Robert "King" Carter

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 Judith Armistead in 1678 in Hesse, Mathews, Virginia, USA. Judith (daughter of Lt Colonel John Armistead and Judith Bowles Hone Robinson) was born on 23 Feb 1665 in Hesse, Gloucester, Virginia, USA; died on 23 Feb 1699 in Corotoman Plantation, Lancaster, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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]

Family/Spouse: Nathaniel Burwell. Nathaniel (son of Lewis Burwell and Lucy Tokesay Higginson) was born in 1653 in , Gloucester, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Judith married Honorable Mann Randolph Page, Judge, Kings Council on 26 Jul 1718 in , Lancaster, Virginia, USA. Mann (son of Hon Capt Matthew Page, Esquire and Mary) was born in 1691 in Timberneck Plantation, Gloucester, Virginia, USA; died on 24 Jan 1730 in Rosewell Plantation, Gloucester, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Shirley Plantation
Shirley Plantation is Virginia's first plantation (1613) and one of the first economic engines of the new world. Only six years after John Smith's settlement at Jamestown, the crown grant carving Shirley Plantation out of the Virginia frontier was established. The chronicle of Shirley Plantation best exemplifies the period in our nation's history between the settlement at Jamestown in 1607 and the movement towards American independence from Great Britain in 1776. During its long history and under the leadership of one family, Shirley Plantation has survived the Indian Uprising, Bacon's Rebellion, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the Great Depression.

Shirley Plantation is the oldest family-owned business in North America dating back to 1638. Construction of the present mansion began in 1723 when Elizabeth Hill, great-granddaughter of the first Hill, married John Carter, eldest son of Robert "King" Carter. Completed in 1738, the mansion, referred to as the “Great House,” is largely in its original state and is owned, operated, and lived in by direct descendants of Edward Hill.

The guided tour of the Great House highlights original family furnishings, portraits, silver, and hand-carved woodwork as well as stories of the Hill-Carter family, eye witnesses to eleven generations of American history. As one architectural historian contends," Shirley Plantation is the most intact 18th century estate in Virginia". Several features such as the "Flying Staircase" and the Queen Anne Forecourt are the only remaining examples in America of this architectural style.

John married Mary Brent on 24 Oct 1717 in Christ Church, Middlesex, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Elizabeth Hill on 6 Oct 1723 in Shirley Plantation, Charles City, Virginia, USA. Elizabeth (daughter of Colonel Edward Hill, II and Mary Aston) was born on 23 Apr 1667 in Shirley Plantation, Charles City, Virginia, USA; died on 4 Jan 1761 in Shirley Plantation, Charles City, Virginia, USA; was buried in Shirley Plantation, Charles City, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Birth: 5 Dec 1704, Corotoman Plantation, Lancaster, Virginia, USA
• Death: 12 August 1745, Corotoman Plantation, Lancaster, Virginia, USA

Ann married Benjamin Harrison on 3 Oct 1722 in , Charles City, Virginia, USA. Benjamin (son of Benjamin Harrison and Elisabeth Burwell) was born on 11 Sep 1693 in Berkeley Plantation, Charles City, Virginia, USA; died on 12 Jul 1745 in , Charles City, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Charles Carter of Cleve, was born about 1707 to Robert "King" Carter, a land baron and member of the Governor's Council, and Elizabeth Landon Willis Carter. It was the second marriage of both his parents. His elder half brother John Carter (1690-1742) became secretary of the colony and also a councillor, and his younger brother, Landon Carter (1710-1763), served with him in the House of Burgesses. Charles Carter and his brothers were educated in England. After his return to Virginia early in 1724 he moved to one of his father's estates near Urbanna, in Middlesex County. The governor appointed Carter naval officer, or customs official, for the Rappahannock District on November 1, 1729, and on the following April 29 named him a justice of the peace for Middlesex County.

After the death of his father Carter moved to King George County to the Stanstead plantation, which he inherited. Later he purchased nearby Cleve Plantation, where he resided for the rest of his life. He was often referred to as Charles Carter of Cleve to distinguish him from several relatives of the same name. About 1728 Carter married Mary Walker I, of Yorktown (-1742). They had three daughters and two sons before her death early in 1742. Their eldest daughter, Mary Walker Carter II, married Carter's nephew Charles Carter (1732–1806), who served with him in the House of Burgesses, and their only surviving son, Charles Carter (1738–1796), also served with him in the House of Burgesses and later sat on the Council of State. On December 25, 1742, Carter married Anne Byrd, the seventeen-year-old daughter of William Byrd II, of whose estate he was an executor. They had six daughters and two sons before she died on September 11, 1757. Carter courted at least two women, including the widow Martha Dandridge Custis, before he married sixteen- or seventeen-year-old Lucy Taliaferro about June 9, 1763. They had one daughter, who was born a few weeks before his death.

