monroevillehistorical.org

The Carothers Farm

Descendants of Charles Carothers  (1766- 1845)

 James Carothers and his family came from Ireland with his 14 children in the late 1700s and settled in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.  One of his sons. Charles, who was born in Ireland, came to Western Pennsylvania in 1800 to establish a farm near what is today’s (2007) Pennsylvania Turnpike in the area of Center Road.  It is said that he was comparatively wealthy, having built one of the best homes in the area.

     Charles was a devout Presbyterian; he and his family would be closely linked to the Church in Monroeville.  When he first arrived he joined the Beulah congregation some five miles to the west, however by 1830 the possibility of forming a congregation of their own closer to home was being discussed by local residents. In this, Charles took a leading role, and the group succeeded in 1834, erecting their new church, the Crossroads Meeting house, on a prominent knoll along the Northern Turnpike in what would become Monroeville. It is said that the congregation’s name was suggested by one of its early members, Andrew Mellon, who was reminded of the church near his boyhood home in Ireland.

       Charles was to become a founding member and elder of the church, and was to have five children (Robert, Charles, William, James and Ellen). Robert, James and Charles, Jr., would, in time, all become church elders.  James a Wilkinsburg physician, would marry Matilda Graham, a daughter of the pastor of Beulah Church; his brother Charles would become a shopkeeper in Wilkinsburg.

     Robert (b.1790) would have several children who rose to some prominence: James, David and Robert, Jr. 

     In 1862, James enlisted in Co. E, 123 regiment of the Army of the Potomac and he was to see action at Chancellorsville and at Fredericksburg.  After the war, he returned to the family homestead and became active in local politics serving as township assessor, auditor, and tax collector.  In 1869 he married Wilhemina Dubarry.   It was James who was to inherit the family farm, while his brother David settled on an adjoining farm.  

     Robert Jr., went into the ministry and in 1866 was installed as pastor of the Cross Roads Church. Robert served as pastor until 1889, when he became superintendent for a college for the blind in Iowa.

     Charles, son Robert, and grandson, Robert., Jr., along with many other family members are buried in the Cross Roads Cemetery. 
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Sources:
Damon, Paul. (1984) Cross Roads Presbyterian Church, Monroeville, Pa.: A Sesquicentennial History (1834-1984). 
History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (1889). Chicago: A. Warner & Company