Charles Albert Carson was born the second child of George and Selena (Raven) Carson on 20 September 1878 in Mapleton, Maine. I have not been able to find his birth record, but that birth information comes from his WWI Draft Registration Card. The earliest record I've seen for Charles is the 1880 US Census from Mapleton. George and Selena are on the last two lines of part 1 below:
Charles, his older brother Frank, his younger sister Vesta, his grandmother Eliza Carson, and his uncle Willis Carson are on the first five lines in the image below:
George and Selena had six more children and then got divorced in 1894. By the time of the 1900 census, George and his younger brother were still minors and living with their older brother, Frank in Mapleton. The three brothers are on lines 88–90 in the image below:
By 1902, Charles had moved to Caribou, Maine. On 27 September 1902, Charles married Sylvia Ethel Burgess there. The front and back of their marriage record is below:
Charles and Sylvia had their first child about a year and a half later, Gladys Hazel Carson. She was born on 7 February 1904 in Mapleton. Olive May "Ola" Carson would follow on 28 Nov 1905 in Ashland, Maine. Tragically, Ola passed two months shy of her first birthday on 12 September 1906 in Ashland. The cause of death was listed as "cholera infantum", which was what we would now call gastroenteritis and is still very dangerous for infants as the diarrhea and vomiting can lead to fatal dehydration.
Their next child was Pearlie Glenwood Carson, born in Ashland on 6 January 1910. The 1910 census from Ashland shows Charles, Sylvia and the children on lines 23–26 in the image below:
Little Pearlie would pass away at exactly six months old on 6 June 1910. His cause of death was "convulsions from cholera".
Around 1918, Charles registered for the draft. Here is his registration card, which shows him living and working in Limestone, Maine. It's also the only record I could find that gives his date of birth:
It appears that Charles and Sylvia took a long break from having children after the loss of two infants. Their fourth child, Ray Norman Carson, wasn't born until 28 April 1919 in Caribou, Maine.
I have been unable to locate a 1920 census record for Charles thus far, which is unusual. The census took place in January that year, and they appear to have evaded the census-taker. Veda Nadine Carson, their last-born child, arrived on 9 February 1920 in Limestone, which is also where they were living at the time.
Oldest daughter Gladys married Hollis Ivanhoe Boltseridge on 23 October 1922 in Limestone, so by the time of the 1930 census there was just Charles, Sylvia and their two youngest children living together in Limestone. See lines 64–67 in the image below:
Charles passed away in 1936 at just 57 years old. He was a carpenter and his death record states that he "contracted a severe cold while working in a cold and damp basement." Here's are the front and back of his death record:
I have not been able to find an obituary for Charles, but he is buried in Ashland Municipal Cemetery in Maine.
If you see any mistakes or know of information that isn't included here, please