Abraham Karnes
(Son of Moses Karnes)

(December 15, 1819 - June 7, 1876)

Wife: Martha Ann McKelvy (October 27, 1824 - December 25, 1882) - Concord Cemetery

Married February 27, 1843

This list of children is based on the data reported in the 1870 census (see below). It is not necessarily complete as there could be children earlier than Martha C. Karnes that had already left the house and/or children later than Alice Brown Karnes. Abraham would have been 35 years old in 1854, when Martha C. Karnes was born. Since he and Martha were married in 1843, 11 years earlier, it is quite likely that there were earlier children. Abraham would have been 48 in 1867, when Alice Brown Karnes was born, so there could have been later children thought that is less likely. There may have also been other children interspersed with the children listed that passed away in childhood.

I traveled to Milan, Tennessee in early 2002 to conduct family research. Based on information I had located on the Internet, I visited an abandoned cemetery that I have since found out is called the Concord Cemetery. In the cemetery, I found two Karnes family headstones, Abraham Karnes, and Martha N. Karnes. This corresponds to the Abraham Karnes that I already knew of as a brother to John Karnes (My great-great grandfather), although I had his birth in 1820 based on data from other sources. The headstone for Abraham Karnes also indicated that his Wife's name was M. A. Karnes. I do not know the relation between Abraham and Martha N., but one would assume from the proximity of the headstones that they were related. The year of birth for Martha N. appears to be 1878 so she could not have been a daughter as Abraham passed away in 1876. Martha N. could possibly have been a grand-daughter.

The 1870 census for Gibson County, Tennessee, District 1, mentions several Karnes households including:

142 KARNES         Abe        49  M W       farmer             3000      2300     ALA   13
    KARNES         Martha A   45  F W       keeps hse                             TN    14
    KARNES         Martha C   15  F W       at home                               TN    15
    KARNES         Moses Thos 13  M W       farm lab                              TN    16
    KARNES         James      11  M W       farm lab                              TN    17
    KARNES         Southson    9  M W       farm lab                              TN    18
    KARNES         Alice Brown 2  F W       at home                               TN    19
    SCIUICOUS?     Lee        35  F W       at home                               TN    20
    WEBB           S          19  M B       farm lab                              TN    21
    HOOPER         Sarah      35  F W       at home                               TN    22

The columns for the 1870 census were Dwelling Number, Surname, Given Name, Age, Sex, Color, Occupation, Property Real, Owned Pers, Birth Place, and Line Number.

This does present one small discrepancy as the age reported in the census for 1870 would place Abraham's year of birth at ~1821, which doesn't match the headstone, but the headstone, census data, and marriage record all confirming Abraham and Martha A. would make it highly unlikely for it not to be the same person. Another possibility, being that I have no information on how the census was actually conducted, would be that the 1870 census started a year or more before 1970 in order to be complete in 1970.

In addition to the census data, there is a marriage record in Gibson County, Tennessee last lists:

KARNES, Abraham            marr.          MCKELVY, Martha             on 27-FEB-1843