Carr

Mary Ann Carr was my great-grandfather's grandmother which makes her my great-great-great-grandmother, the mother of my great-great-grandmother Rhoda Burrey. I thought I had already told this story but anyway I will tell it again just so no one will imagine any connection to a floormate at Evangel College of the last name Carr. The story goes that Mary Ann Carr was in Alsace, Lorraine which is France, sort of. There is a note somewhere explaining that Alsace became German after the Franco-Prussian war of 1871, and then French again after WWI. I got the following story from Candace Peebles, a Burrey connection who preceded me in genealogy research. Unhappy with her strict Catholic father who had forbidden her from becoming a Protestant, Mary Ann Carr ran away from home and migrated to America where she married Jacob Burry, whose family were Swiss Protestants. I am not sure why this matters. Lots of Protestants used to be Catholics so that point does not make us not Protestants. However, how Mary Ann Carr got to America all by herself is a mystery to me. Did she have a chaperone or companion? I would not recommend the journey as girls can get bad reputations for just spending a day away from home, let alone even one night. People may say there is no double standard but they lie. I am sure there is more to the story than we know but anyway Mary Ann Carr successfully ran away from home and married Jacob Burrey and had several children including Rhoda and the rest is history. His father apparently was not happy about that but it does not matter now. Some Catholic girls maybe want to use Mary Ann Carr as the prime example of disobedience to authority and what not to do. Nevertheless, sometimes we make mistakes and then God forgives us and redeems our mistakes and uses us in spite of ourselves. At least some people get a break although maybe I am not speaking for myself.