Charles married Mary Walker in 1728 in , Westmoreland, Virginia, USA. Mary was born in 1709 in Yorktown, York, Virginia, USA; died in 1742 in Cleve Plantation, King George, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Charles married Nancy Ann Byrd on 25 Dec 1742 in , Henrico, Virginia, USA. Nancy (daughter of Col. William Leander Black Swan' Byrd and Marion (Maria) Taylor) was born on 5 Feb 1725 in , Charles City, Virginia, USA; died on 11 Sep 1757 in Cleve Plantation, King George, Virginia, USA; was buried in , King George, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Charles married Lucy Taliaferro Carter on 9 Jun 1763 in , , Virginia, USA. Lucy was born on 25 Oct 1734 in , Essex, Virginia, USA; died in 1764 in Cleve Plantation, King George, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Landon Carter (August 1710 – December 22, 1778) was a planter from Virginia, best known for his account of colonial life leading up the American War of Independence, The Diary of Colonel Landon Carter.

Landon Carter was the son of Robert "King" Carter, a Virginia-born merchant planter and uncle of Robert Carter III. In 1719, at the age of nine, Carter was sent to England to be schooled under the early linguist, Solomon Lowe. He returned to Virginia in 1727.

"King" Carter died in 1732, and Landon inherited a portion of his father's estate. Shortly thereafter, Carter married Elizabeth Wormeley, daughter of John Wormeley. She died in 1740. In 1742, Landon married Maria Byrd, daughter of William Byrd II, who died two years later. Carter married his third wife, Elizabeth Beale, in 1746.

Shortly after his first marriage, Carter settled on lands he had inherited in Richmond County. His mansion house, Sabine Hall, which he built about 1734, stood at the heart of his plantation there.

Carter's daughter Maria married Robert Beverley son of Colonel William Beverley and Elizabeth Bland and named after his paternal grandfather. The Beverleys were descended from Pocahontas through their marriage to the Randolphs.

Carter's grave is in the Lower Lunenburg Parish Church cemetery in Warsaw, Virginia. He left his heirs 50,000 acres (200 km²) of land and as many as 500 slaves. The Special Collections Research Center at the College of William and Mary holds papers relating to Landon Carter and many other descendants of King Carter.

Landon married Elizabeth Wormeley on 16 Nov 1732 in Christ Church, Lancaster, Virginia, USA. Elizabeth (daughter of John Wormeley and Elizabeth Tayloe) was born on 16 Nov 1713 in Rosegill Plantation, Middlesex, Virginia, USA; died on 30 Jun 1740 in Sabine Hall, Warsaw, Richmond, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Landon married Maria Horsmanden Byrd on 22 Sep 1742 in Sabine Hall, Warsaw, Richmond, Virginia, USA. Maria (daughter of Col. William Leander Black Swan' Byrd and Marion (Maria) Taylor) was born on 6 Jun 1727 in , Charles City, Virginia, USA; died on 29 Nov 1744 in Sabine Hall, Warsaw, Richmond, Virginia, USA; was buried in Warsaw, Richmond, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Landon married Elizabeth Beale in 1746 in Sabine Hall, Warsaw, Richmond, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Mary married George Braxton on 16 Jan 1732 in , Lancaster, Virginia, USA. George was born in 1703 in Matapony, King William, Virginia, USA; died on 1 Jul 1748 in Newington, King and Queen, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Lucy married Colonel Henry FitzHugh on 28 Jul 1730 in Corotoman Plantation, Lancaster, Virginia, USA. Colonel (son of William Fitzhugh, Jr and Ann Mary Lee) was born on 15 Jan 1706 in Eagles Nest, King George, Virginia, USA; died on 6 Dec 1742 in Eagles Nest, King George, Virginia, USA; was buried in , King George, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Lucy married Colonel Nathaniel Benjamin Harrison, II on 15 Feb 1748. Colonel was born in 1703 in Wakefield, Surry, Virginia, USA; died on 1 Oct 1791 in Lower Brandon, Prince George, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Edward married Sarah Champe in 1755. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Died:
Accidentally at Westover

Elizabeth married William Byrd on 14 Apr 1748 in Corotoman Plantation, Lancaster, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: 1779, , Stafford, Virginia, USA
• Residence: 1803, Shirley Plantation, Charles City, Virginia, USA
• Probate: 20 Nov 1805, , Charles City, Virginia, USA

Notes:

Charles Carter
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."

