My great uncle, Peter York Carter, is a perfect study for being out of place. He was the son of my 2nd great grandparents, William Furlsbury Carter and Sarah York. He was born in Maine in 1832 and ended up in Utah in 1851.
A few years ago I realized no one had really done much in the way of researching him so I decided to see if I could put together a complete life story on him.
The basic story is that when his father, William Furlsbury Carter, returned from his mission to India in 1853, his son Peter decided he had had enough of the LDS church in general and Utah in particular and left for the greener hills of California. He followed the path of the brothers of one of his father's wives hoping to strike it rich in California.
My research was progressing fine until I hit a brick wall about 1857 when Peter seemed to just disappear. I just simply lost him until about 1865 when he again surfaced. I let things rest for a while and one day a hit appeared at Ancestry for Peter and of all things it was a reference to San Quinten Prison Records!
Yes, Peter disappeared when he as convicted of Grand Larceny and sent to San Quinten on October 6, 1857 on a sentence of 5 years. Obviously Peter had some issues and so to compound his problem, on August 7, 1861 (with a little over a year to go on his sentence) he actually escaped from prison. His freedom didn't last that long as he was rearrested on April 27, 1862 and sent back to prison. He was finally discharged on June 7, 1863 almost a year later than his original release date.
So Peter, you win the prize for being out of place - more than once it appears!
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