White male, born about 1863, single at the time of his death at the Escambia County Poor Farm on 5 December 1933. The name on his death certificate is “Carlston;” however, I have since determined that the proper spelling is “Carlson.” He was about 70 years old, and worked as a fisherman. The informant on the death certificate, Mr. Kelly (the Superintendent of the Poor Farm at the time) did not know Mr. Carlson’s place of birth nor anything about his parents. Mr. Carlson died of probable chronic nephritis and myocarditis; the physician who signed the certificate, W.E. Anderson, indicated he did not remember when he treated Mr. Carlson for his illness. He was buried by Waters & Hibbert at the Escambia County Poor Farm cemetery on December 6.
Searching for Mr. Carlson is complicated mostly by the itinerant nature of fishermen – they were often at sea or living in rented or barracks-like domiciles and were not documented by traditional means. Identifying this fellow is further confused by the fact that there was another man named Charles (“Charlie”) Carlson in Pensacola, who was born in Finland 1868 and died in 1904. He had a large family and is well-documented, but distinguishing between the two men is tricky. I am most confident of records that document him after the death of the other Charles Carlson, though given the number of Scandinavian fishermen living in Pensacola during the early part of the 20th century, there were often several men named Charles or Carl Carlsen in the records at any given time.
There was an arrest record in New Orleans, Louisiana, of a Norwegian sailor names Charles Carlson, 47 years old and single. He was brought in for loitering on Friday, August 27, 1909. He had no address and was arrested at St. Charles and Perdido Streets. He was given a fine of $10 or 30 days in jail.
The 1920 Federal Census for the Fishermen’s Association of Pensacola on Zaragossa St. lists a Carl Carlson, 48 years old and a Charley Carlsen, 42 years old. Neither of these men is old enough to be the subject of this entry. There is also a Charles J. Carlsen, 64 years old. This is actually a little old to be our man, but I lean toward this one as being the likeliest candidate. Charles J. was born in Norway, was single, and was a resident alien in the U.S. He was a fisherman who worked on a fishing smack.
Charles Carlson appeared in the 1921 Pensacola City Directory, a fisherman living at 714 1/2 S. Palafox St. This would have been a rented space, as 714 was owned by Joyner-Williams Inspection Co.
No Charles Carlson (or variant thereof) appears on the 1924 directory. There is a Carl Carlson in the 1927 directory who was a sailmaker for E.E. Saunders & Co., living at 401 S. Barcelona St. This Carlson appears in the 1931 directory, though, married to Gertrude, and also appears in 1934.
There are no other appearances of a Charles, Charlie, or Carl Carlson (Carlsen, Carlsson, etc.) in the records that I consider likely to be the subject of this entry.
SOURCES:
Florida Certificate of Death for Charlie Carlston (No. 18996). Florida Deaths, 1877-1939. Database. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 14 June 2016. Index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City.
New Orleans Public Library; New Orleans, LA, USA; Arrest Records 1885-1931; Reference: TR8910; Roll Number: 827. New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., Arrest Records, 1881-1935 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2023. Original data: Arrest Records. New Orleans, Louisiana, USA: City Archives & Special Collections, New Orleans Public Library.
Carlson, Charles J. Year: 1920; Census Place: Pensacola, Escambia, Florida; Roll: T625_219; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 174. Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. (NARA microfilm publication T625, 2076 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.