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)

Burial: Shirley Plantation, Shirley, Charles City County, Virginia, USA

Charles married Mary Carter in 1756 in , Lancaster, Virginia, USA. Mary (daughter of Charles Carter and Mary Walker) was born in 1736 in Cleve Plantation, King George, Virginia, USA; died on 30 Jan 1770 in Corotoman Plantation, Lancaster, Virginia, USA; was buried in Weems, Lancaster, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Charles married Annie Butler Moore in 1771 in , Lancaster, Virginia, USA. Annie (daughter of Bernard Moore Sr and Anne Catherine Spotswood) was born in 1756 in , Westmoreland, Virginia, USA; died on 16 Apr 1809 in Shirley Plantation, Charles City, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

History of the Carter Family – Nomini Hall Slave Legacy

History of the Carter Family
The Carter’s of Colonial Virginia

John Carter, immigrated to Virginia from England in 1625 aboard the “Safety”. Living in Jamestown, no one know why he came to the Virginia colony, perhaps to leave the political strife in Great Britain, possible to better his station in an already hard world. Within a year his neighbors were so taken with his character, they asked him to represent them at the House of Burgesses.

In 1642, after acquiring some 13,500 acres in the Northern Neck between the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers building his family estate called “Corotoman”. He became a successful planter and businessman, also serving first as an elected Burgess, and then, as a member of the Governor’s Council.

Marrying in 1650, his first wife, Jane Glyn, gave him three children, George, who dies young, Elizabeth and John II. After the early death of his wife, he married Eleanor Eltonhead Brocas in 1656. It was about this time he was elected to the House of Burgesses that automatically made him the commander of the local militia. This militia was responsible for ridding the area of the last of the Rappahannock Indians that brought to its commander more accolades. Eleanor died the next year leaving no children.

His third wife, Anne Carter, daughter of Cleve Carter of England, whom he married in 1658, died within the first year of their marriage, leaving no children.

In 1660, he married Sarah Ludlow, and had two more children, Sarah, who died young, and Robert Carter. Sarah Ludlow Carter died in early 1668 and her family had inscribed on her tombstone, “May her descendants make their mother’s virtues and graces the pattern of their lives and actions”. Little did anyone realize to what great heights her son Robert would achieve.

John Carter took a fifth wife marrying Elizabeth Shirley in late 1668. A son, Charles, was born in 1669. That same year John died. As a young man, Charles moved to England to live and died there sometime after 1690. John Carter the émigré, achieved prominence, wealth, political power, material goods and social prestige that he had earned for himself, but his sons and grandsons were to carve out an empire, such as he had never envisioned.

Upon his death, John’s main estate, holdings and slaves went to his oldest son, John II, with 6,000 English pound’s going to his wife, Elizabeth. Robert “King” Carter was seven years old when his father died. Upon gaining his majority, being a second son, his prospects were not exceptionally bright. He had inherited 1,000 acres near the Corotoman River and one third of his father’s personal estate valued at 1,000 English pounds consisting of a library of Latin books, a few slaves, and some other personal items.

Then by a sudden turn of events, his older half brother, John II, who ad married twice and had one daughter, Elizabeth (1675-1693), died at age 43, leaving Robert the sole adult male representing the family and inheriting the family estate.

Two years later in 1688, now at age 25, Robert married Judith Armistead, who gave him five children. John III (1689), Elizabeth (1692), Judith (1693), who died in infancy, Sarah (1694), who died at eight years of age, and another Judith (1695), named after the first daughter who died. Judith Armistead Carter passed after eleven years of marriage.

In 1697, Robert married his second wife, Elizabeth Landon Willis, the 16 year old widow of Richard Wilis and they had ten children. Anne (1702), Robert II (1704), Sarah (1705) dying as a young child, Betty (1706) who also died as a young child, Charles (1707), Ludlow (1709) who died young, Landon (1710), Mary (1712), Lucy (1714) and George (1716).

