John Carr was born on May 31, 1801, in Maine to John and Susannah Carr. He married Mary B. Smith around 1827, and they had at least eleven children: Sabrina, born on April 12, 1830; Elizabeth, born around 1832; Hiram, born around 1834; Susan, born around 1836; William, born around 1839; Sarah, born around 1841; Charles, born around 1844; Mary, born on March 3, 1847; Harriet, born around 1850; Lucia, born around 1854; and Lillian, born around 1857. They lived in Limerick, Maine, and he worked as a hatter and day laborer. By 1850, he owned $150 of real estate. The value of his real estate remained essentially the same for the next twenty years. He died in 1877.