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Generation No. 1
1. JOHN3 CARTER (JOHN2, THOMAS1) was born
Abt. 1613 in New Gate Christ Church, Middlesex, LONDON,
England, and died June 10, 1669 in Source LDS/
Corotoman, VA/Arrived in US in 1635 .. He married (1) JANE
GLYN, daughter of MORGAN
GLYN
OF FULHAM. She was born in Fulham, Middlesex, England, and died
Bef.
1655. He married (2) ELEANOR ELTONHEAD BROCAS, daughter
of RICHARD ELTONHEAD. She was born in 3rd
wife and widow of Brocas/source "the Virginia
Dynasties" by Clifford Dowdey. He married (3) ANNE CARTER,
daughter of CLEVE
CARTER. He married (4) SARAH
LUDLOW
1662 in Source LDS, daughter of GABRIEL
LUDLOW and PHILLIS WAKELYN. She was born 1635, and died Bef. June 10, 1669 in
Sarah died when her son
Robert was just 5 years old.. He married (5) ELIZABETH SHIRLEY 1668. She
was born in Widow from Gloucester
county. She and John were NOT happily married..
Notes for JOHN CARTER:
John was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses
1642-1658: member of the Council Virginia, 1658-1659:
commanded againest Rappahannock Indians, 1654: Colonel
of Lancaster County in 1656.
(Horace Edwin Hayden, Virginia Genealogies,
[Wilkes-Barre, PA, 1891], .225). Clifford Dowdey, The Virginia
Dynasties, [Boston: Little, Brown, n.d.], p.18). (One
ref. states he was b. Garston, Hertford, England). Virginia
Lineages, Letters & Memories, by Alice Nelson,
1984;p.194) Anne: Her father was of Ratcliffe Highway, St.
Dunstans, Stepney, England. Sarah: The Colonial
Genealogist, vol.8, no.2 [Apr 1976],pp.65-66: by Dom W.
Wilfrid Bayne, O.S.B., of Portsmouth Priory, RI). (A
History of the Carter Family, Copyright 1972 by Amer.
Gen. Research Inst., Wash., DC).
John first settled in Upper Norfolk, now Nansemond
County, and later Lancaster Co., VA. Both himself and his
eldest son, John appear on the vestry book as members
of the vestry in the year 1666, the father having been
acting in that capacity before – how long not known.
The father, who died in 1669, had previously built by
contract, the first church standing on the spot where
Christ Church now is, and the vestry received it at the hands
of his son John, in six months after the father’s
death. John Carter, Sr., was buried with his 5 wives, near the
chancel, in the church which he built, and the
tombstone covers all of them, being still in the same position in the
present church. [Old Churches, Families, II, 110, et
seq.]. The epitaph from his stone, which lies on the right hand
of the chancel, reads: Here lyeth buried ye body of
John Carter, Esq., who died ye 10th of June, Anno Domini
1669; and also Jane, ye daughter of Mr. Morgan Glyn,
and George her son, and Elenor Carter, and Ann, ye
daughter of Mr. Cleave Carter, and Sarah, ye daughter
of Mr. Gabriel Ludlow, and Sarah her daughter, which
were all his wives successively, and died before him.
CARTER, THOMAS, (1672-1733) was the second of that
name in Lancaster County, and may have been Robert
Carter's first cousin as there is evidence that their
fathers were brothers. He lived at "Barford" in the northern part
of the county. (Catherine Adams Jones. The Early
Thomas Carters of Lancaster County, Virginia. Lancaster,
Virginia: Mary Ball Washington Museum & Library,
1982.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR ROBERT CARTER PROJECT, 2001
Edmund Berkeley, Jr.
This is a list of journal articles, books, and
manuscripts cited as souces in the Robert Carter Project.
ARTICLES
"Armistead Family." William and Mary Quarterly.
1st. ser., 6: (July 1897): 31-33, (Oct. 1897):97-102, (Jan.
1898):164-171. The article is continued in volumes 8
and 9 for persons not relevant to this period.
Berkeley, Edmund, Jr. "Robert Carter as
Agricultural Administrator: His Letters to Robert Jones, l727-1729."
Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 101 (April
1993): 273-295.
2
"Carter Papers." Virginia Magazine of
History and Biography. 5(1897-1898): 408-428; 6(1898-1899): 1-22.
"Carter Papers: An Inventory of all the S *** and
Personal Property of the Hon'ble Robert Carter of the County of
Lancaster, Esq., Deceased, Taken as Directed in his
Last Will, vizt." Virginia Magazine of History and
Biography. 6 (1898-1899): 145-152, 260-68, and 365-70;
and 7 (1898-1899): 64-68.
"The Landon Family." Virginia Magazine of
History and Biography. 24(April 1895): 430-433.
"List of Ships . . . 1705." Virginia
Magazine of History and Biography. 9 (1901-1902): 258.
"Ludwell Family." William and Mary
Quarterly.1st ser., 19(1910-11): 199-214.
Mann, Nina Tracy. "William Ball of
Millenbeck." Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Magazine. 25(Dec.
1975): 2773-2779.
Montague, Ludwell Lee. "Richard Lee, the Emigrant
1613 (?)-1664." Virginia Magazine of History and
Biography. 62(1954): 3-49.