Robert Carter, being born into the Tidewater gentry of the young colony, eclipsed his father’s accomplishments. Becoming a member, and later, speaker of the House of Burgesses, a member of the Governor’s Council, a vestryman in Christ Church, a Justice of the Peace, and acting governor of the colony from 1726-1727 until William Gooch arrived. He was also a rector of the College of William and Mary, seeing that institution through the most trying of times. Because he so eclipsed his father, he has been regarded by historians as the founder of this Virginia family and was nicknamed “King”. He ultimately became the richest and perhaps the most powerful man of his day.

Realizing the need that future generations would have for fresh lands, he obtained for his heirs some 333,000 acres.

Robert “King” Carter had arranged that the bulk of his lands would go to his eldest son, John Carter III (1689-1742) who married in 1725 Elizabeth Hill of Shirley Plantation.. He also saw to it that his other sons, Robert II, Charles, Landon and George would have ample estates. Robert “King” Carter died at the age of 69 in 1732 leaving an estate of 333,000 acres, more than 1,000 slaves and 10,000 English pound, a tremendous fortune in those days.

Robert Carter II (1704-1732) died unexpectedly at age 28, only months after his father, leaving his wife of seven years, Priscilla Churchill (1705-1757), a daughter Elizabeth born in 1725, and a son, four year old Robert III, born in 1728.

Priscilla Carter later married Colonel John Lewis from a family as ancestral and honorable as the Carters. Colonel Lewis was a widower with five children and when Elizabeth moved to his home, “Warner Hall” in Gouchester, her two children joined an already active household.

When Robert Carter III reached his majority, he became the master of more than seventy thousand acres including 5,025 acres in old Prince William County, inheriting his father’s portion of his grandfather’s estate. Young Robert, at age nine, went to the College of William and Mary. When the young man turned twenty-one, he went to England leaving Colonel Lewis in charge of his affairs. For the next two years historians presumed this trip to England was to complete his education following in the footsteps of his grandfather, father and uncles, although it was also a time to explore the arts and other diversions of the day. It was said that a young gentleman, “lacking a broad basis of knowledge would be unfit for any gentlemen’s conversation and therefore a scandalous person and a shame to his relations, not having one single qualification to recommend him”. It was quoted of one colonial father to have said, “that his children had better be never born than illbred”.

Upon young Robert’s return to the colony of Virginia in 1751, he was steeped in public duties. At age 28, he was made a member of the Governor’s Council and, by virtue of his belonging to the Council, he also served as a colonel in the militia. As was customary, he was known as “Councillor” Carter. He lived at Nomini Hall, the elegant manor house his father built about 1729 in Westmoreland County, overlooking the Potomac and Nomini Rivers, a plantation of about 2,000 acres. The square Georgian style home with four chimneys was made of brick, two stories high, located on a hill with a spectacular view of the rivers. Robert “Councillor” Carter married Frances Ann Tasker (1720-1787) on April 2, 1745, in Annapolis Maryland by the Reverend Mr. Malcolm, the minister of St. Anne’s Parish. His wife, the daughter of the Honorable Benjamin Tasker, one of the foremost citizens of the colony of Maryland, brought to the marriage, not only family influence, but also a large dowry. The marriage also enabled her husband to secure a one fifth control of one of her father’s businesses, the Baltimore Iron Works.

Together they had seventeen children. Benjamin (1756) dying at age 23, Robert Bladen (1759), who died unmarried at age 34, Priscilla (1760-1823), all born at Nomini Hall. About 1761, Robert “Councillor” and his growing family moved to Williamsburg to a home he purchased adjacent to the Governor’s Palace where the following three daughters were born. Ann Tasker (1762- ), Rebecca (1762) who died in infancy, and Frances (1764-1795), returning to Nomini Hall for the birth of his remaining children. Betty Landon (1765-1842), Mary (1767) who died at age four, Harriet Lucy (1768- ), Amelia Churchill (1769) who died in her first year, Rebecca Dulany (1770) who also died in her first year. John Tasker (1772- ), Sarah Fairfax (1773-1829), Judith (1775) who died as an infant, George (1777-1846), Sophia (1778-1832), who died without marrying and Julia Carter (1783- ). In spite of such a large family, “Frances Tasker Carter remained elegant and beautiful in a youthful way, ever cheerful and agreeable”. She managed the household with great success and carefully trained and helped educate their children.

