Title: F. A. Carley
Dates: 1871-1987
Collection Number: MSS 10593
Quantity: 1.75 feet
Abstract: Papers consist of diaries, correspondence, financial material, legal documents, genealogical material, a scrapbook, photographic images, and miscellaneous material of Alva B. and Lucina Carley, their son F. A. and his wife Eliza, their daughter Edith, their son Roy and his wife Anne, and Roy’s son E. A. Carley.
Provenance: The papers were donated to the State Historical Society of North Dakota by Angela Brennan on behalf of Margaret Carley Gunn, F. A. Carley’s great-granddaughter, in March 1992.
Property Rights: The State Historical Society of North Dakota owns the property rights to this collection.
Copyrights: Copyrights to materials in this collection remain with the donor, publisher, author, or author's heirs. Researchers should consult the 1976 Copyright Act, Public Law 94-553, Title 17, U. S. Code and an archivist at this repository if clarification of copyright requirements is needed.
Access: This collection is open under the rules and regulations of the State Historical Society of North Dakota.
Citation: Researchers are requested to cite the collection title, collection number, and the State Historical Society of North Dakota in all footnote and bibliographic references.
Transfer: Photographs were transferred to the Photo Archives and assigned collection number 00948 in 1992 (Angela Brennan Photograph Collection). One silver Liberty Loan medal of R. E. Carley’s was offered to the Museum Division in December 2012.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH, FRANKLIN A. CARLEY
From North Dakota History and People: Outlines of American History,
Clement Lounsberry, 1917, pp. 829-830
Franklin A. Carley, who is engaged in the implement business in Montpelier, is a native of New England, his birth having occurred near Mount Tabor, Vermont in January, 1849, his parents being Alva. B. and Lucina (Greeley) Carley, who in the year 1855 left their Vermont home and removed westward to Wisconsin, settling at Stephensville, near Appleton. There the father took up the occupation of farming, which he continued to follow, until his life's labors were ended in death in 1871. His wife has also passed away.
Franklin A. Carley had scarcely begun his education when the removal was made from Vermont, so that his studies were largely pursued in Wisconsin, where he continued to live until 1879. He was married in that state in 1871 to Miss Liza McAllister. He continued to engage in farming with his father until the latter's death, after which he cultivated the home place for about nine years and then disposed of it preparatory to removing to North Dakota in 1879. This was then a frontier state and he homesteaded on section 24, township 137, Range 63, Stutsman County. He complied with the law's requirements and became owner of the place and he still lives upon the farm, which he transformed from a tract of raw prairie land into a highly cultivated property, continuing to actively engage in the work of the fields until 1896, when he accepted a position with the Andrews Grain Company at Montpelier as manager. He remained with that company for twelve years and also handled the lumber and coal trade for several years. In fact he controlled all the business interests of the village except the general store. In 1907 he took full charge of the interests of the Lutz Lumber Company and continued in that connection for about two years, after which he was obliged to go to a hospital, where he remained much of the time for two years. He had previously also been engaged in the farm implement business but in 1908 he severed his connection with all other interests and concentrated his efforts upon the farm implement trade. He now carries a large stock and is conducting a profitable and growing business. He also farms two quarter sections of land and lives upon that and in addition he owns eight lots in the village, upon which his store is located. From 1882 until 1887 he and his wife conducted the noon stage depot or relay station on the stage line from Jamestown to Oakes, and so excellent was their table that their meals became and they had a large trade.
Mr. and Mrs. Carley became the parents of seven children but lost their firstborn, Bert A. The others are: Hattie, now the wife of W. N. Campbell, a real estate dealer and ranchman living at Medford, Oregon; Edith L., the wife of I. H., Porter, a truck farmer residing at Gold Hill, Oregon; Roy E., postmaster at Montpelier; Frank H., who is agent for the Northern Pacific Railroad Company at Glover, North Dakota; L. Isabelle, who is a graduate of the Valley City Normal School and for three years taught at Wyndmere; and I. Margaret, who is attending the Agricultural College at Corvallis, Oregon, where she is pursuing a general course in domestic science and chemistry.
Mr. Carley has always been deeply interested in the cause of education and has given his children good opportunities in that direction. He served as clerk of school district No. 7, in Stutsman County, from 1881 to 1889 and then became clerk of district No. 14. He was largely instrumental in securing the erection of the fine new high school building, which is the best in this part of the state. He stands at all times for progress and improvement and believes that one can give to the young no better aid than to provide them with liberal educational opportunities. For thirty-seven years Mr. Carley has been a resident of the state and has therefore witnessed much of its growth and development, taking an active and helpful interest in all that has pertained to public progress and improvement in his community.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH, ELIZA CARLEY
From the North Dakota Federation of Women’s Clubs Pioneer Mother Project
(MSS 10202, Box 25 folder 9)
“Mrs. Franklin A. Carley came from Ontagamie County, Wisconsin, in 1879, by railroad, in an immigrant car. The mules, cow, chickens and cats were in one end of the car, the furniture and family, consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Carley and three children, in the other end.