Olson, Alison G. "The Virginia Merchants of
London: A Study in Eighteenth-Century Interest-Group Politics."
William and Mary Quarterly. 3rd ser., 40(1983):
363-388.
"Philip Ludwell's Account." Virginia
Magazine of History and Biography. 1(1893-1894): 174-186.
"Receipts of the Office of Secretary of State of
Virginia, 1700, With a Notice of Secretary Wormeley." Virginia
Magazine of History and Biography. 13:(1905-1906).
"Robert Carter and the Wormeley
Estate."William and Mary Quarterly. 2d. ser., 17(1909): 252-264.
Simpson, Alan. "Robert Carter's Schooldays."
Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 94(1986): 161-188.
Tyler, Lyon G. "Inscriptions on Old Tombs in
Gloucester Co., Virginia." William and Mary Quarterly., 1st. ser.,
2(1893): 219-226.
Louis B. Wright, "The "Gentleman's
Library" in Early Virginia: The Literary Interests of the First
Carters."
Huntington Library Quarterly. 1(1937): 3-61.
BOOKS
Berkeley, Edmund, and Dorothy Smith Berkeley. John
Clayton: Pioneer of American Botany. Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press, 1963.
Carleton, Florence Tyler, compiler. A Genealogy of the
Known Descendants of Robert Carter of Corotoman.
Irvington, Virginia: Foundation for Historic Christ
Church, Inc., 1983.
Davis, Richard Beale. William Fitzhugh and His Chesapeake
World, 1676-1701. The Fitzhugh Letters and Other
Documents. Richmond: Virginia Historical Society,
1963.
3
Greene, Jack P. The Diary of Colonel Landon Carter of
Sabine Hall,1752-1778. Charlottesville: University Press
of Virginia for the Virginia Historical Society, 1965.
Harrison, Fairfax, Landmarks of Old Prince William.
Berryville, Va.: Virginia Book Company, 1964, a onevolume
reprint of the 1924 two-volume edition.
Jones, Christine A. John Carter II of
"Corotoman" Lancaster County, Virginia. Irvington, VA: Foundation for
Historic Christ Church, 1978.
Jones, Christine Adams, Orders Book Entries at
Lancaster County Court House Lancaster, Virginia Referring to
"Robert Carter of Corotoman (1663-1732)."
Irvington, Virginia: Historic Christ Church Foundation, 1978. A nearprint
transcript.
John T. Kneebone et al., Dictionary of Virginia
Biography. Richmond: Library of Virginia, 1998. Vols. 1-
Kukla, Jon. Speakers and Clerks of the Virginia House
of Burgesses, 1643-1776. Richmond: Virginia State
Library, 1981.
Lee, Cazenove Gardner, Jr. Lee Chronicle: Studies of
the Early Generations of the Lees of Virginia. New York:
NYU Press, 1957.
McIlwaine, H. R., ed.Journal of the House of
Burgesses, 1702/3-1705, 1705-1706, 1710-1712. Richmond:
Colonial Press, 1912.
Miller, Mary R. Place-Names of the Northern Neck of
Virginia, From John Smith's 1600 Map to the Present.
Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1983.
Morton, Louis. Robert Carter of Nomini Hall.
Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1964. Reprint of the
1945 edition.
Morton, Richard L. Colonial Virginia. Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press, 1960. 2 vols.
Morton, Richard L. ed. The Present State of Virginia.
. . by Hugh Jones. Chapel Hill: University of North
Carolina Press for the Virginia Historical Society,
1956.
Norris, Walter Biscoe, Jr. Westmoreland County
Virginia. Montross, Virginia: Westmoreland County Board of
Supervisors, 1963
O'Neal, William B. Architecture in Virginia: An
Official Guide to Four Centuries of Building in Virginia. New
York: Walker & Co., 1968.
Picton, James A. City of Liverpool, Selections from
the Municipal Archives and Records, from the 13th to the
17th Century Inclusive. Liverpool, 1883.
Picton, James A. ed. Municipal Archives and Records
from A. D. 1700 to the Passing of the Municipal Reform
Act, 1835. Liverpool, 1907.
Price, Jacob M. Perry of London: A Family and a Firmn
on the Seaborne Frontier, 1614-1753. Cambridge, MA,
and London: Harvard University Press, 1992.
4
Raimo, John W. Directory of American Colonial and
Revolutionary Governors 1607-1789. Westport, CT:
Meckler Books, 1980
Stanard, William G., and Mary Newton. Colonial
Virginia Register. Albany, NY: Joel Munsell's Sons, Publishers,
1902.
.
Wright, Louis B. Letters of Robert Carter 1720-1727:
The Commercial Interests of a Virginia Gentleman. San
Marino, CA: Huntington Library, 1940.
MANUSCRIPTS AND ORIGINAL SOURCES
Collector's return for Rappahannock River, 1701
December 25-1702 March 25, CO5/1441, found in the
microfilms of the Virginia Colonial Records Project,
Albert H. Small Special Collections Library, University of
Virginia.
Collector's Return for Rappahannock River, 1701 March
24-June 24, C.O. 5/1441, found in the microfilms of the
Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert H. Small
Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.
