About 1842, Carson met Josefa Jaramillo. She was the beautiful daughter of a wealthy Mexican couple living in Taos. Lewis Garrard wrote: "Her style of beauty was of the haunting, heartbreaking kind ... such as would lead a man with a glance in his eye, to risk his life for one smile." Carson wanted to marry her. He left the Presbyterian Church for the Catholic Church. Thirty-three-year old Carson married 14-year-old Josefa on February 6, 1843. They had eight children.