Capt. Thomas Carter
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THE DESCENDANTS OF CAPT. THOMAS CARTER OF "Barford," Lancaster County, Virginia WITH GENEALOGICAL NOTES OF MANY OF THE ALLIED FAMILIES BY JOSEPH LYON MILLER, M. D. MEMBER OF THE VIRGINIA HlSTOllICAL SOCIETY, THE WEST VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, THE FILSON CLUB (KY,), ETC. Second Edition For Sale By C. J. CARRIER BRIDGEWATER, VIRGINIA How To Use This Book In tracing your line of Carter ancestry back to Capt. Thomas Carter, of Barford, Lancaster County, Va., first by means of the index, find yourself or the pa,rent, through whom you trace; then by means of the name numbers follow your line back till you come to the son of Capt. Thomas, from whom you descend. The book has been divided into sections, each of which is devoted to an ac count of a son of Captain Carter and his descendants. PREF.A.CE Not many persons but at some time long to open the chronicles of the past and read the records of their ancestors; for, as Edward Everett says, "There is no man of culture who does not take an interest in what was done by his forefathers." "Beneath the roots of tangled weeds, Afar in country graveyards, lie The men whose unrecorded deeds Have stamped this nation's destiny.' Genealogy has a wider field of usefulness than that of merely promoting family pride. Among other things may be mentioned the collection and preserv~tion of much that is valuable in ancient mannen and customs, and the putting in easy reach of the present day historians new and authentic ideas as to the source of our colonial population and their social and political character istics. This volume is the record of a family that for two hundred and sixty years has played a part in the social, political and military life of the Old Dominion and other States to .the south and west. While many have held high places of trust and honor, the majority have not been men of great wealth and public position, yet it is to their credit that they were good citizens, leading honorable lives-acting well their part in the local affairs of their neighborhoods, and always finding a place on the battle field for principle's sake. We should not love our kindred alone for their genius and glory, but also for their homely virtues and domestic affections that expanded and flourished unob served save by the little world in \vhich they moved. The first of the family in Virginia was Capt. Thomas Ca;ter, planter and tobacco trader, said to have been the son of a London merchant, though it is preity weii established that "gentie biood coursed through his veins." Among his descendants have been PREFACE vestrymen, justices, sheriffs, legislators, congressmen, circuit and supreme court judges and candidates for Governor; and in military affairs they have ranged from private to brigadier-general. In the hundreds of wills, deeds a 1d other papers of the Carter family examined, but one man made his mark; and in the in ventories of their personal estates for two and a half centuries the possession of books is recorded in all. A noticeable fact is that many of the Carters of Virginia as well as elsewhere, though they cannot. give a connected account of their ancestry beyond the Revolution, are by "tradition" descendants famous old "King Carter of Corotoman," whose immense wealth has enabled his descendants to hold on to the splendid old homes of his sons, and the frequent appearance in print of accounts of these has done much to spread and maintain this idea. These "traditions" have been particularly hard to shake even in the light of comprehensive data to the contrary from the original public records, and in a few instances I fear the families, like the proverbial woman, convinced against their will are of the same opinion still-with them it is aut C<Esar aut nullus. A WTiter in The Times-Dispatch a few years ago said: "Almost everybody by the name of Carter aspires to be descended from that lordly old John of Corotoman, whose son Robert is the only Virginian who rejoiced in the name of 'King.' He made the high-water mark of Virginia Carters. So prominent were these Corotoman Carters that one is apt to conclude that really no other Carters are worth a moment's notice. Such however is far from being the case." I believe that the following pages will show that during the same period there was another Carter family in Virginia to which no one need be ashamed to belong, though it has never possessed as great wealth nor been allied with as many of the really great families of the Old Dominion. However, their marriages in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries con nected this Carter family with the Dales, Skipwiths, Balls, Thom tons, Fitzhughs, Masons, Chews, Beverleys, Armisteads and other well known families, and