Dracut's Claypit Cemetery > Carkin Family
Carkin Family

By Emily Fox

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.

[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.