From the epitaphs taken of the Claypit Cemetery[1],
we know that there were at least six members of the Pierce family and
at least nine members of the Coburn family buried there. The epitaphs
also list two others not from either of these families. They are Asa
and Mary Carkin, husband and wife, who lived in Pawtucketville in the
early 1800’s. Out of all those buried in the cemetery we know the least
about the Carkin family.

At first we only knew
the names of, and death dates of, Asa and Mary Carkin. Utilizing vital
records, I then found the birth records of twelve children of the
Carkins. Each of the children was about two years apart in age. They
were:

• Clarissa Carkin – born September 11, 1801 – married William Chamberlain, April 16, 1826
• Sybil Carkin – born December 13, 1803 – married James Carkin Jr., October 31, 1827
• Mary Carkin – born May 3, 1805 – married George Fletcher, April 1, 1831
• Leonard Carkin – born March 30, 1807 – married Martha Salter, May 18, 1832
• Lucinda Carkin – born May 22, 1809
• Dorcas Carkin – born March 14, 1811
• Hannah Carkin – born March 18, 1813 – died November 16, 1814
• Lewis Carkin – born October 11, 1815
• Sarah Ann Carkin – born June 16, 1818
• Dexter Carkin – born March 18, 1821
• Abel Carkin – born June 20, 1823
• Esther Carkin – born June 19, 1825 [2]

Mary
Carkin, Asa’s wife, died on December 25, 1836. I can estimate that she
was born in 1783. There are records of an Asa Carkin and a Mary Raymond
Motley marrying on April 20, 1839. This was three years after Mary
Carkin’s death, so it can be surmised that Mary Motley was Asa’s second
wife. On the 1820 census, Asa’s occupation was listed under the
agriculture category. He was most likely a farmer. However, on the
census taken in 1850, his occupation was listed as wood dealer. His
son, Abel, was also listed as a wood dealer. The 1850 census was much
more detailed than the previous six, which is why it is the document
that contains the most information about the Carkins that we have
found. From this census we know that four people besides Asa, who were
living in the Carkin household in 1850. They were:

• Susan Carkin – 54 years old
• Abel Carkin – 27 years old
• Henrietta Carkin – 10 years old
• Charles Cambridge – 66 years old

We
believe that Henrietta may have been Abel’s daughter. We also have the
record of another daughter of Abel, Mary Elizabeth, from the town’s
vital records. She was born on June 8, 1853. From this record we
retrieved the name of Mary Elizabeth’s mother, who was Jane M. Carkin.
We can assume that Jane was also Abel’s wife. It is not clear how Susan
Carkin was related to Asa and the rest of the Carkin family.

The
only information that we have on the Carkin family, is these few names,
dates, and facts. The rest of their lives are still a mystery buried
beneath the soil of Claypit cemetery.

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[1]
The Epitaphs was taken in 1904 by P. Hildreth Parker. In her records
there were 17 headstones accounted for. Before this time there were
probably many more headstones there, but they may have been stolen or
eroded. There are only about half of those 17 headstones still left
today.

[2] The birth, death, and marriage records of the children of Asa Carkin were found in Dracut Vital Records.

 

 

During
our research of Claypit, we discovered that African Americans may have
been laid to rest there including Barzillai Lew who served during the
Revolutionary War.  We then decided to learn more about the African
American community that existed back then in Dracut. According to
census records, there were several free colored families living in
Dracut. The first African American family to settle within Dracut’s
borders was the family of Anthony Negro.

According
to Martha Mayo, archivist at the Center for Lowell History, Anthony
Negro was born around 1680. We found it interesting that a free African
American family was living in Dracut at this time. It is likely that he
had been an indentured servant and was granted his freedom at the end
of his contract. About 250,000 indentured servants reached America in
the colonial era. [1]
 In 1706 Anthony married a woman by the name of Margaret. However, she
died in September of 1712 and Anthony then married Sarah “Sary” Mingoe.[2]
The Negro family became known as the Anthony family and all of the
children’s names ended in “Anthony Negro”. There are records of nine
children of Anthony and Sary.[3] They are:

On
the 1790 census there were five possible categories people could be
counted under. These categories were free white males 16 and older,
free white males under 16, all other free persons, and slaves.  The
members of the Anthony Negro family would have fell under the category
of “all other free people.” However, no one appears on the 1790 census
at all with the surname Negro or Anthony Negro. According to the 1800
census, five families by the name of Negro appear but none were living
in Middlesex County.  It is unknown whether any of these Negro families
were descendents of Anthony Negro.

According
to Martha Mayo, prior to settling in Dracut, the Anthony Negro family
previously lived in Concord, Massachusetts. There are records of
Anthony Negro in Concord, by the name of “Antoner”. Together the family
traveled to Dracut between the years of 1712 and 1716. Anthony was
granted several lots of land throughout the town. In 1721 Anthony
purchased one lot of land in Dracut.[4] Unfortunately, there are no records of land transactions made by Anthony Negro in the Middlesex Registry of Deeds. 

 

The
northeast area in Dracut, where most of his land was located, was
referred to as “Black North” probably because he owned so much land
there.[5]
This land was located on Marsh Hill and beyond Dracut’s border into
Pelham. A brook in Pelham bears the name “Tony Brook” after Anthony
Negro.[6] He passed away on June 10, 1741, when he was in his sixties.

 

Anthony
Negro’s probate record listed Josiah Richardson as executor of his
estate. His probate also lists that he owned ninety acres of land in
Dracut, £25 in cash, a table, an ax, and other old irons.[7]
On his probate it states that he had in his possession a bond, which
entitled him to £15 due from Caleb Dalton. The executors of his estate
found this bond to be of no value.  They do not explain why they came
to this conclusion. According to Anthony Negro’s will, he left his
estate to his children:

We have been unable to locate any further records of
the Negro family.    This is due to the fact that as an African
American family in colonial America, they often did not always appear
in towns’ vital records and left very few other records. Anthony Negro
still holds an important place in the town’s history and the history of
the African American community in Dracut.

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