Celestia "Lettie", daughter of Ariel Barker and Nancy Harlow Barker, was born and raised in Bangor, Maine. While visiting Canadian uncles she met Cephas Barker, a distant cousin from Denver. They were married after a three-week courtship and returned to Denver. Cephas worked for an uncle in the area who had a ranch and continued to do so for several years. He also worked in the local mines. While working in the mines they became acquainted with a neighbor, John Carlson.
Cephas contracted typhoid fever and died. Within the same year that Cephas died three of his and Celestia's children also died of typhoid fever, Estele, Edith and Ethel. They had previously lost one other infant boy. The surviving children were Estele's twin, Ira, and Francis.
John Carlson immigrated from Askersund, Sweden, in 1885 at the age of 34, with his younger brother George.
John Carlson married Celestia Barker April 17, 1893 in Littleton, Colorado. Their daughter Alma was born on May 6, 1894 in Colorado Springs.
At the time of the 1900 census, they were in Table Rock precinct, El Paso Co., Colorado. John's younger brother George was also counted in El Paso County. George married Nannie Bell Stevens the following year in Colorado Springs, El Paso County.
In 1903, in Eastonville, El Paso County, Carlsons and two other families rented a railroad box car. They loaded their teams, farm machinery and all their belongings on the freight car and traveled to Weiser, Idaho, which had been well-advertised. Making the move were John and Celestia; her 19-year old son Ira, her 17-year old daughter Francis, and 9-year old Alma. It is unknown whether George and Nannie migrated at the same time, but by 1910 they were in Blackfoot, Bingham County, Idaho.
Francis Barker, John's stepdaughter, married Luther Fulton in July of that year. Luther and Francis Fulton had the first store in Lardo, present-day west McCall.
That fall the family moved to Salubria, near Cambridge where Alma attended the 4th grade. Her father worked for Pete Gladhill.
In 1904 John and Long, one of the neighbors from Colorado, heard of work in Emmett, building a canal. They both had teams of horses so they checked it out. Carlsons liked Emmett and stayed. Longs went back to Weiser. John worked on the Northside, Black Canyon Canal, which diverted just inside the Boise County line; the power plant supplied power for Pearl.
Two years later Carlsons bought the relinquishment papers on a High Valley ranch from B. B. Wilson, an Emmett real estate dealer for $50. There was a 12' x 14' cabin on the property and John added onto it. The Carlson ranch became the stage stop between Ola and Smith's Ferry. In a 1911 photograph the sign reads Jno. Carlsons Wood Side Home. For route information see Roy & Alma McConnel story
February 1914 he received the homestead patent on 160 acres in Section 31. (see High Valley map) When it came time for him to file the final homestead papers on the ranch, John, who did not like to ride, walked to Idaho City, then the county seat. In the 1970's many Cascade old-timers connected with the early stage and freighting lines, including the Callendars and the Pattersons, still remembered the stage stop.
In the fall of 1918, Carlsons moved to Eagle with daughter Alma and her husband Roy McConnel. John Carlson died in Eagle, May 16, 1921. He is buried in Morris Hill Cemetery.
Celestia moved back to High Valley with the McConnels in the early 1920's. She spent the year of 1926 with daughter Frances Fulton and her family in Buelton, California. Celestia died November 1928 at the age of 72 in High Valley. She is buried in Morris Hill Cemetery. Her grandson Carl McConnel, who died two years later, is buried next to her.
Husband: (2) Johann "John" Frithiof CARLSON born: place: 10 August 1852, Askersund, Nerika, Sweden marr: place: 17 April 1893, Littleton, Jefferson Co., Colo. died: place: 16 May 1921, Eagle, Idaho buried: place: 18 May 1921, Morris Hill Cemetery, Boise, Idaho Wife: Celestia "Lettie" BARKER born: place: 14 May 1856, Bangor, Penobscot Co., Maine died: place: 10 November 1928, High Valley, Valley Co., Idaho buried: place: 13 November 1928, Morris Hill Cemetery, Boise, Idaho Father: Ariel BARKER1 Mother: Nancy Carver HARLOW2 CHILDREN #1 Alma Josephine CARLSON born: place: 6 May 1894, Colorado Springs, Colo. marr: place: 25 November 1915, High Valley, Valley Co., Idaho died: place: 30 November 1987, Emmett, Gem County, Idaho buried: place: 3 December 1987, Emmett, Gem County, Idaho spouse: Roy Curtis McCONNEL
(Complete Celestia family sheet, including children from first marriage.)
*****
1"Son of Josiah & Nancy Barker, d. Jan. 12, 1881, at 70 yrs, 5 mos." - Mount Hope Cemetery Corp. and Crematory, Bangor, ME.
See Rootsweb World Connect, John Shaw of Plymouth Plantation in Progress for Ariel's siblings.
2"wife of Ariel Barker, d. March 22, 1891, age 75"- Mount Hope Cemetery Corp. and Crematory, Bangor, ME.
See Rootsweb World Connect, Ginger Harlow's Family Tree, which traces this branch back to England, through Plymouth Colony.
Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. - Thomas Jefferson
Copyright © 2009 - Sharon McConnel. All Rights Reserved.