Robert Carter, II

Family/Spouse: Priscilla Churchill. Priscilla (daughter of William Churchill and Elizabeth Armistead) was born on 21 Dec 1705 in , Middlesex, Virginia, USA; was christened on 1 Jan 1706; died in 1757 in Warner Hall, Gloucester, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Elizabeth Churchill Carter was born in 1725 in Nomini Hall Plantation, Westmoreland, Virginia, USA; died in 1763 in , , Virginia, USA.
2. Robert 'Councillor' Churchill Carter, III was born on 9 Feb 1726 in Nomini, Westmoreland, Virginia, USA; died on 4 Mar 1804 in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
3. George Carter was born on 18 Dec 1728 in Nomini, Westmoreland, Virginia, USA; died in , , Virginia, USA.

Notes:

Robert King Carter son of John Carter and Sarah Ludlow

Robert King Carter married 1680 Virginia, to Judith Armistead.
From the "ENCYCLOPEDIA of VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY" Under the Editorial Supervision of Lyon Gardiner Tyler, LL. D., VOLUME V, 1915, pages 848-849

The epitaph on his tomb in Christ Church, records his virtues and achievements. Translated from the Latin, it says:
Here lies Robert Carter an honorable man who by noble endowments and pure morals gave luster to his gentle birth. Rector of William and Mary College, he sustained that institution and its most trying times. And he was Speaker of the House of Burgesses and Treasurer under the most serene princes, William, Ann, George I. and George II. Elected by
the House of Burgesses its Speaker six years and Governor of the Colony for more than a year he upheld equally the regal dignity and the public freedom. Possessed of ample wealth, blameless acquired, he built and endowed this sacred edifice, a signal monument of his piety towards God. He furnished it richly. Entertaining his friends kindly, he was neither a prodigal nor a parsimonious host.

His first wife was Judith, daughter of John Armistead, Esq. His second, Betty, a descendant of the noble house of Landon. By these wives he had many children and whose education he expended large sums of money. At length, full of honors and of years, when he had well performed all the duties of an exemplary life he departed from this world on the 4th of August, 1732, in the 69th year of his age.

This man's grandson had Washington himself as neighbor, and Robert E. Lee's mother was the great granddaughter of his grandfather, Robert "King" Carter. "It was 230 years ago that Robert Carter III, the patriarch of one of the wealthiest families in Virginia, quietly walked into a Northumberland County courthouse and delivered an airtight legal document announcing his intention to free, or manumit, more than 500 slaves.

He titled it the "deed of gift." It was, by far, experts say, the largest liberation of Black people before President Abraham Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Emancipation Act and Emancipation Proclamation more than seven decades later.

Ancestor of William Henry Harrison - 9th US President.

Robert Carter was born 4 August 1663 at Corotoman plantation, Lancaster County, Virginia, a son of John Carter and Sarah Ludlow.[3] His father died when Robert was a young boy, in 1669. So his half-brother, Lt. Col. John Carter (15 years older than Robert), took on the parental role.[3] Per their father's specific instructions, Robert was educated well in England. He had a tutor for English and Latin, and lived with Arthur Bailey who was a family friend and merchant.[3]

He married 1) in 1688 at Heese, Lancaster, Virginia to Judith Armistead (died 1699).[4] She died in 1699.
He married 2) in 1701 to Elizabeth (Landon) Willis (marriage contract written April 9, 1701), widow of Richard Willis, and daughter of Thomas Landon.[3]
Robert "King" married in 1688 to Judith Armistead, daughter of John Armistead of "Hesse," Gloucester County. Their children were:[4]

John, born ca 1689, died 1742; mar Elizabeth Hill of Shirley
Elizabeth born 1692; mar Nathaniel Burwell
Judith died in infancy,
Sarah died at age 15
Judith born 1695 (the second named Judith); mar Mann Page[3]
Note: Some sources, including the Foundation for Historic Christ Church, place the birth date of John Carter III at 1696,[4]while others place it at 1689/90.[5][3]

Little is known about the intimate family life of Robert and Judith during these years.[3] Judith died February 23, 1699, and only three of her children survived to adulthood.[5]

Robert's second wife was Elizabeth Landon Willis, (mother of ten of Robert Carter's children) married in 1701:[4]

Anne Carter (1702–1743) married Benjamin Harrison IV; (parents of Benjamin Harrison V and grandparents of President William Henry Harrison).
Robert Carter II (1704–1734) married Priscilla Churchill.
Sarah Carter (~1705–1705)
Betty Carter (~1705–1706)
Charles Carter (1707–1764) married Anne Byrd, daughter of Col. William Byrd II.
Ludlow Carter (born ~1709)
Landon Carter (1710–1778) married Maria Byrd, daughter of Col. William Byrd II.
Mary Carter (1712–1736) married George Braxton; (parents of Carter Braxton).
Lucy Carter (1715–1763) married Henry Fitzhugh
George Carter (1718–1742)[3]