Egerton MS921, British Library, cited in Alison G.
Olson. "The Virginia Merchants of London: A Study in
Eighteenth-Century Interest-Group Politics."
William and Mary Quarterly 3rd. ser., 40(1983): 363-388.
Lancaster County Court Order Book 5, 1702-1713.
Archives Research, Library of Virginia, Richmond.
THESE ARE TO BE USED STRICTLY AS READING AND RESEARCH
MATERIAL FOR THOSE THAT
ARE INTERESTED IN THE CARTER TREE.
3) Documents at the Virginia Historical Society
Abingdon Parish (Va.) Records, 1678-1780.
Manuscripts.
Mss5:8 BX5917
Ab584:1
Accomack County (Va.). Court Order Book, 1666 October
16 - 1670 October 17.
Manuscripts.
Mss 3 Ac275 a
5
Beverley Family Papers, 1654-1901.
Manuscripts.
Mss1 B4678 a
Bevereley Family Papers, 1654-1929.
Manuscripts.
Mss1 B4678 b
Beverley, Robert, ca. 1673-1722. Title Book,
1652-1700.
Manuscripts.
Mss5:9 B4676:1
Bowdoin Family Bible Records, 1688-1803.
Manuscripts.
Mss6:4 B6745:1
Brockenbrough Family Bible Records, 1685-1843.
Manuscripts.
Mss6:4 B7827:1
Mss5:2 B9965:1
Carter Family Bible Records, 1670-1791.
Manuscripts.
Mss6:4 C245:11
6
Carter Family Bible Records, 1689-1875.
Manuscripts.
Mss6:4 C245:6
Carter Family Papers.
Manuscripts.
Mss1 C2468 a
Charles City County (Va.) Court Orders, 1681 June 4.
Manuscripts.
Mss4 C3808 a
4
Charles City County (Va.) Court Papers, 1642-1842.
Manuscripts
Mss3 C3807 a
Charles Parish (Va.) Records, 1648-1789.
Manuscripts
Mss5:8 BX5917
C3802:1
Collier Family Bible Records, 1660-1766.
Manuscripts.
7
Mss6:4 C6905:1
Custis Family Papers, 1683-1858.
Manuscripts.
Mss1 C9698 a
Edmonds Family Bible Records, 1673-1899.
Manuscripts.
Mss6:4 Ed587:3
Fitzhugh, William, 1651-1701. Letterbook, 1679 May 15
- 1699 April 26.
Manuscripts.
Mss5:2 F5788:1
Fitzhugh, William, 1651-1701. Letterbook, 1679 May
15-1699 April 26.
Manuscripts
Mss5:2 F5788:3
F
Harrison Family Papers, 1662-1915.
Manuscripts.
Mss1 H2485 a
Hepburn Family Bible Records, 1672-1920.
Manuscripts
Mss6:4 H4107:1
8
Knox, Fitzhugh, 1867-1940, comp. Index and calendar of
the William Fitzhugh
letterbook, 15 May 1679-26 April 1699, and a
genealogical chart of the Fitzhugh
family. Compiled in 1937.
Manuscripts
Mss5:2 F5788:2
Lee Family Bible records, 1647-1892.
Manuscripts.
Mss6:4 L5167:8
Lee Family Papers, 1638-1867.
Manuscripts.
Mss1 L51 f
Minor Family Bible Records, 1680-1800.
Manuscripts
Mss6:4
M6664:5
Minor Family Papers, 1657-1942.
Manuscripts.
Mss1 M6663 a
Newell, David. Deed, 1679 December 15.
Manuscripts
9
Mss11:2
N4212:1 o.s.
Unidentified Compiler. Genealogical Notes Concerning
English Families. Compiled
ca. 1700-1768.
Manuscripts
Mss6:1 Ad995:2
Virginia Land Office. Patent, 1687 April 20, issued to
William Byrd for 956
acres of land in Henrico County [now Richmond], Va.
Manuscripts
Mss11:1
B9963:1
WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY
LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA 24450
Lee-Jackson Foundation Papers (collection 170)
1.0 linear feet
The Lee-Jackson Foundation perpetuates the historical
memory of Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall"
Jackson. This collection of 118 letters ranging in
date from 1778 to 1914 is primarily concerned with the Lee
family and persons associated with them. There are
several Robert E. Lee manuscripts from the period, 1847-
1869. Other family manuscripts are from wife, Mary
Randolph Custis Lee (1808-1873); father-in-law, George
Washington Parke Custis (1781-1857); daughters, Agnes
Lee (1841-1873) and Mildred Lee (1846-1905); and
sons, George Washington Custis Lee (1832-1913),
William Henry Fitzhugh Lee (1837-1891) and Robert E. Lee,
Jr. (1843-1914). Also included are manuscripts of
American Revolutionary leaders, Richard Henry Lee (1733-
1794) and Francis Lightfoot Lee (1734-1797).
Confederate generals P.G.T. Beauregard and Joseph E. Johnston
are represented in this collection as is nineteenth
century Lexington, Virginia, poet, Margaret Junkin Preston.
There is a finding aid on file in Special Collections.