Managing seventy thousand acres demanded foresight and planning. Robert III cultivated as many as fifteen large plantations and farms at once. Each plantation and farm had an abundant amount of buildings used for storing tobacco, corn and wheat. Shops for weavers, carpenters, coopers, blacksmiths, as well as the manor houses and/or estate managers quarters. There were many independent buildings such as kitchens, bakeries, dairies, meat houses, slave cabins, stables, mills for grinding grains and factories for the production of textiles. Indentured servants were brought in from Ireland to spin and weave as well as to teach the Carter slaves these skills. The training of slaves in the trades was a necessary result of the conditions of life on large estates where free artisans found it difficult to serve more then a limited clientele. Many Carter slaves were trained as coopers, carpenters, blacksmiths, millers sailors, brick makers and layers and shoemakers. This training also increased their worth.

Though tobacco was the crop of importance, Robert also would devote entire plantations to producing grain and other supplies needed at Nomini Hall. Running the plantation, clearing new land for planting, civic and family duties, proved to be a laborious task. Though the basis of life was agricultural, the great landowners fulfilled a wide variety of other economic functions. They served as factors for their neighbors, buying their crops, and selling them supplies. When European conditions interfered with the import trade, enterprising men frequently set up grist mills, textile factories, and foundries on their plantations, to supply their own and their neighbor’s needs.

Robert “Councillor” Carter was a patriot during the American Revolution and as a member of the court of Westmoreland County he took an oath as prescribed by the Virginia Assembly renouncing allegiance to George III, pledging loyalty to Virginia and to the Continental Congress. At one point, he sent 50 bayonets to Captain Burgess Ball and also furnished him with other supplies. He sent Colonel Thomas Jones beef, hops, 2,950 lbs of flour as well as many loaves of bread. In September 1776, he supplied the commissary of Lancaster County with 2,000 lbs of bread and the same amount of flour. He also secured iron for the manufacture of munitions.

During the American Revolution rapid adjustments had to be made. Wheat, corn, hemp, flax, cotton, oats and barley were cultivated extensively by Robert III, while tobacco became less important in his scheme of operations. By the end of the 18th Century, the tobacco industry had sunk into a state of chronic depression. The rapid depletion of soil, the wasteful agricultural methods and over production were all making themselves felt. Robert III was ahead of his time in raising other grains for cash crops. He had set up and equipped so many plantations and farms that he resorted to naming twelve of them after the signs of the zodiac. Two of these farms, Leo, consisting of 809 acres with 309 acres cleared, and Cancer with 700 acres of which 400 were cleared, were dedicated to the growing of tobacco, shipping 79 hogshead of tobacco, between the two in 1785. In 1791, there were 509 slaves, with an estimated worth of well over a hundred thousand dollars, belonging to Robert III, a number that was large enough to generate efficient cultivation of his many plantations. He was also the largest single slave- holder in Virginia at that time. During the year 1791, Robert “Councillor” Carter provided, in a Deed of Manumission, for the freeing of almost all of his 509 slaves. This was to be accomplished on a gradual basis over a period of twenty years since to have set all free at once would have resulted in great distress for the slaves and chaos for the community. He gave or rented lands to some of his former slaves as they were freed.

Family/Spouse: Elizabeth Avery. Elizabeth was born in Oct 1732 in , Albemarle, Virginia, USA; died on 18 Jul 1766 in , Albemarle, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Robert married Nancy Spilman on 22 Jun 1795 in , Westmoreland, Virginia, USA. Nancy was born about 1779 in , , Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Elizabeth Judith Chiswell. Elizabeth (daughter of John Chiswell and Elizabeth Bever Randolph) was born on 24 May 1737 in Ludlowe Plantation, King George, Virginia, USA; died on 13 Oct 1804 in Maryes Heights, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Virginia, USA; was buried in Maryes Heights, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Mary married Charles Hill Carter, Sr, Esq in 1756 in , Lancaster, Virginia, USA. Charles (son of John Carter and Elizabeth Hill) was born on 10 Oct 1732 in Shirley Plantation, Charles City, Virginia, USA; died on 28 Jun 1806 in Shirley Plantation, Charles City, Virginia, USA; was buried on 28 Jun 1806 in Shirley Plantation, Charles City, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Carolianna married Dr. Elisha Hall in 1776. Dr. was born in 1752 in Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Virginia, USA; died in 1814 in Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

To Miss Maria Carter at Cleve

My Dear Cousin;

You have rea'y imposed a task upon me which I can by no measns perform viz: That of writing a Merry and Comical Letter: how shou'd I my dear that am ever confined either at School or with my Grandmama know how the world goes on? Now I will give you the History of one Day at the Repetition of which without variations carries me through the Three hundred and sixty-five Days, which you know compleats a year. Well then first begin, I am awakened out of a sound Sleep with some croaking voice either Miss Polly, Milly's or some other of our Domestics with Miss Polly Miss Polly get up, 'tis time to rise, Mr. Price is down stairs and tho I hear them I lie quiet snugg till my Grandmama uses her voice, then up I get, huddle on my cloaths and down to Books, then to Breakfast, then to School again and may I have an hour to myself before Dinner, then the Same Story over again until twi-light and then a small portion of time before I go to rest, and so you must expect nothing from me but that I am.

