Charles Carter of ‘Shirley’

Charles Carter was born 15 Oct 1732 in Corotoman, Lancaster County, Virginia, the son of John Carter and Elizabeth Hill, and died 24 Jun 1806 at Shirley Plantation in Charles City County.

Sometime in the mid-1750s Carter married his first cousin Mary Walker Carter, daughter of Charles Carter, who represented King George County in the House of Burgesses for many years. They had two daughters and six sons (including one set of twins) before her death on January 30, 1770.

The 8 children of Charles and Mary Carter were:

1. John Hill Carter
2. Charles Carter, d.y.
3. George Hill Carter, of Corotoman, m Oratrix Lelia Skipwith
4. Mary Walker Carter, m George Braxton
5. Elizabeth Hill Carter, m Robert Fauquier Randolph
6. Charles B. Carter, m Anne Beale
7. Landon Carter, d.y.
8. Edward Carter, m Janet Carter

Late in November of 1770 he married Ann Butler Moore. Of their eight daughters and seven sons, four children died in infancy, and one was stillborn:

The 15 children of Charles and Ann Carter were:

1. Robert Hill Carter 1771 – 1772​. d.y.
2. Anne Hill Carter Lee 1773 – 1829​, married on June 18, 1793 to Henry Lee at Shirley Plantation.
3. Dr. Robert Hill Carter 1774 – 1805​, m. Mary Nelson of York County
4. Bernard Carter 1776 – 1776​
5. John Carter 1777 – 1784​​
6. Catherine Spotswood Carter 1778 – 1809​, m. Dr. Carter Berkeley
7. Bernard Moore Carter 1780 – 1842​. m. Lucy Lee
8. Williams Lee Carter 1782 – 1866​
9. Butler Carter 1784 – 1786​
10. Mildred Walker Carter 1786 – 1807​
11. Lucy Carter 1789 – 1824, ​m. Nathaniel Burwell, of Roanoke​
12. William Fitzhugh Carter 1791 – 1855, ​m. Charlotte Touslee
13. Infant Daughter Carter 1792 – 1792​
14. Infant Carter 1794 – 1794​
15. Calphemia Carter 1796 – 1797​

No son Richard on the list, though wikitree lists him -
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Carter-1793

Death came to Secretary Carter July 31, 1742. After the prescribed period of mourning expired, Elizabeth Carter married a certain Browler Cocke of whom little is known except that he held Shirley until the year 1771, at which date Charles Carter of Crotoman came into the estate of Shirley.[1]

Notes

Letter from George Washington to Charles Carter. December 14, 1787: "George Washington in a private letter to Charles Carter expresses his approval of the Constitution after a long discussion of agricultural experiments. Carter later released the letter in 1788 in order to influence the ratification of the Constitution."- https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/george-washington-to-charl...

A Patriot of the American Revolution for VIRGINIA. DAR Ancestor # A019887

https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Carter_Charles_1732-1806

Charles Carter, a planter and member-elect of the Council of State, spent much of his adulthood managing Corotoman, the Lancaster County plantation he inherited from his father, John Carter. Later he inherited Shirley Plantation in Charles City County and relocated there after renovating its main house. He was a successful and wealthy planter and entrepreneur, owning more than 13,000 acres of land in thirteen counties at his death. Carter served as a member of the House of Burgesses from 1758 until the American Revolution (1775–1783). Carter supported the reaction against greater parliamentary regulation of colonial affairs and sat in the four Revolutionary Conventions that met in 1774 and 1775. Despite these efforts, he declined a seat on the Council of State in the new commonwealth of Virginia. He died in 1806.