Folder List
10
Box 1
Control Folder
Folder 1 - R.E. Lee, ALS, 28 Feb 1847, to "my
dear Major", written aboard Ship Massachusetts, off Lobos
Folder 2 - R.E. Lee, ALS, 6 Jan 1853, to Gen. Joseph
G. Totten, from United States Military Academy, West
Point
Folder 3 - R.E. Lee, ALS, 11 Oct 1861, to Col. Clarke,
from Headquarters, Sewell Mountain
Folder 4 - R.E. Lee, telegram, 18 April 1862, received
in Staunton, to Major Harman, from Richmond
Folder 5 - R.E. Lee, letter in handwriting of Charles
S. Venable, Lee's aide, 23 Sept 1862, to "my dear Madam"
from Headquarters, Army of Northern Virginia, near
Martinsburg
Folder 8 - R.E. Lee, ALS?, 10 May 1864, to Lt. General
Ewell from Headquarters, Army of Northern Virginia
Folder 9 - R.E. Lee, ALS, 1 March 1865, to Mrs. Margaret
B. Daingerfield from near Petersburg
Folder 14 - R.E. Lee, ALS, 8 Jan 1866, to Major W.I.
Hawks from Lexington, Va.
Folder 17 - Printed funeral announcement re: Robert E.
Lee, 15 Oct 1870
Folder 19 - Alfred Lee, 2 ALS, 10 Feb 1852, and no
date to N. Burwell
Folder 20 - Arthur Lee, court copy, 26 Aug 1803, of
his will made on 7 July 1792
Folder 21 - Arthur Lee, printed copy of his An Appeal
to the Justice and Interest of the People of Great Britain, in
the Present Disputes with America, 1775
Folder 25 - Charles Carter Lee, ALS, 1 Feb 1848, to
Nat Burwell from Richmond
Folder 26 - Charles Carter Lee, ALS, 25 June 1848, to
Nat Burwell from Richmond
Folder 27 - Charlotte W. Lee, ALS, 30 April [no year],
to Nat Burwell from Arlington
Folder 31 - Francis Lightfoot Lee, ALS, 5 July 1780,
to "My dearest" from Richmond
Folder 32 - Fitzhugh Lee, ALS, 30 Sept 1865, to
"General" from Ravensworth
Folder 33 - Fitzhugh Lee, ADS, 11 Nov 1875? received
of Charles Kerr
Folder 34 - Fitzhugh Lee, ALS, 22 Sept 1877, to
Charlie G. Kerr from Richland
Folder 35 - Fitzhugh Lee, ALS, 9 Oct 1877, to Charlie
G. Kerr from Richland
11
Folder 36 - Fitzhugh Lee, ALS, 24 Oct 1877, to Charlie
G. Kerr from Richland
Folder 37 - Fitzhugh Lee, ALS, 27 Dec 1878, to Charlie
G. Kerr from Richland
Folder 38 - Fitzhugh Lee, ALS, 12 Jan 1880, to Mr.
Warfield from Richland
Folder 39 - Fitzhugh Lee, ALS, 4 Jan 1883, to Charlie
Kerr from Spring Bank
Folder 40 - Fitzhugh Lee, ALS, 20 Dec 1883, to Charlie
Kerr from Spring Bank
Folder 41 - Fitzhugh Lee, ALS, 5 Jan 1884, to Charlie
Kerr from Spring Bank
Folder 42 - Fitzhugh Lee, ALS, 20 April 1885? to
Samuel M. Duncan
Folder 43 - Fitzhugh Lee, ALS, 17 May 1894, to
"My Dear General" from Washington, DC
Folder 44 - Fitzhugh Lee, TLS, 14 April 1898, to Eliot
Danforth from Washington DC
Folder 45 - GWC Lee, ALS, 26 Dec 1862, from Jackson,
Mississippi
Folder 46 - GWC Lee, ALS, 10 May 1871, to Thomas F.
Balfe from Lexington
Folder 47 - GWC Lee, DS, 20 March 1875, concerning
Mrs.
Convicts sent to America from England
/http://www.genealogy-quest.com/collections/allconvicts.html
20 November 1622
A warrant to the Sheriff of London concerning John
Carter, who was convicted for the stealing of a horse. Carter
having an able body to do his Majesty and his country,
and it being doubtful upon the evidence whether the horse
was stolen or not, he is to be handed over to Sir
Edward Sackville for transportaion into Virginia or the
Bermudas.
More About JOHN CARTER:
Burial: Christ Church of Lancaster.
Notes for ELEANOR
ELTONHEAD
BROCAS:
Eleanor was from Lancastershire, England. She was the
widow of William Brocas when she married John Carter.
She did not live long and bore John no children.
Source "The Virginia Dynasties" by Clifford Dowdey.