Dear Cousin, Most Affectionately Yours

Maria Carter

Governor Berkeley and the Creation of the Virginia Aristocracy: The landed gentry rose to prominence in Virginia with the arrival of Sir William Berkeley as Royal Governor. Governor Berkeley, an Oxford-educated playwright, soldier and diplomat, arrived in Virginia in 1642, when Virginia was a frontier society of roughly 8,000 colonists. He was to hold office longer than any other governor of Virginia. Born in 1606 in England, Berkeley had been a courtier in the court of the British monarch Charles I, and came with a desire to invigorate the colony and create an imitation of British society in the New World. Under his administration, the first generation of what would be known as the Virginian aristocracy came into existence before the English Civil War ended. These included the founders of powerful dynasties such as John Carter, Richard Lee, Benjamin Harrison, the first Randolph and Thomas Stegg (or Stegge) who amassed the Byrd wealth. All of the colonizers who rose socially had connections, wealth and education. These advantages promoted them to the highest rungs of the colonial society. The families they founded ruled the Royal colony of Virginia for more than a century.

Colonists Arriving in Virginia
Painting by Sidney King courtesy of Colonial National Historical Park


The Byrd, Beverley, Carter, Culpepper, Isham, Washington, Spencer, Randolph, Jefferson, Bland, Beverely, Bolling, Eppe and Hackett families intermarried, creating a web of overlapping kinships. They sat on the governing boards of the colony and promoted each others interests. Berkeley also fostered the rise of the General Assembly from a small body into a replica of the Parliament in England, and promoted a separation of power between provincial and county governments. He worked to create a royalist society, where an elite ruled over the great masses of yeoman farmers, free and enslaved African Americans, indentured servants and marginal farmers who leased their land. A brief look at some of the families who served in the Virginia House of Burgesses displays a continuity of the landed-gentry class in the governing class of the colony. In 1664 Lawrence Washington and William Randolph were elected members of the House of Burgesses. The 1736-1740 legislative session had representatives of the Randolph, Carter, Fitzhugh, Beverely and Berkeley families seated, and the 1776 Assembly had Carters, Randolphs and Lees as well as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

See www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/jamesriver/gentry/htm. for the rest of the story.

Maria married Robert Beverley on 1 Feb 1763 in , Richmond, Virginia, USA. Robert was born on 21 Aug 1740 in Blandfield Plantation, Essex, Virginia, USA; died on 12 Apr 1800 in Blandfield Plantation, Essex, Virginia, USA; was buried in Champlain, Essex, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Elizabeth married Benjamin Grymes on 12 Feb 1746 in Saint Pauls Parish, Stafford, Virginia, USA. Benjamin was born on 19 Jan 1724 in Brandon, Middlesex, Virginia, USA; died in 1774 in Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

William married Mary Anne Bolling Randolph on 2 Apr 1763 in , , Virginia, USA. Mary (daughter of Peter Randolph and Lucy Bolling) was born on 13 May 1747 in Chatsworth, Henrico, Virginia, USA; died on 10 Aug 1805 in Ravensworth, Fairfax, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Anne married Henry Lee, III on 18 Jun 1793 in , , Virginia, USA. Henry (son of Lt Colonel Henry Lee, II and Lucy Grymes) was born on 29 Jan 1757 in Dumfries, Prince William, Virginia, USA; died on 25 Mar 1818 in Dungeness, Cumberland Island, Camden, Georgia, USA; was buried in Lexington, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: George Cabaniss. George (son of Mathew Cabaniss and Hannah Clay) was born in 1744 in , Amelia, Virginia, USA; died in Dec 1815 in , Jones, Georgia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Mary married George Washington Parke Custis on 7 Jul 1804 in Alexandria, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA. George (son of John Parke Custis and Eleanor Calvert) was born on 30 Apr 1781 in Mount Airy Plantation, Prince Georges, Maryland, USA; died on 10 Oct 1857 in Arlington, Fairfax, Virginia, USA; was buried in Arlington, Arlington, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]