Carter was the son of John Carter and Elizabeth Hill Carter and grandson of Robert "King" Carter. He was born in 1732 probably at Shirley, the Charles City County plantation where his parents lived while his father was secretary of the colony and a member of the governor's Council. Carter's father died in July 1742, and several years later his mother married Bowler Cocke, who moved from Henrico County to Shirley plantation. Carter was educated at the Gloucester County grammar school of William Yates, a clergyman who later briefly served as president of the College of William and Mary, and at the college. He then assumed management of Corotoman, the Lancaster County plantation that he had inherited from his father. Carter resided there for two decades and supervised that and his other properties on the Northern Neck and elsewhere. He purchased Nanzatico, a 2,200-acre King George County plantation, from his financially strapped cousin Charles Carter. Following the deaths of his mother and Bowler Cocke in 1771, Carter made extensive repairs and renovations to the main house at Shirley and moved there permanently about 1775.

Carter's success as a planter and entrepreneur made him one of the wealthiest men in Virginia. At the time of his death in 1806, his will enumerated more than 13,000 acres in thirteen Virginia counties and at least 710 slaves. In addition to his extensive landholdings Carter operated a large mill near Corotoman, lent substantial sums of money to other planters, and provided in his will for investing some assets in bank stocks or similar securities. He was also a sometime administrator and trustee of the complicated estate left by his brother-in-law, the councillor William Byrd (1728–1777). Although Carter's uncle, Landon Carter, characterized him as an inefficient plantation manager, the uncle's pessimistic frame of mind and negative assessments of nearly everyone suggest that the criticism was overstated.

Carter became a justice of the peace in Lancaster County on July 17, 1761, and served until he moved to Charles City County. He was a vestryman of Christ Church Parish for several years before leaving Lancaster County, and on the eve of the Revolution he was a member of the board of visitors of the College of William and Mary. Carter served in the House of Burgesses representing Lancaster County continuously from 1758 until the Revolution. He gradually emerged late in the 1760s as a reasonably responsible member who was routinely appointed to the Committees on Privileges and Elections, on Propositions and Grievances, and for Religion. Throughout the imperial crises of the 1760s and early 1770s Carter supported Virginia protests of parliamentary measures. Lancaster freeholders elected him to the county committee in February 1775 and to the Revolutionary Conventions that met in August 1774 and in March, July, and December 1775. In September 1775 he angered Landon Carter by endorsing nonimportation of British goods but opposing the termination of exportation to Great Britain and its Caribbean colonies. He argued that exports were needed to provide money for the war and to enable Virginians to pay their debts. Although Carter was not elected in April 1776 to the fifth and final Revolutionary Convention, probably because by then he had moved to Shirley, on June 29, 1776, that convention elected him to the Council of State. He declined the appointment and never took the oath of office.

Sometime in the mid-1750s Carter married his first cousin Mary Walker Carter, daughter of Charles Carter, who represented King George County in the House of Burgesses for many years. They had two daughters and six sons (including one set of twins) before her death on January 30, 1770. Late in November of that year he married Ann Butler Moore. Of their eight daughters and seven sons, four children died in infancy, and one was stillborn. As had been the case in his generation and the generations of his parents and grandparents, nearly all of the Carter children who lived to adulthood married into respected Virginia families. The best-known example was the marriage in 1793 of his and Ann Butler Moore Carter's eldest daughter, Ann Hill Carter, to Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee.

Carter remained active in the affairs of the church and attended annual Episcopal Church conferences in Virginia from 1789 to 1793 as a lay delegate from Westover Parish. Carter died at Shirley on June 28, 1806. His will directed that he be buried near the bodies of his parents (probably at Shirley or in the graveyard of the Westover Parish church) "without any funeral pomp and nothing but the burial service [to] be read over my grave by the parson of the parish (should we be so fortunate as to have one among us)."

Time Line

1732 - Charles Carter (1732–1806) is born to John Carter and Elizabeth Hill Carter, probably at Shirley plantation in Charles City County.

Mid-1750s - Charles Carter (1732–1806) marries Mary Walker Carter, of King George County. They will have two daughters and six sons.

1758 - Charles Carter (1732–1806) is elected to the House of Burgesses from Lancaster County. He serves continuously until the American Revolution.

July 17, 1761 - Charles Carter (1732–1806) becomes a justice of the peace in Lancaster County.

