat and an Ancient member of the Masonic fraternity. He is noted for his many Christian virtues, and the fact that he has been eighteen years the pastor of the same two congregations speaks volumes in his praise.

Sources:

Updated May 2004

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