in the early nineteenth century with the Washingtons, Lees, Pages, Pend!etons, Elands, Bacons, Talia ferros, Marshalls and others. PREFACE While there were a number of Carter emigrants to Virginia during the seventeenth century, but five of them seem to have been of any prominence, judging from their possessions, political preferment, etc. They were : 1st. William Carter, who patented more than two thousand acres in the county of James City between 1635 and 1640; and doubtless was the emigrant ancestor of the Carter families found in James City county and Surry and adjacent Southside counties in the next century, among whom were Dr. James Carter, of Williamsburg, about the middle of the 18th century, and Dr. Thomas Carter of the Revolution. The loss of the James City records precludes the writing of a history of this family. 2d. Col. Edward Carter, who settled in Nansemond County prior to 1650, was a member of the House of Burgesses, Coun cil, colonel of militia, etc. He purchased large plantations on the Rappahannock in L~ncaster County, but probably never lived on them ; returned to England, where his will probated in 1682 styles him as "Edward Carter, Esq. of Edmonton, Middle sex." So far as known he has no .descendants in Virginia. 3d. Col. John Carter, who settled in Nansemond County prior to 1650, was a colonel of militia, justice, Burgess, member of the Councill, etc. About 1650 purchased several thousand acres of land on Corotoman River, Lancaster, to which he re moved and founded the famous "Corotoman" estate of this Car ter family. He died comparatively young in 1669, but in the meantime had had five wives, one of whom was a daughter of Cleve Carter of England. In this connection the following notes may be of interest: Thomas Carter of Somerset, descended from Thomas Carter, Gent. of Crumdale, County Kent, died in 16o3 leaving issue-George, eldest son; Thomas of Winchauck, yeoman (born in 1592), Christopher, Jonas, Richard, and Cleve. This Cleve Carter may have been the Clyve Carter, aged 25 years, of St. Alphage, Canterbury, Woolendraper, who obtained a license April 17, 1624, to marry Elizabeth Boys, aged 19 years, daughter of Edward Boys of Boneington, parish of Goodnestone. They might ·have had a daughter who married Col. John Carter PREFACE of Va. Col. John Carter of "Corotoman" left three sons-John, the eldest, died without male issue; Charles, the youngest, died unmarried, and Robert, the second son, was the famous Robert Carter of "Corotoman" and ancestor of ail of this family of Car ters. Numerous accounts of this family have been published, and the late Mr. Robert Carter of "Shirley" and his daughter some years ago prepared an extensive chart of the family in both male and female branches. 4th. Capt. Thomas Carter, who came to Virginia prior to 1652-it is thought to Nansemond County-was a captain of militia, justke, deputy clerk of his county, Burgess ( ?), etc. Purchased a large plantation on Corotoman River from Col. John Carter and was settled there in 1652. Of his descendants this volume is the first published account, except some preliminary notes in the William and Mary Quarterly. 5th. Giles Carter, who came to Virginia several years later than the others, and died in Henrico County in 1701 at the age of 67 years, leaving sons Giles and Theodorick, and daughters Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Williamson. So far as known he never held any military or political position, and is supposed to have belonged to the Gloucestershire Carters. His descendants were chiefly settled in Henrico, Goochland, Prince Edward, and Hali fax counties. An interesting account of them has been published by Gen. W. R G. Carter, U.S. A. In some counties in Virginia the untangling of the Carter lines has been very trying, as in addition to two or three branche, of the Thomas Carter family there was also one or more branches of the descendants of Col. John Carter and Giles Carter. As for example in the small section of Southwest Virginia, now in the county of Scott, there settled between the years 1772 and 1795 the following Carters: Thomas, Joseph, and Norris Carter, ;ons of Peter Carter of Fauquier; Dale, John, and Charles Carter, sons of Charies Carter of Amherst, a brother of Peter of Fau quier; John Carter, Sr., a~d sans John and Landon, supposed to have been of the Corotoman Carters-later removed to Ten nessee; Joseph and John Carter, who came direct from England; PREFACE and in the next decade William Carter, supposed to have be longed to the Giles Carter family, and Richard Carter from North Carolina. Most of them were opposed to race suicide, left large families and few records, many of their descendants intermarrying until some of the present generation are descended from at least four of the original emigrants.