January 30, 1770 - Mary Walker Carter, wife of Charles Carter (1732–1806), dies.

November 1770 - Charles Carter (1732–1806) marries Ann Butler Moore. They will have eight daughters and seven sons, of which four will die in infancy and one will be stillborn.

1774–1775 - Charles Carter (1732–1806) is elected to the Revolutionary Conventions that meet in August 1774 and in March, July, and December 1775. He is not elected to the fifth and final Revolutionary Convention.

1775 - Charles Carter (1732–1806) moves permanently to Shirley plantation in Charles City County.

June 29, 1776 - The fifth Revolutionary Convention elects Charles Carter (1732–1806) to the Council of State. He declines the appointment.

1789–1793 - Charles Carter (1732–1806) attends annual Episcopal Church conferences in Virginia as a lay delegate from Westover Parish.

June 28, 1806 - Charles Carter (1732–1806) dies at Shirley plantation.

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Birth: 1732 Death: Jun. 24, 1806 Charles City County Virginia, USA

During the first War for American Independence (1776-1783) Shirley Plantation and the Carter's of Shirley played a vital role in the forming of the new nation. Charles Carter, fifth generation owner of Shirley, was a loyal member of the House of Burgesses. He was member of the House representing two localities, Lancaster and Charles City County, from 1758 until 1774. The reasons this membership ceased was due to the Declaration of Independence being signed and the House of Burgesses was dissolved by Governor Lord Dunmore. Charles then served as a member of Virginia Convention of March and December, 1775. He then served in Charles City County Militia during the Revolutionary War, but records do not indicate that he saw any action. Charles allowed his James River home of Shirley to serve as a supply depot for the Continental Army towards the end of the war. This action allowed the Marquis de Lafayette to supply his army with the munitions and armaments needed to besiege Yorktown, ultimately resulting in General Lord Cornwallis' surrender and the United States of America becoming an independent and sovereign nation.

Charles Carter's will of 1803 reads: "That is to say I commend my body to the Earth to be decently laid near my honored parents as soon after my decease as may be convenient, without any funeral pomp and nothing but the burial service to be read over my grave by the parson of the Parish (should we be so fortunate as to have one among us) for which trouble, I desire he may be amply paid: And when this my departure may happen, I earnestly request of my family and friends that they do not go into mourning or wear black clothes; and this whim I expect they will gratify me in, as I always thought the custom absurd and extravagant answering no good purpose that I know of."

Info taken from the Shirley Plantations list of events.

Family links: Parents: John Carter (1690 - 1742) Elizabeth Hill Carter Cocke (1703 - 1771)

Spouse: Anne Butler Moore Carter (1750 - 1809)

Children: Robert Hill Carter (1774 - 1806)* Bernard Carter (1776 - 1776)* John Carter (1777 - 1784)* Catherine Spotswood Carter Berkeley (1778 - 1809)* Anne Hill Carter Lee (1779 - 1829)* Bernard Moore Carter (1780 - 1843)* Butler Carter (1784 - 1786)* Infant Daughter Carter (1792 - 1792)* Infant Carter (1794 - 1794)* Calphemia Carter (1796 - 1797)*

Calculated relationship*

Burial: Shirley Plantation Shirley Charles City County Virginia, USA

References

1. Zella Armstrong & Janie Preston Collup French, Notable Southern Families, Volume 2.
2. The Cabells and Their Kin: A Memorial Volume of History, Biography, and Genealogy Alexander Brown January 1, 1895 Houghton, Mifflin & Company. Husband, Child, Ancestors: page 293, 294

• https://jemgen.com/getperson.php?personID=I43392&tree=A001
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50301791/charles-carter
• reference number 512 https://archive.org/details/cartertreecompil00cart/page/2/mode/2up
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Carter-1793
• Civilwartalk.com <“General Lee’s grandmother”> (Sep 13, 2019).
• Christ Church & Museum: Account of Mary Walker Carter's Death - February 22, 1770 < link>