Have you ever stumbled across a piece of information that might be helpful in your family history research? That’s what happened to me recently when scrolling thru Facebook. I saw a post to the Lincoln County KY History and Genealogy group about Carpenter’s Station.

A month ago, I likely would have browsed the post and scrolled on by. However, I recently got my mtDNA test results back. Since my earliest known ancestor for my mtDNA test is Salome Carpenter, I’m now paying more attention to Carpenter information. I’ve been corresponding with the administrator of the Carpenter DNA project and he is not aware of a Salome or Saloma Carpenter. So my interest was captured when I read the following in the post,

Other children of George Carpenter were Jacob, George, Henry, Anna, Barbara, Elizabeth, Margaret and Selema

I have to admit I have very little information about Salome Carpenter. I have her as the wife of William S. Nafus and mother of Almira Nafus who married Lewis Crandall. My data trail for these families takes me from early Iowa thru Indiana and back to Ohio where most of Lewis and Almira’s children were born. Both sets of parents of Lewis and Almira resided in Seneca county, Ohio. Prior to Ohio, the Nafus / Carpenter trail leads to Ontario county, New York.

So that’s basically a straight line migration path from New York to Ohio to Indiana to Iowa. That line does not go thru Kentucky. So why am I even considering the possibility that the Carpenter station article relates to my Nefus / Carpenter ancestry?

First, the migration path for James and Martha (Knight) Crawford shows that people did not necessarily migrate in a straight line. James and Martha were married in Lincoln County, Kentucky. Records appear to connect James to Rebekah Crawford who owned land in Garrard County, Kentucky. With changing boundary lines, James could have been married in Lincoln county Kentucky while residing in what becomes Garrard county. After his marriage, James migrates SOUTH to Barren county, Kentucky where he owns land. From Barren county, James migrates NORTH likely going thru Lincoln county to settle in Preble county, Ohio.

Second is what I’ve learned about the NAFUS surname. First, there are a lot of ways to spell the name, including Nevius. The book,, Joannes Nevius, schepen and third secretary of New Amsterdam, has a page listing many of the various spellings of the name.

Another thing I learned about my Nafus ancestry is that it likely goes back to New Amsterdam around 1651. That means my Nafus branch may have followed the same migration path as my other Low Dutch lines. And that may have taken them to Kentucky!

Thus I turned to Google, searching for

low dutch Kentucky settlement “nevius”

That led me to the Banta Genealogy on Neal’s Genealogy Page which lists a Martin Neavous in the list of ‘Intend Friends’. Martin Nevius is also listed as a signee of the second petition by Kentucky settlers for a grant of land. (Five Hundred Kentucky Pioneers by A. C. Quisenberry on JStor)

When I changed the search to look for the Carpenter surname, I found The Carpenters of Carpenter Station by Steve and Virginia Tyler Carpenter. This document identifies the daughter as Solema. According to this family history, the Carpenter family migrated from Pennsylvania thru Virginia into Kentucky.

While the Selema Carpenter mentioned in the Carpenter Station article is not my ancestor, it is possible that there is a connection between my Salome Carpenter and the George Zimmerman Carpenter family of Carpenter Station. I never would have uncovered this possible connection if I hadn’t stopped to read the Facebook post!