John⁵ Carman (John⁴, John³, John², John¹) did not leave a lot of records behind.  And to further confuse things  there is another John Carman about 10 years older  with a wife of the same name. Add to it that his children were probably Loyalists or at best neutral, which means they were not the most popular family on Long Island after the Revolutionary War, and family records were hard to come by because the Americans weren't keen on keeping up Loyalist records after the war. And the family was of little importance that would bring them attention. They were happily settled into the backwaters of South Hempstead where little of anything important happened unless you went looking for it.

If you want a bit of a headache try following this reasoning: "As there was a John Carman b.c.1745 who m. Martha (____) and had children Miriam, Ruth, & Rebecca Carman and others, which 3 names occur among the sisters of John4, it seems most likely that this husband of Martha (____) was of the John4 line, a grandson from the dates; and because of the name John and the dates it seems very prob. that John Carman, husband of Martha (____), and thus the husband of Mary Smith was s. of John4. - "John-1 Carman of Hempstead, Long Island and Some of his Descendants Thru His Son John-2", Henry Alanson Tredwell Jr, August 1946, Collection of the NYGBS, New York City.

In reverse, The father of Adam Carman is identified by several of his grandsons as John Carman - John S., Nathaniel, Charles, Thomas, Samuel, and Edward as being father of Adam through Family Group Sheets sent by Ezra Ayes Carman to Family members and returned by the addressee c.1879, Collection of the NYGBS Library, New York City, Carman File. And they all agree on three male children for this family John, Israel and Adam. 

The last will of John Carman dated 1789 and probated 1791 mentions wife Martha Carman; brother-in-law, John Watts, and dau. Mary were appointed exrs.; and children below were named in same order ("Queens Co., NY Wills 1:14-Ms. in L.I.H.S.).

Putting it all together and I come up with:

John was born about 1717 in Hempstead and died there about 1791.  He married first Mary Smith on 8 February 1737/38 at St George's Church, Hempstead, New York (the other John Carman who married a Mary Smith is also listed by Stillwell with the same marriage date, so we have an error here for one of them!).  He married second, about 1766, Martha Watts (did Martha Watts have a previous marriage? A letter from John S. Carman states that his grandfather Adam had a half sister named Elizabeth Thurston and he knew her. As the possibility that this child married Adam's brother John is very remote if at all (half sister = sister-in-law), although there is a marriage record in St George's Church for Elizabeth Thurston to a John Carman in 1815 which doesn't help. It appears more likely that she was a child of a previous marriage for Martha. This is John's second marriage, why not hers.)

Children of John Carman and Mary Smith:

Children of John Carman and Martha Watts:

02/03/2007