Editing Kit Carson (section)

=== Marriages ===
Carson was married three times. His first two wives were Native American. His third wife was born of an old Hispanic family in [[Taos, New Mexico]], then part of the Republic of Mexico. Carson was the father of ten children. He never wrote about his first two marriages in his ''Memoirs''. He may have thought he would be known as a "squaw man", which was not welcomed by polite society.<ref>Roberts 71</ref>

In 1836, Carson met an Arapaho woman, Waanibe (Singing Grass, or Grass Singing), at a mountain man rendezvous held along the Green River in [[Wyoming]]. Singing Grass was a lovely young woman, and many mountain men were in love with her.<ref>Sides pp. 29–30.</ref> Carson was forced to fight a duel with a French trapper, Chouinard, for Waanibe's hand in marriage. Carson won but had a very narrow escape. The French trapper's bullet singed his hair. The duel was one of the best known stories about Carson in the 19th century.<ref>Roberts p. 70</ref>

Carson married Singing Grass. She tended to his needs and went with him on his trapping trips. They had a daughter, Adaline (or Adeline). Singing Grass died after she had given birth to Carson's second daughter circa 1839. His second child did not live long. In 1843, in Taos, the young child fell into a boiling kettle of soap tallow and subsequently died.<ref>Roberts p. 98</ref>

[[File:Josefacarson02crop.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|alt=Josefa Carson|Josefa Carson, Carson's third and last wife, holds Carson's son]]
Carson's life as a mountain man was too hard for a little girl, so he took Adaline to live with his sister Mary Ann Carson Rubey in [[St. Louis]], Missouri. Adaline was taught in a school for girls. Carson brought her West when she was a teenager. She married and divorced a George Stilts of St. Louis. In 1858, she went to the California goldfields. Adaline died in 1860<ref>Roberts pp. 101–102</ref> or after 1862, probably in [[Mono County, California]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Kit Carson & His Three Wives: A family history |first=Marc |last=Simmons |publisher=UNM Press |date=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8M5iW1cYt7IC&q=%22Adaline%20carson%22&pg=PA165 |isbn=978-0-8263-3296-7}}</ref>

In 1841, Carson married a Cheyenne woman, Making-Out-Road. They were together only a short time. Making-Out-Road divorced him in the way of her people by putting Adaline and all of Carson's property outside their tent. Making-Out-Road left Carson to travel with her people through the West.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Crossing Wyoming: Kit Carson and a Changing West {{!}} WyoHistory.org |url=https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/crossing-wyoming-kit-carson-and-changing-west |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=www.wyohistory.org}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Lepore |first=Jill |date=2006-10-01 |title=Westward Ho! |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/10/09/westward-ho-4 |access-date=2025-04-01 |work=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X}}</ref>

About 1842, Carson met Josefa Jaramillo, the daughter of a prominent Mexican couple living in Taos. To marry her, Carson left the [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian Church]] for the [[Catholic Church]]. He married the 14-year-old Josefa on February 6, 1843. They had eight children.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />