Carey died September 10, 1908 at his home in Edmonton, less a month after the death of his former prospecting partner Bill Cust. He had been in poor health since suffering a stroke of paralysis 14 years previous. His funeral was held at First Presbyterian Church in Edmonton; it was attended by many local dignitaries and notables including James Ross, Henry William McKenney, Daniel Maloney, William Antrobus Griesbach, Daniel R. Fraser, as well as former mayors Matthew McCauley, Cornelius Gallagher, and sitting Mayor John Alexander McDougall. Prior to the service, a procession to the church was led by the Edmonton Citizens' Marching Band. He was interred at the Edmonton Cemetery on September 14. He was survived by a son, Edward, of Andrew, Alberta, and a daughter, Mrs. George Hutton, of Edmonton. Regarded as a pioneer citizen of Edmonton and Western Canada,"Pioneer Merchant of Edmonton Passes Away", Winnipeg Free Press, Saturday, September 12, 1908, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada an obituary in the Edmonton Bulletin described Carey as a "genuine old timer, a distinct species of the race, one of nature's noblemen, who would do anything in the world for a friend and who scarcely knew what it was to have an enemy."
