• from http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~colby/colbyfam/b95.html#P1800

THE THREE THOMAS AND MARY CARTER FAMILIES 

In Massachusetts during the mid-1600s there were three Thomas Carters, each with a wife Mary. This has led to a great amount of confusion, and it is obvious that many errors have unwittingly been committed by persons researching one or more of the families. 

The three Thomases were: (1) the Reverend Thomas Carter, first minister of Woburn; (2) Thomas Carter, a blacksmith of Charlestown and: (3) Thomas Carter, a planter (farmer) at Salisbury from 1639 until his death in 1676.

Thomas, blacksmith, Charlestown, admitted to the church 8 (11) 1636, freeman March 9, 1636-37. Constable 1640. Wife Hannah admitted to the church 2 (7) 1639; second wife, Mary, admired to the church 4 (9) 1643. Children: Anna, born 10 (1), bapt. 22 (1) 1640, (mart. Wm. Green.), Elizabeth, born 22 (2) 1641, buried 12 (5) 1644. Son John deposed 4 (2) 1660, aged about 40 years; refers to brother Wm. Green; Joseph Currier, proprietor 1646, Samuel and Thomas petition 18 (8) 1659, about the estate of their brother (in-law?) Win. Green (Mdx. files.) 

He made a will 5 (3), inventory taken 25 (4) 1652; bequeathed to wife Mary; eldest son Thomas; other sons Samuel, Joseph and John; daughters Mary (Mrs. John) Brinsmead and Hannah Green; grandchildren (Caleb) and Joseph Carter, John G. and John B. Inventory mentions the shop, tools, iron and steel, etc. Samuel, shoemaker, referred in 1672, to land he had deeded to his honored father, Thomas Carter of Chariestown, before his death, some years past. The son Thomas, attorney for his brother Matthew Williams, sold land at Marblehead 9 (10) 1662. 

Family

• parents: possibly Thomas CARTER b: 8 MAY 1566 in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England & Sarah HULL b: 15 NOV 1573 in England.  

Married

1. Hannah
2.  Mary, whose parents are not known.  Born by 1586, 18 years before estimated birth of oldest child in 1604-7. Married by 1604-7. She survived Thomas and died 2 years after Thomas died, on March 6, 1664/5, estimated age at least 82.

Children

1. Thomas, Jr. (1607 - 1694) Married 1)Anne Williams (1622 - 1679)  2) Elizabeth b. 1620 
2. Joseph ( 1610 - 1676). Married Susanna Chamberlain (1616 - )
3. Samuel (1616 - 1681).  Married Winifred Harwood (1620 - 1675)
4. John (1618 - 1692).  Married 1) Elizabeth (1620 - 2) Elizabeth Groce (1624 - 1691) 
5. Mary (1619 - 1673).  Married 2) john Brinsmead (1621 - 1673) 
6. Hannah (1620 - 1658).  Married 1) William Green, Sr. (1620 - 1654).  2) Thomas Brown (b. Abt 1620 -)

Notes

• Estate/Will:   Named wife Mary, eldest son Thomas, other sons Samuel, Joseph and John, daughters Mary and Hannah, grandsons Caleb Carter, Joseph Carter, John Brinsmead, and John Green. A servant, Mathew the Scotchman, was named on his list of assets. Will made May 5, 1650.  Inventory taken Jun 25, 1652. See Will of Thomas Carter of Charlestown / Woburn

Links

• http://ntgen.tripod.com/bw/crtr_index.html
• http://miller-aanderson.blogspot.com/2011/06/thomas-carter-1578-1652.html