Notes for SARAH LUDLOW:
One of the most noted Carter family's was COL John
Carter of "Corotoman" who had son Robert "King" Carter,
America's first millionaire and the wealthiest man in
Virginia when he lived. Among his direct descendants are a
number of presidents, and more than one military
leader, including Gen. Robert E. Lee, whose mother was Anne
Carter, Roberts direct descendant. Many genealogies
have been written on this family. However, many argue the
CPT Thomas Carter family of Barford Plantation
actually attained greater social and cultural prestige due to their
royal lineage and early Virginia heritage. They also
brought a great amount of wealth and political power in their
own right. CPT Thomas Carter, of Barford Plantation,
on the Corotoman River, Lancaster County, lived just a
few miles from COL John Carter. His offspring produced
Supreme Court justices, governors, U.S. senators,
colonial vestrymen, militia officers, famous
journalists and authors, U.S. Attorneys General, legislators, colonial
sheriffs, U.S. congressmen, corporate giants, and U.S.
Army generals and Naval admirals.
More About SARAH LUDLOW:
Burial: old Christ's Church, Lancaster VA
Notes for ELIZABETH
SHIRLEY:
Elizabeth was a widow from Gloucester county. SHe and
John were NOT at all happy together. John left his wife
12
Elizabeth 8 months pregnant at the time of his death.
She was to have 500 pounds,(which was part of the marriage
contract), a negro boy, "her" necklace of
diamond and pearls, and "her own books"and share with Carter's sons
John and Robert in the residual personal estate.
Assuming that her child would be a boy, "whose
name is intended Charles" and never referring to this future
Carter except as "her son"he provided for
his heir as meagerly as decency would permit. His executors were to
allow the widow 12 pounds a year for his [Charles']
education and [my] son John is to allow my wife's son
necessary clothes". Such was his indifference to
the estate of the boy who would bear his own name that he
provided for the contingency of the widow putting
"her son out to apprentice".The widow's child was a boy whom
she dutifully named Charles after which he disappeared
from the records. He was presumably still alive at 21, for
John Carter II made a provision for him in his will- -
1/3 of the personal estate- though nothing indicated that he
claimed his share. "source " The Virginia
Dynasties" by Clifford Dowdey.
Children of JOHN CARTER and JANE GLYN are:
2. i. JOHN II CARTER4 ESQ., b. 1648,
Possibly 1653 as birthdate; d. 1690.
ii. GEORGE CARTER, d. infancy.
More About GEORGE CARTER:
Burial: Chancel of Christ Church.
3. iii. ELIZABETH CARTER, b. 1651, Elizabeth married and moved to distant
parts. "The Virginia Dynasties" by
Clifford Dowdey.
Children of JOHN CARTER and SARAH LUDLOW are:
4. iv. ROBERT KING CARTER4 ESQ., b. August 04,
1663, Lancaster co, VA; d. August 04, 1732, "Corotoman" ,
Lancaster co, VA.
v. CHARLES CARTER, d. died early, unmarried..
vi. SARAH CARTER, b. Source "The Virginia Dynasties" by
Clifford Dowdey; d. died before the death of her
father John in 1669..
Child of JOHN CARTER and ELIZABETH SHIRLEY is:
vii. CHARLES4 CARTER, b. Abt.
July 1669.
Generation No. 2
2. JOHN II CARTER4 ESQ. (JOHN3 CARTER, JOHN2, THOMAS1) was born 1648 in Possibly 1653 as birthdate, and
died 1690. He married (1) ELIZABETH HULL, daughter of
JOHN HULL. He married
(2) ELIZABETH TRAVERS
CHINN 1684, daughter of CAPTAIN
RALEIGH
TRAVERS. She died 1694.
Notes for JOHN II CARTER ESQ.:
CARTER, JOHN (ca.1648-1690), older brother of Robert,
justice, militia officer, and prominent citizen of
Lancaster County. He inherited the bulk of his
father's estate, and managed it well, while adhering both to the
specifics and intent of his father's will with regard
to the education of his younger brother. John Carter II married
twice, first to Elizabeth Hull, daugher of John and
Elizabeth Hull, by whom he had his only child, Elizabeth
Carter. Carter married his second wife, Elizabeth
Travers, in 1684; she married Christopher Wormeley after
Carter's death, and died herself in 1693. (Thomas
Allen Glenn. Some Colonial Mansions and Those Who Lived in
Them, With Genealogies of the Various Families
Mentioned. Philadelphia: H. T. Coates & Company, 1899. pp.
244 ff.; review of The Ancestry of Benjamin Harrison,
President of the United States of America, 1889-1893 in
Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 2(Oct.
1894): 236, with notes on the Carter family; and other
sources.)
LLOYD, ELIZABETH (CARTER), only child of Robert
Carter's brother John. Elizabeth (1675-1693) married
John Lloyd in 1691, and was dead by November 1693 of
measles. John appointed managers of the estate in 1699
in Essex County, and returned to England the next year
as he had inherited land there. Elizabeth inherited from
her mother, Elizabeth Hull, also an only child, all of
her grandfather John Hull's property. ("Abstracts of
Richmond County, Virginia" [from Order Book 1],
William and Mary Quarterly, 1st. ser., 18(October 1908): 73-
85; see also Carl F. Cannon, Jr., "Robert
("King") Carter of "Corotoman." Unpublished doctoral
dissertation,
Duke University, 1956, p.25.)
