FROM: The History of Gallatin, Saline, Hamilton, Franklin, and Williamson Counties, Illinois
 (Chicago: Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1887).  P. 684-685.

          Ira B. Carey, farmer and stock dealer, was born in Hopkins County, Ky., in  1821, 
the eldest of eight children of John and Frances (Stokes) Carey, both natives of Kentucky and 
born in 1791 and 1799 respectively. The grandfather, Joseph Carey, a native of Ireland, came to 
the United States when a young man, and is now buried in Kentucky opposite Shawneetown. The 
father served two years in the war of 1812 and was married about 1820.  He remained in Hopkins 
County, Ky., until 1854, since then he has lived in Hamilton County, Ill.  He died in 1871, and had 
been class-leader in the Methodist Episcopal Church for forty years. The mother, a daughter of 
Maj. Thomas Stokes, of Kentucky, died October 12, 1875. Both are buried at St. Mary’s Chapel 
Cemetery.  Our subject remained at home until thirty years old, and March 19, 1850, was married
to Lucy T. Nance.  Their one child is Francis M., a farmer of Webster County, Ky.  His wife died 
March 5, 1851, and May 30, 1853, he married Isabella Sights. Their three children are Parlee G., 
wife of David Thompson; Mahuldah A., wife of H. Barker, Posey County, Ind., and Sarah J., 
deceased. His second wife died in 1860, and in 1862 he married Eliza A., daughter of Henry and 
Susan Mangis, born in East Tennessee in 1829. Only one of their six children is living
 – Mary E., wife of F. G. Freil.  In 1856 he came to Hamilton County, and his finely improved farm 
of one hundred acres lies near Hoodville, and all has been from his own efforts.  He served two 
terms as county commissioner, elected in 1879 and 1884.  He is a public spirited man and a life-long
Democrat, first voting for Polk. He is a Mason and has long been a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, while his wife is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and both 
are respected people of the community.