It becomes my painful duty to send you a notice of the death of our dear old father, Benajah Carawan, which occured May the 7th 1892. The subject of this notice was born in Hyde county, N. C., June the 12th 1825. When he was but a boy his mother died and left him to mourn his loss. After that he had an elder sister that was also left a widow with three small children, and they were all girls. Then he, seeing the need of his sisters and those little ones, became a member of the family and helped his sister raise her children by the help of the Lord to womanhood. After, which he went to Beaufort Co. N. C., to live where he married Mrs. N. E. Moreslender, September the 6th 1857. She was a widow with one little boy two years old. Then they had born unto them eight children five sons and three daughters. The widow and the five sons survive him.
In the date of 1861 he moved back to his former county where he lived when he confessed a hope in Christ Jesus the Lord, and united with the church at Beaulah, Hyde county, on Saturday before the first Sunday in June 1865 and was baptized on Sunday following by Elder William Reynalds, after which he became a faithful follower of Christ, a consistent member of the church, ever ready to administer to the poor and needy. He was good and kind to all that knew him. In the year of 1875 he made another move to Pamlico County, N. C., where he lived at the time of his death. He was always very healthy and a hard working man up to the year of 1878, when he was taken down with a severe attack of the rheumatism. He was never perfectly sound again in body. For the last year of his life his mind was very much impaired. He seemed more like a child than a man. His hope in Christ remained good ‘till the last. On Saturday before the third Sunday in April 1883 he was received in the church at Goose Creek Island by a letter of dissmission from the church of Beaulah. He was chosen deacon on Saturday before the third Sunday in July 1883, and was ordained to that office on the Sunday morning following. He served till his death. For the last few years he was not able to work, but he was always attentive to his meetings, never failing without providential hindrance. In all of his afflictions he never murmured. He never said it was wrong for them to be upon him. He frequently remarking that notwithstanding in his declining age and Physical weakness, while the outre man waxed old and decayed, the inner man was renewed day by day, and his zeal for that great cause seemed to be just as bright and great as it ever was, like one of old, for he staggered not at the promise of God. For it seemed that he was satisfied with that promise that was given him from on high. Sometime before he died he would say that the time of his departure was near at hand. He told the writer the day before he died that he wanted to go home. So he breathed out his last and took his flight. Though he had the attention of his kind wife and children, and a host of neighbors that most dreaded of all enemies had to be met. We have every reason to believe, from the evidence left behind him, that he was prepared to meet him. On Sunday evening amid the heartfelt sympathies of friends and relatives, his remains were taken to the last resting place where we had prayer and singing by brother J. S. Leary who asked the Lord for his blessings to rest upon us all. While his children have lost a kind and affectionate father, his wife a loving, kind and devoted husband, his church a loving and dutiful member, we have every reason to believe that our loss is his eternal gain.
We desire the prayers of all of God's people that we may all be enabled to bear up under all of God's chastening rod. Yours in the faith and much tribulation.
J. M. CARAWAN.
ENGELHARD—Maxwell M. Carawan, age 67, a retired maintenance supervisor with the Hyde County School System, died at his home this morning at 4:30 a.m. following a critical illness of two and one-half months. He had been in declining health for the past two years.
Funeral services will be conducted Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m. in the Middleton Christian Church by pastor Dr. Frank Wibiral. Burial will follow in Soule Cemetery.
The following will serve as pallbearers: Larry Boomer, Jay Boomer, Thomas Swindell, Edward Carawan, Orville Ballance and William Edward Basnight. Serving as honorary pallbearers will be Cecil Gibbs, Otis Mason, Warren Harris Jr., Richard Mann, Ben O'Neal and Bernell Gibbs.
The body will be moved from Paul Funeral Home in Belhaven to the church to lie in state from Tuesday from noon until the funeral hour.
Mr. Carawan was born in Lowland in Pamlico County October 4, 1911, the son of the late Rufus A. and Elizabeth Potter Carawan.
He served as maintenance supervisor for the Hyde County School System for 18 years, and he drove a bus for the Engelhard-Washington busline for 17 years.
He was a member of the Middleton Christian Church and the Engelhard Rotary Club.
Mr. Carawan was married to Verna Gibbs on June 21, 1946. Mrs. Carawan survives her husband.
Also surviving are one daughter, Miss Debbie Carawan of the home; eight sons, John A. Carawan of Swan Quarter, Leland Carawan of Camarilla, Calif., Macky Carawan of N. Hollywood, Fla., Earl L. Carawan, of Fairfield, Donny Carawan, Danny Carawan and Denny Carawan all of Engelhard and Davy Carawan of the home; one sister, Mrs. Irene C. Brown of Swan Quarter; five brothers, Emmett Carawan of Swan Quarter, Percy Carawan of Kitty Hawk, Poe Carawan of Salisbury, Wilfred Carawan of Forest, Va., and Guyon Carawan of Buena Vista, Va.; 22 grandchildren and four great- grandchildren.
SOURCE: Washington Daily News, Washington, NC, Monday, June 25, 1979.
AHOSKIE-Glenn Carawan, 56, died Saturday.
Services were to be at 11 a.m. today in the Garrett Funeral Home in Ahoskie. Burial was to be at 3 p.m. in Soule Cemetery in Swan Quarter.
He was a native of Swan Quarter.
Carawan is survived by his wife, Lila Lee Carawan; two daughters, Sherrie Barnes of Wilson and Kathy Carawan of Raleigh; his father, I. Emmett Carawan of Swan Quarter; a sister, Metta Austin of Manteo; two brothers, Bill Carawan of Chesapeake, Va., and Edward "Bunk" Carawan of Swan Quarter; his stepmother, Marie M. Carawan of Swan Quarter, and a grandson.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Roanoke Chowan Hospice, P. O. Box 272, Ahoskie, 27910.