They settled on a homestead 20 miles south of Jamestown, Stutsman County, in the James River Valley, where they remained until 1920. Four children were born there.
The most outstanding experience of the pioneer days was the establishing of a stage line from Jamestown to Pierre, and choosing the Carley place for a dinner station and exchange for horses.
Names of children are:
Bert Carley, deceased.
Mrs. W. N. Campbell, Medford, Oregon.
Mrs. I. H. Porter, Los Angeles, California.
Roy Carley, Medford, Oregon.
Frank H. Carley, Edmunds, ND.
Mrs. Theodore Cumber, Montpelier, ND.
Mrs. L. B. Howey, Penang, Federated Malay States.”
BOX / FOLDER INVENTORY
Box 1:
1 Four diaries of F. A. Carley 1883-1889 (daily activities, farm information, weather, addresses, accounting)
2 Five diaries of F. A. Carley 1890-1898 (daily activities, farm information, weather, addresses, accounting)
3 Alva B. and Lucina Carley legal documents, 1871, 1879
4 F. A. Carley correspondence, 1884-1923
5 Eliza and F. A. Carley legal documents, financial material and miscellaneous, 1883-1922
6 Roy Carley correspondence, 1908-1929
7 Roy Carley miscellaneous, ca. 1919-1923
8 Anne Carley correspondence, 1910-1954
9 Anne Carley miscellaneous, 1904-1920
10 E. A. Carley and Angela Brennan correspondence, genealogical research (Carley line to Alva Carley and Lucina Greeley to Andrew Greeley), 1987
11 Greeley miscellaneous, 1901
Box 2: Scrapbook – F. A. Carley (agricultural information, political clippings, quotes, elections, etc. with index), ca. 1890s
Box 3: Glass Plate Negatives
10593-01 Edith Carley’s wedding, ca. 1901
10593-02 Roy’s on woodpile (Roy Carley), ca. 1901
10593-03 Bertia and the cat, ca. 1901
10593-04 Louis Eugene Chinberg as a young man (Anne Carley’s father), ca. 1870s?
Box 4: Prints
10593-05 Anna Carley portrait
10593-06 Alan (E. A.) Carley portrait
10593-07 Roy Carley portrait
10593-08 Harriet Carley before she married
10593-09 Edith and Mickey O’Shea taken back of their house, Livermore
10593-10 Ben, Ellenor and Babe Finnegan, Portland (OR)
10593-11 Cows
10593-12 Zella and her children
10593-13 Minnie and I (Hattie Carley) hoeing pie plant, Montpelier (ND)
10593-14 Franklin and Eliza (Lida) McAllister Carley
10593-15 Hunting in the Dakota Hills
10593-16 Normal School days, Valley City (ND): Shattuck, Hattie and Charles, Mogle Olsby, Gertrude Remmen, John Anderson
10593-17 Grandpa Carley and the children off for school and office in horse drawn wagon
10593-18 Franklin and Eliza (Lida) McAllister Carley and children
10593-19 Grandma Minn and her dog Riley, Greenbush, Wisc.
10593-20 Gertrude Shattuck, Hattie and Charles, Mogle Olsby, Gertrude Remmen, John Anderson,Valley City (ND)
10593-21 View of the Carley farm from the hill looking west, Montpelier (ND)
10593-22 Roy and Mogle Olsby, Valley City (ND)
10593-23 Day and Roy paddling a boat to the barn to do chores
10593-24 George Carley log home, River Falls, Wisc.
10593-25 Young woman standing in the James River at the old home, Montpelier (ND)
10593-26 Uncle Alden Greeley outside Ellenor Finnegan’s house
10593-27 Bridge across the James River at the old home place, Montpelier (ND)
10593-28 Woman seated on a wood fence on the farm home at Appleton, Wisc. Where Hattie was born
10593-29 Postcard photo of a man postmarked 1909, Montpelier (ND)
10593-30 Family group seated outside a house
10593-31 McElroys 50th wedding anniversary October 5, 1965
10593-32 - 35 Slides of Roy and Anna Carley (great grandparents), Alan and Margaret Carley (grandparents), Margaret Carley Gunn (mother), and Linda Gunn (baby) summer 1961
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