13
Several people wanted to get their hands on Corotoman,
the home of John Carter II. The one whos presnce
continued to be a threat to Robert KING Carter John's
young brother, was the 2nd Mrs. John Carter II . She was
the former Mrs. Elizabeth Travers Chinn, a widow and
the daughter of another substantial Lancaster County
planter- Colonel Raleigh Travers, a member of the
House of Burgesses. By his fahter's will the land and house of
Corotoman would go to any "male issue".
Along with growing up in such an unsettled household, with it's
inherent personality conflicts, Robert Carter lived
like a prince with uncertain prospects of succession.
When Robert was 25, he further unsettled the household
by bringing to Corotoman his own bride, Judith
Armistead, the daughter of a councillor. She gave
birth to a son, another JOHN. In beginning a possible "line of
succession", Robert's wife became something of a
rival mistress of the establishment to the still childless Mrs.
JOhn Carter II, between whom she and Robert there was
no love lost.
When John died, the new master of Corotoman wasted no
time in getting the entangled domestic arrangements
straightened out. Robert Carter's neice, then in her
teens, , movee out the year after her father died, and married
her grandmother's stepson Johnn Lloyd. Soon the widow,
who recieived short shrift in John's will and no claims
on Corotoman, moved out in a huff.
Mrs. Elizabeth Travers Chinn Carter took Christopher
Wormeley as her third husband and in 1692, had a
"complaint exhibited againest" her ex
brother in law" in the General Court. Robert Carter was then a burgess,
and
the House granted his request to waive the priveleges
of the house in order to answer her complaint. Shortly
thereafter she died, and her husband sued Robert
Carter for his late wife's one third of the share of John Carter's
estate. Neither of them got any satisfaction and the
line passed out of considerations for Corotoman.
Child of JOHN ESQ. and ELIZABETH HULL is:
i. ELIZABETH5 CARTER, b. 1675; d.
1693; m. JOHN LLOYD, 1691.
Notes for ELIZABETH
CARTER:
LLOYD, ELIZABETH (CARTER), only child of Robert
Carter's brother John. Elizabeth (1675-1693)
married John Lloyd in 1691, and was dead by November
1693 of measles. John appointed managers of the
estate in 1699 in Essex County, and returned to England
the next year as he had inherited land there.
Elizabeth inherited from her mother, Elizabeth Hull,
also an only child, all of her grandfather John Hull's
property. ("Abstracts of Richmond County,
Virginia" [from Order Book 1], William and Mary Quarterly, 1st.
ser., 18(October 1908): 73-85; see also Carl F. Cannon,
Jr., "Robert ("King") Carter of "Corotoman."
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Duke University,
1956, p.25.)
LLOYD'S, a plantation lying up the Rappahannock near
the falls as Robert Carter always sent his sloop for its
tobacco. Robert Carter was involved with the Lloyd
property which was that of John Lloyd, widower of
Robert Carter's niece Elizabeth. The estate's tobacco
mark was the double arrowhead or double "L" which
Robert Carter uses in his diary to refer to it. He
undertook to buy the Lloyd estate in the later years of his life,
and finally acquired it about 1730. Richard Meeks was
the overseer
MEEKS, RICHARD, was described by Robert Carter in a
letter of July 15, 1720, as the "general overseer" of
the property that he consistently referred to by its
tobacco mark of a double arrowhead or double "L"; it was
the Lloyd properties belonging to John Lloyd, widower
of Robert Carter's niece, Elizabeth. Lloyd went to
England about 1700. Robert Carter apparently leased the
lands from him for many years, and eventually
acquired title to them about 1730.
Notes for JOHN LLOYD:
LLOYD'S, a plantation lying up the Rappahannock near
the falls as Robert Carter always sent his sloop for its
tobacco. Robert Carter was involved with the Lloyd
property which was that of John Lloyd, widower of
Robert Carter's niece Elizabeth. The estate's tobacco
mark was the double arrowhead or double "L" which
Robert Carter uses in his diary to refer to it. He
undertook to buy the Lloyd estate in the later years of his life,
and finally acquired it about 1730. Richard Meeks was
the overseer
3. ELIZABETH4 CARTER (JOHN3, JOHN2, THOMAS1) was born 1651 in Elizabeth married and moved to
distant
parts. "The Virginia Dynasties" by Clifford
Dowdey. She married (1) CAPTAIN HENRY JOHNSON. He was born
in Maryland. She married (2) COLONEL NATHANIEL UTIE 1667. He was
born in of Spesutia, Baltimore Co, MD,
and died 1675.
Child of ELIZABETH
CARTER
and NATHANIEL
UTIE
is:
i. JOHN5 UTIE, d. 1685.
14
4. ROBERT KING CARTER4 ESQ. (JOHN3 CARTER, JOHN2, THOMAS1) was born August 04, 1663 in Lancaster co,
VA, and died August 04, 1732 in "Corotoman"
, Lancaster co, VA. He married (1) JUDITH ARMISTEAD, daughter
of JOHN ARMISTEAD and JUDITH ROBINSON. She was born 1665 in Gloucester co, VA, and died February
23,
1698/99 in Lancaster co, VA. He married (2) ELIZABETH LANDON Bet. 1701 -
1702, daughter of THOMAS ESQ.
and MARY DE LAVALL. She was born May 17, 1683 in Gednal , Herford
England, and died July 03, 1719 in
Lancaster co, VA.
