Joseph Carr was born in Charlottesville, Virginia on March 6, 1843. Before joining the Union Army, he worked as a hostler. He enlisted in the Union Army on November 4, 1863, in Providence, Rhode Island, and was assigned to Company H of the 11th USCT Heavy Artillery Regiment. His enlistment records erroneously gave his birthplace as New Orleans. On November 23, 1863, he was appointed to the rank of corporal. On December 19, 1864, he was reduced to the rank of private for unknown reasons.
On October 2, 1865, Carr was discharged in New Orleans, Louisiana. He settled in Muscatine, Iowa, where he worked as a gardener and a farmer, joined the Grand Army of the Republic fraternal organization, and attended Bethel AME Church. On December 5, 1878, he married Elizabeth Augusta Carr in Muscatine. He applied for a pension on July 23, 1890, and eventually received one. He began suffering from dropsy in 1901, and he died on the morning of January 31, 1902. The Iowa State Bystander printed a eulogy soon afterward, observing, “In [Carr’s] death Muscatine will lose one of her best colored citizens . . . The church was crowded with friend come to pay last respect to a good man . . . to know him was to love him.”
Document:
| Name: | Carr, Joseph | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alternative names: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Roles: |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gender: | M | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Race: | Black | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Regiment/Ship: |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Branch of service: | Army | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Enlistment/Muster: |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Residence at enlistment: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rank In: | Private | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rank Out: | Private | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highest rank achieved: | Corporal | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pensions: |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth date: | 1843-03-06 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth date certainty: | Certain | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth place: | Charlottesville, VA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Death date: | 1902-01-31 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Death place: | Muscatine, IA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Causes of death: | disease: dropsy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupations: | Hostler | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relationships: |
|
We are grateful to Alice Cannon, a member of the Central Virginia History Reachers Group, for sharing her research on Joseph Carr and his family with us.
Compiled Service Records for Joseph Carr, RG 94, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C;“Death of Joseph Carr,” The Muscatine Journal (Muscatine, Iowa), January 31, 1902; “Elizabeth Carr, Longtime Local Resident, Dies,” The Muscatine Journal, September 10, 1937; “Muscatine News,” Iowa State Bystander (Des Moines, Iowa), February 7, 1902; Alice Cannon, Joseph Carr in Iowa,” Emails, January 31, 2021.
