Col. James Patton Taylor Carter, (USA)

James Patton Taylor Carter was born July 29, 1822, and educated at Washington College, and became a colonel of the Second Federal Tennessee Mounted Infantry. President Johnson appointed him secretary of Arizona Territory, but he was removed by Gen. Grant, and died in Mexico.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_P._T._Carter

James Patton Taylor Carter (* 30 July 1822 at Elizabethton, Carter County, Tennessee; died 29 September 1869 in Mexico) was an American politician and of 13 December 1868 until April 1869, Acting Governor of Arizona territory. He was a member of the Republican party.

Career

Born James Patton Taylor Carter, son of Alford and Evalina Carter, and Colonel of the 2nd Tennessee infantry, was born on 30 July 1822 near the city of Elizabethton in Carter County, Tennessee. James engaged in the iron business with his father and took over the management in 1850 after his death. He was married twice. He went one his first marriage with a Margaretta Dunn from Rogersville, Tennessee, whom he married on the 5 August 1851 in Carter County. In 1853, the couple had a son named William A. Carter. He was a second marriage with a Margaret Letcher from Lexington, Kentucky . The couple had no children.

James Carter was a member of the Whigs at the beginning of his political career and was not much in politics. When however gathered the people from East Tennessee in Knoxville on the 30th and 31 May 1861 to talk about the secession , Carter was one of five delegates, who was elected to represent the Carter County. Carter was stuck against the secession, as well as the majority of those present, which made him a supporter of the Union. The meeting in Knoxville was in vain, as Tennessee called for joining the Confederate States of America on 8 June 1861. Carter turned then to the side of Tennessee U.S. Senator and later U.S. President Andrew Johnson.

After the war, Carter was impoverished and health posted. He sought and gained another political office. Carter took up the appointment as Secretary of Arizona territory. After a long and arduous journey, he arrived at finally with his family on the 3 September 1866 in Prescott, Arizona. During the next few years, he lived first in Prescott and then in Tucson. Carter's term in Office was controversial, mainly because he converted the death sentence for the convicted murderer of Dolores Moore to a lifelong imprisonment. The public prosecutor and Sheriff supported this decision. Carter also as Acting Governor of Arizona was at that time. However prevented this unpopular decision and other reasons, that Carter was formally appointed to the Governor. From April 1869 he was no longer in a public office.

Rather than return to Tennessee, was James Carter in the Arizona territory and invested in a business. He bought two-thirds stake in a flour mill at altar in Sonora, Mexico. In July 1869, he left Tucson, to stay for a while in Mexico where he wanted to pursue his business, but he never came back. He died due to an illness at the age of 47 on the 29 September 1869 at Rancho San Francisco, Mexico between Cabroca and Puerto Libertad. It is difficult to name the exact cause of death. He died presumably from malaria or any other chronic disease, which he himself had probably captured during his stay in Panama . The injuries he suffered in an accident with a buggy shortly before his death, contributed their part well. After his death the family returned to Carter County, Tennessee, where some of his descendants still live.

Family

James Patton Taylor Carter comes from a wealthy and prominent family. His great-grandfather, Colonel John Carter, was born in Virginia in 1737 and was married in first marriage with Elizabeth Taylor. Landon Carter, the only child of John and Elizabeth Carter, was born on the 29 January 1760. Elizabeth died at birth. After her death, John married a woman named Susan. In addition, he founded a trading post near the today's Rogersville, Tennessee to 1769. Soon after, he moved near the Watauga area, where he was a prominent and wealthy settlers. John Carter, 1781, died in Washington County, Tennessee.

Landon Carter, son of John and Elizabeth, became known as Colonel Carter. He was active in the revolutionary war (1775-1783), and also in politics. Landon attended Davidson College and married an Elizabeth Maclin then in 1784. Carter County, Tennessee is named after him and the town after his wife (see Elizabethton). Landon and Elizabeth Carter had seven children. Landon Carter died in June 1800.

Her oldest child, Alfred Moore Carter (1784-1850), was a wealthy iron producer from Carter County. He was first married in 1810 with a Matilda M. Wendell, but she died already in 1816. He then married a Evalina Belmont Perry from Virginia in 1818. James Patton Taylor Carter was the youngest child of Alfred and Evalina. It was named after James Patton Taylor, the husband of Alfred's sister Mary Cocke (Carter) Taylor.

James Carter had two prominent brothers: Samuel Powhatton Carter and William Blount Carter. Samuel, the son of Alfred and Evalina Carter, graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. He was the only man in history to the same time held the rank of Rear Admiral in the Navy and of major general (brevet), in the United States Army . He graduated from Princeton University and was a Presbyterian pastor. All three Carter brothers were very active in the American civil war in East Tennessee.

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