Notes for ROBERT KING CARTER ESQ.:
A Brief Life of Robert Carter
Robert Carter lived his adult life in Lancaster
County, Virginia, on the southern side of the Northern Neck
peninsula, not far from the point at which the
Rappahannock empties into Chesapeake Bay, where he was born in
1663 and died in 1732, at the home,
"Corotoman," established there by his father. He was educated in
England by
his father's direction, and acquired a life-long
appreciation of books and reading, and the value of a good
education. He inherited property from his father, and
a sizeable estate on the death of his older half-brother John,
but through his own business abilities and the
opportunities that he seized, he had acquired well over 300,000
acres of land, nearly 1,000 slaves, and a considerable
cash estate by the time of his death according to his obituary
in London's Gentleman's Magazine. No other Virginian
of his generation was so successful in his political career,
in the marriages made by his children, and so ruthless
in building his estate for the benefit of those children.
He was astute in business, politics, and land
speculation, and his fortune, political successes, and estates, vast
even in a time of insatiability in land ownership,
demonstrate his success. His acute sense of his own importance,
and knowledge of the power that his wealth and
political acumen had brought him, earned him the derisive
nickname of "King,"
His political power was firmly based in the
inheritances that he received from his father, Colonel John Carter (c.
1613-1669), from his older half-brother, Lt. Col. John
Carter (c. 1648-1690), and from family connections. John
Carter, the immigrant, made several voyages to
Virginia before establishing himself there permanently between
May 1638 and January 1641. Apparently he brought with
him useful political connections and considerable
money for he soon was chosen burgess for Nansemond
River in Upper Norfolk County. But his attention was
further north; he acquired land by patent and purchase
in what was then Charles River County (to become
Lancaster in 1751). Although he appears first in the
Lancaster County records in January 1652, he had apparently
not yet "seated" his land and had to obtain
that April an act of the Assembly for an extension; he moved there
soon afterwards.
Through his connections and his wealth, John Carter
rose quickly to prominence in the colony, and by 1657 he
was a member of the council. His five marriages
produced only six children, several of whom died in infancy.
Most important to Robert was his older half-brother,
John, who raised him after their father died in 1669.
John Carter I followed the custom of the time in
bequeathing most of his property to his eldest son, but he made
provision for Robert, leaving him 1,000 acres on a
branch of Corotoman, one-third of his personal estate, "his
mother's hoop ring & christall necklace," and
a sixth part of his books. Most important for Robert were the
specific instructions that his father wrote concerning
his education. Robert was to have a tutor who would teach
him both English and Latin.
John Carter II, who was about fifteen years older than
his brother, obeyed their father's instructions, and furthered
them by sending Robert home to England for higher
education. The custom of the time was that boys were sent to
England when they were nine or ten, and Robert
probably sailed to England about 1673. From a letter of Robert's
written late in his life when he was quarreling with
his English factor, William Dawkins, over the education of his
own sons and grandsons, we know that he spent at least
six years in England, living in the home of merchant and
family friend, Arthur Bailey, and learning from him,
and from the opportunities presented by living with the
merchant, much of the tobacco trade and its marketing
end.
Robert's education in England undoubtedly included
thorough grounding in the Christian religion. Most of his
schoolmasters would have been clergymen, and would
have considered religious education a fundamental
requirement of their curricula. While Robert always
considered himself "of the Church of England way," he was
not intolerant of dissenters, and Louis B. Wright has
written in several places of the books by Puritans and others
in the libraries of both John Carters which Robert
would have had access to before and after his years in England.
He would purchase titles on religious subjects for his
library, which included the books that he inherited from his
15
brother and father, through the rest of his life.
Robert returned to Virginia about 1680 to take up the
life of a Virginia gentleman on the modest estates he had
been left by his father. He built a house on the home
property at "Corotoman," however, a brick story-and-a-half
structure of three rooms. He lived in it until he
moved into the larger two-story mansion which dominated the
Corotoman landscape for a decade beginning about 1720.
John Carter II continued much of the service and
prominence that his father had established as the norm for the
family. He is referred to as captain at first, but by
1672, his rank is that of lieutenant colonel, a title, presumably
from his militia service, that he is accorded until
his death.. He served as sheriff in 1673 and again in 1678,
burgess, and at other times, he was collector of the
levy.
Unlike his younger brother, John Carter II was not
obsessed with the acquisition of land. Checks of the land office
records do not show that he took out any patents.
Apparently running his farms successfully, raising his brother,
and being active in county affairs were sufficient for
him. He married first Elizabeth Hull prior to 1675 when he is
named in the will of his father-in-law. This marriage
produced one daughter, Elizabeth, who was to marry John
Lloyd in 1693. Elizabeth Hull Carter was dead by 1684
when Lancaster records mention a marriage between John
Carter and Elizabeth Travers who outlived him to marry
Christopher Wormeley, dying herself in 1693.