SOURCE: The Coastland Times, Manteo, NC, April 8, 1989.
Denny Mac Carawan of Stumpy Point was struck and killed by lightning Monday, July 31, while setting a fish net from a boat in the Pamlico Sound near Stumpy Point.
He was flown to Norfolk by helicopter, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Funeral services for Denny were Wednesday, August 2 in Stumpy Point. Surviving are his wife, Kathy of Stumpy Point and three stepsons; his mother, Mrs. Verna Carawan of Engelhard; his brothers, David and Danny of Engelhard; and Donnie of South Carolina; his stepbrothers, John of Swan Quarter; Earl of Fairfield; Leland of California; and Mackie of Mann's Harbor; and a sister, Debbie Boomer of Swan Quarter.
Our condolences go out to all the family and friends of Denny Max.
SOURCE: The Coastland Times, Manteo, NC.
SWAN QUARTER - Irven Emmett Carawan, 87, died Sunday in Pungo District Hospital, Belhaven. Funeral Services will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday in the family plot at Soule Cemetery. Mike Caton will officiate.
Mr. Carawan, a native of Lowland in Pamlico County, was the son of the late Alvin Rufus and Mary Jane Sadler Carawan. He founded Mattamuskeet Sportsman Center in 1958 which he operated for 12 years. He was a retired farmer and commercial fisherman.
Mr. Carawan was first married to Katie Cox Carawan who died in 1960, and was later married to Marie Mooney Carawan in 1965. He was preceded in death by two children, Jane C. Barber in 1986 and Myron Glenn Carawan in 1989. Surviving are his wife; two sons, Bill Carawan of Chesapeake, VA., and Edward "Bunk" Carawan of Swan Quarter; a daughter, Mrs. Metta Austin of Manteo; two step-daughters, Mrs. Dorothy Gibbs of Chesapeake, Va. And Mrs. Hannah Pierce of Hertford; four brothers, Percy Carawan of Kitty Hawk, Poe Carawan of Salisbury, Wilfred Carawan of Engelhard and Guyon Carawan of Buena Vista, Va.; a sister, Mrs. Irene C. Brown of Swan Quarter; 15 grandchildren and four step great grandchildren.
The family will receive friends at the home. Arrangements are by Bryan Funeral Service, Swan Quarter.
SOURCE: Washington Daily News, Washington, NC, June 17, 1990.
SWAN QUARTER - John Alvin CARAWAN, 65, of Route 1, died Thursday, December 18, at Pungo District Hospital in Belhaven. Born in Beaufort County on November 23, 1932, he was the son of the late Maxwell Manning and Sarah Teresa Barnette Carawan. He was married to the former Lois Sanderson on December 24, 1955. Mr. Carawan was a former Mason in Atlantic Lodge AF & AM and also an Odd Fellow in the former Swan Quarter Lodge. He retired as manager of the former O'Neal Oil Company in Swan Quarter and was a member of Christ Church at Rose Bay. Surviving are his wife; a son, Maxwell Earl Carawan of Swan Quarter; a daughter, Jennifer Lorraine C. Stotesberry of Swan Quarter; his step-mother, Verna Carawan of Engelhard; eight brothers: Maxwell Carawan of Belhaven, Leland Carawan of Bolivar, Missouri, Earl Carawan of Fairfield, Chester Carawan and Lester Carawan of South Mills, Donnie Carawan, Danny Carawan and Davy James Carawan, all of Engelhard; a sister, Deborah C. Boomer of Swan Quarter; 5 grandchildren. He was preceded in death by a brother, Denny Max Carawan, in 1989. Funeral services were to be set for 2 p.m. Saturday at Christ Church at Rose Bay with Dr. Floyd Clark and Raffael Farrow, Jr. officiating. Burial will follow in Soule Cemetery. Arrangements are by Bryan Funeral Service in Swan Quarter.
SOURCE: The Coastland Times, Manteo, NC, December 21, 1997.
ENGELHARD - Ephraim Wilfred CARAWAN, 73, of 4044 Nebraska Road, Engelhard, died Saturday, July 24, 1999 at Pungo District Hospital in Belhaven.
Masonic graveside services were held at 3 p.m. Tuesday at Virginia Memorial park near Lynchburg, Va., with the Forest Lodge AF & AM officiating.
Born in Ransomeville, Feb. 20, 1926, Carawan was the son of the late Alvin Rufus and Sophia Elizabeth Potter Carawan. He was married to the former Margaret Evans who died in 1989. Carawan lived in Forest, Va. for many years where he retired as a barber with the Virginia Department of Mental Health. He returned to Hyde County in 1990 following his wife's death. Carawan was a member of Mattamuskeet Lodge 328 AF & AM. He served in the Army during the Korean Conflict.
Survivors include three brothers A. Percy Carawan of Gull Rock, Poe Carawan of Salisbury and Guyon Carawan of Buena Vista, Va., and a sister, Irene C. Brown of Swan Quarter.
Carawan was preceded in death by his wife; a son, Leland Carawan; eight brothers, Emmett Carawan, Maxwell Carawan, Seth Carawan, James Carawan, William Alpheus Carawan, Berman Brooks Carawan, Rufus Frame Carawan, and John Edward Carawan; and four sisters, Effie Sadler, Naomi Hopkins, Clara Pearl Carawan and Olive Joyce Carawan.
The family received friends from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Monday at Bryan Funeral Service in Swan Quarter.
SOURCE: Beaufort-Hyde News, Belhaven, NC, July 29, 1999.
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