The general biography which has been spread around for at least a hundred years was that Caleb Carman, second eldest son of John and Florence Carman was 1) the first white child born in the Town of Hempstead, Long Island, and 2) was blind.  Born in 1639, the family hadn't moved to Long Island yet. Caleb was also the Sheriff of Cape May, New Jersey of one point - ever heard of a blind Sheriff?  Evidence is that the long attributed later traits belonged to Joshua Carman, Caleb's brother and John and Florence Carman's youngest child.  The former trait of being the first white child born would mean that John brought his family, and pregnant wife, down with him in 1639 and began the negations with the Indians then before they were finalized in 1641. While it is possible that he did winter over on Long Island before the main group of colonists arrived, there is no hard evidence of it.

As Caleb was the second oldest son and the tradition of the time was that the eldest son inherited the control of the family estate, Caleb move to New Jersey sometime shortly after 1684.

Caleb's descendants are extensive. In general he can be attributed to be the ancestor the the Carman family branches in New Jersey, Kentucky, and Ohio, Illinois, and on... (general path of family expansion). However Caleb did have family remaining on Long Island and did inherit his share of property from his father's estate.

Edith Carman Hay spends so much time talking about this line in her manuscript, so for a general outline you can jump to her paper for her view of her family line.

Caleb² Carman (John¹) was born 1 March 1838/39 in Roxbury, Massachusetts; died 5 August 1693 in Cape May, Cape May County, New Jersey married Elizabeth Seaman about 1661, daughter of Captain John Seaman and Martha Moore and sister of Hannah Seaman who married Caleb's brother John Carman. 

09/08/2007