By 1688 it was apparent that John Carter's principal
heir was to be his brother, and this greatly improved the
latter's prospects. Robert was married in that year to
Judith Armistead, daughter of John Armistead of "Hesse,"
Gloucester County; their son, John, was born about
1689, and four other children followed, Elizabeth in 1692,
Judith and Sarah who died in infancy, and a second
Judith in 1695. Because no letters or other texts survive from
this period of his life, little is known about his
wife, or the early years of his children, but presumably the
traditional Virginia custom was followed in raising
and educating the Carter children. Having renounced the
carefree life of the bachelor, Robert was considered
ready for the types of public service that his father and
brother had undertaken.
Robert's first position was that of justice of the
Lancaster Court, an office for which he took the required oaths on
10 June 1690. Election as a vestryman for Christ
Church Parish followed on 8 November 1690; about a year later
he was chosen church warden, a position he retained
until his death. And service to the colony soon ensued with
his election as burgess for the session beginning 1
April 1692. He was returned to every session of the Burgesses
until 1699 with the exception of the two sessions held
in 1693.
As chairman of the Committee of Propositions and
Grievances in 1695, Carter steered the members to present a
protest against the actions of the Northern Neck
proprietary agents, and the proprietary itself. This was his last
effort of this sort because the appeal of acting as
Virginia agent for the proprietors was soon to bring him over to
their side.
He took a leading role in the work of the House, and
"in September 1696 Carter was elected Speaker over five
other nominees. Carter was not chosen as Speaker for
the 1698 session, but was in April 1699. Also at this
session, the House chose Carter as Treasurer of the
colony, an office which, as Jon Kukla has observed, was one
usually associated with the Speaker. However, the
House took the most unusual step of allowing Carter to retain
the office of Treasurer even after his appointment to
the Council was confirmed in England by the Privy Council
on 14 December 1699.
There is no indication in the surviving records that
Carter had any formal training in the law, but he was interested
in it. Most planters of his day found it necessary to
learn something of the law because many served as justices.
Service in the House of Burgesses, particularly
assignment in 1695 to serve on a committee to revise the laws of
the colony as the Board of Trade had ordered, may have
spurred Robert Carter's interest. By the time of his death,
he had about 100 law books in his library, more than
one-third of its total. He never hesitated to include
references to the law in his letters.
In colonial Virginia, one official post led quickly to
others; a seat in the Council brought several posts with it.
Carter was appointed on 3 June 1699 as colonel and
commander-in-chief of the Lancaster-Northumberland
counties militia; on November 11th of the same year
the governor appointed him as naval officer and receiver, a
post of value because of the considerable income it
generated, and because of the power over one's neighbors that
it meant
16
By 1701, when the first of the extant letters was
written by Robert Carter, he was already one of the most
prominent men in the colony as a member of its
council, and the significant events of the early portion of his life
had occurred, including the death of his first wife in
1699 and his second marriage (to Elizabeth Landon Willis,
by whom he would have ten children) in 1701. The
letters dated between 1701 and 1710 included in this project
reflect little of Carter's personal, political, and
mercantile interests of that time because they are ones he wrote as
one of the trustees of the children of his friend,
Ralph Wormeley, and deal with their affairs rather than his own.
There are a few that step outside his duties to his
friend, and they show his interest in land acquisition, a topic that
would occupy him all of the rest of his life.
There is little extant on his first term as Virginia
agent for the proprietors of the Northern Neck, an arrangement
of importance to Carter because it gave him a taste of
how profitable that office could be. A separate section of
this project concerns Carter's work as the
proprietor's Virginia agent.
There are no extant texts for the years 1711-1714, one
in 1715, none in 1716, and a few for the years 1717-1719
from various sources including some nineteenth-century
copies made from a letter book no longer extant.
Beginning with the year 1720 and continuing until
Carter's death in August 1732, the record is fairly full, and a
good picture of his management of his affairs,
political interests, and daily routines can be drawn.
The most important events of the last twenty-two years
of his life were to be his term as acting governor of the
colony after the death in July 1726 of Hugh Drysdale
until the arrival of William Gooch in September 1727, and
his second term as agent for the proprietors of the
Northern Neck. By the time that Carter became acting
governor, he was in his sixties and in poor health.
His extant diary, kept between 1722 and 1728, gives
information his concerns while tantalizing with
references to his "other book" in which he apparently wrote more
detailed entries. His drive to acquire land for his
children led him to acquire in 1720 a lease of the propriety from
Lord Fairfax, and to take patents on huge quantities
of land moving ever westward in Virginia with his
acquisitions.
It is in his management of his highly successful
agricultural operations and in his operation of the proprietary that
our interest in him lies. The hundreds of letters that
he wrote in this period and the one extant diary provide a
wealth of information for those interested in Virginia
in the early years of the eighteenth century. Management of
his farms occupies much of Carter's time and his
writings. The majority of his letters are written to British
merchants consigning tobacco for sale, ordering goods
for his family, servants and slaves, and the like, but as
many of the merchants were at least old friends, there
are frequent comments about Virginia events and people.
Carter orders clothes, books, and newspapers for
himself, writes about his poor health, and seeks favors ranging
from wine to offices for his sons.
Robert Carter was influential in his own day and left
a family dynasty that continues to this day. At one time, he
was estimated to have over 50,000 descendants
including six governors of Virginia, three signers of the
Declaration of Independence, and two presidents of the
United States. Five sons and five daughters survived to