The first actual land grant found on record in the Northern Neck section of Virginia is to Col. Robert "King" Carter, as the agent of Lord Fairfax and to his sons and grandsons. As the agent of Lord Fairfax, the Proprietor of the Northern Neck of VA, Col. Carter handled vast bodies of land and by his will left over 300,000 acres of land to his children.[6]
Robert was known as "King" Carter due to his immense wealth. He had a remarkable reputation as a Colonial Official and an agent for Lord Fairfax, V. At the age of 28, Robert entered the Assembly as a Burgess from Lancaster County, serving five consecutive years. In 1726 he served as acting governor of Virginia after the death of Governor Drysdale. He served two terms as agent for the Fairfax proprietary of the Northern Neck of Virginia, the first being, 1702-1711, and the second term, 1722-32. During his first term, he began to acquire large tracts of land for himself in the Rappahannock region of Virginia. After acquiring some 20,000 acres for himself, he was succeeded by Edmund Jennings. When he became representative of Fairfax's interests again in 1722, he succeeded in securing for his children and grandchildren some 110,000 acres in the Northern Neck. He also had additional acquisitions beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. Robert's gifted and productive life centered around the original Christ Church, a smaller wooden structure. His parents were buried within the chancel of the church. A historic marker outside of the Church reads: "Christ Church was built in 1732, on the site of an older Church by Robert ("King") Carter, who reserved one quarter of it for seating his tenants and servants. It is one of the very few colonial churches in America that have never been altered, a typical early eighteenth-century structure.[7]

Robert owned many slaves. An inventory of his slaves, apparently made as part of the inventory of his estate, was taken in 1733.[8] There are 345 slaves listed with names like: Old Crabb, Old Gumby, and Old Fortune a Woman past Labour.[8]

Robert left quite a list of property, including the slaves above-mentioned. He held numerous plantations in eight different counties of Virginia:

INVENTORY, [1733] November ?, of the estate of Robert Carter comprising a detailed list of agricultural equipment, blacksmith tools, books, coaches, furniture, glassware, horses and other livestock, milling tools, silverware and utensils, and slaves at Carter's estates in
Caroline (Pewmond's End),
King George (Falls and Richland quarters),
Lancaster (Brick House Quarter, Changilins Quarter, Corotoman, Corotoman Quarter, Gibson's Plantation, Great Mill, Hills Quarter, Indian Town Quarter, Little Mill, Morattico Quarter, Office Quarter, Old House Quarter, Poplar Neck Quarter, and Wolf House Quarter),
Northumberland County (Blough Point Quarter, Feilding's Plantation, Jones's Plantation, and Old Plantation),
Prince William (Bull Run, Frying Pan Quarter, Lodge Quarter, Range Quarter, and Red Oak Quarter,),
Richmond (Brick House Quarter, Bridge Quarter, Dickinson's Mill, Fork Quarter, Thomas Glascock's, Gumfield's Quarter, Hickory Thickett, Hinson's Quarter, Old Quarter, and Totuskey Quarter),
Spotsylvania (Mount Quarter and Norman's Ford), Stafford (Hamstead Quarter, Hinson's Quarter, Park Quarter, and Poplar Quarter), and
Westmoreland (Brent's Quarter, Coles Point, Dick's Quarter, Forrest Quarter, Head of the River, Medcalf's Plantation, Moon's Plantation, The Narrows, Old Ordinary, and Pantico Quarter), counties, Virginia[9]

Robert Carter died 4 Aug 1732 at Corotoman, Lancaster, Virginia and was buried at Christ Church.[4] "(see tombstone inscription and pictures). At his death in 1732, his obituary in Gentleman's Magazine described his estate to be "about 300,000 acres of land, about 1000 Negroes, 10,000 pounds in money." The tombstones of Robert and his two wives were placed at the east end of the old Christ Church.
The tombstones have been replaced by the church, and the inscription on his tombstone (taken from the original):

"Here lies buried Robert Carter, Esq., an honourable man, who by noble endowments and pure morals gave lustre to his gentle birth. Rector of William and Mary, he sustained that institution in its most trying times. He was Speaker of the House of Burgesses, and Treasurer under the most serene Princes William, Anne George I and II. Elected by the House its Speaker six years, and Governor of the Colony for more than a year, he upheld equally the regal dignity and the public freedom. Possessed of ample wealth, blamelessly acquired, he built and endowed, at his own expense, this sacred edifice - a signal monument of his piety toward God. He furnished it richly. Entertaining his friends kindly, he was neither a prodigal nor a parsimonious host. His first wife was Judith, daughter of John Armistead, Esq.; his second Betty, a descendant of the noble family of Landons. By these wives he had many children, on whose education he expended large sums of money. At length, full of honours and of years, when he had performed all the duties of an exemplary life, he departed from this world on the 4th day of August, in the 69th year of his age. The unhappy lament their lost comforter, the widows their lost protector, and the orphans their lost father."

Robert married Elizabeth Landon on 9 Apr 1701 in , , Virginia, USA. Elizabeth was born in 1683 in Credenhill, Hereford, England; died on 3 Jul 1719 in Williamsburg, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]