Thomas Carter, Senior
1630-1700

Thomas Carter Sr. was born in England during 1630. He came to Virginia prior to 1652 as an indentured servant for a period of five years. He served as a silversmiths apprentice during this period.  Descendants have stated when his indentured service ended, he went to the Caribbean and later returned to Virginia and became a wealthy man. Thomas married Katherine Dale, daughter of  Major Edward and Diana Skipworth Dale.  Katherine was born during 1652.

Origin

The name Carter is given among the fifty surnames most commonly found in England, and is of quite ancient respectability, as it occurs among the country gentry as early as the 
fourteenth century. From early times there seem to have been two separate Carter families in England. 

The use of the talbot, buckle, and Catharine wheel, in various combinations in the arms of the different Carter families settled to the north of London in the small adjoining counties
of Bedford, Hertford, Middlesex, Buckingham, Oxford, and the still more northerly shires of Northumberland and York, would seem to bind them all more or less closely to one
fountain head of this blood, the original seat of the family probably being in Bedford or Hertfordshire. The other Carters were located to the south of London in Kent, Cornwall, 
Somerset, Devon, and Ireland, with no similarity whatever between their arms and those of the northern Carters, the original seat of the southern Carters probably being in Kent. 
In the century preceding the settlement of Virginia a great many of the Carter families, both north and south, sent a number of their younger sons to London to seek their fortunes in 
business. 

The arms used by Col. John Carter of "Corotoman," Virginia, and by Capt. Thomas Carter of "Barford," Virginia, indicate that both belonged to the Carters north of London, 
though not the same family. 

 Ancestry. 

Of the ancestry of Capt. Thomas Carter, of "Barford," Christ Church Parish, Lancaster County, Virginia, we know nothing certain. The tradition preserved by a branch of the family 
in Lancaster and recorded in 1858 says that he was the son of a London merchant of good family. 

 The circumstantial evidence of the crest on his seal, the naming of his home "Barford," and the striking similarity of the baptismal names of his children and their descendants with 
those of Bedfordshire, makes it appear strongly probable that he was more or less closely connected with the ancient Carter family of “Kimpson," Bedfordshire. I am of the opinion
that he was a son of one of the sons of William Carter, Gent, of Kimpson. Bedfordshire (buried Dec. 1, 1605), and his wife, Marv Ancell (Buried March 1, 1619), daughter of Thomas
Ancell, Esq., of Barford, in Co. Bedford. They had issue seven sons and ten daughters as follows: Thomas, eldest son and heir, born Sept. 19. 1575; Nicholas, William, Anne. 
Winifred, Marv, Oliver, Amye, Elizabeth, Temperance. Anne, Ursula. Ancel Robert, Katharine, Alice, and John, the youngest, born Nov. 5, 1599. The names Henry, Edward and 
Daniel appear among the children of those sons of William and Mary Ancell Carter', of whom we have record. 

Capt. Thomas Carter of Virginia may possibly have been the youngest son of Ancell Carter, born Oct. 28, 1591, son of Wm. and Mary Carter of Kimpson, who settled in London. 
At the visitation of the Heralds from the College of Arms in 1634, Ansyll (Ancell) Carter of London, Grocer, had six sons living as follows : George, eldest son, John, Ansyle, William, 
James. and Thomas, youngest son, who could not have been over three or four years old in 1634. Capt. Thomas Carter of Virginia was born in 1630-1631. 

No original paper of Capt. Thomas Carter bearing his own seal has been found (he sealed his will with the Dale crest), but his grandson, Joseph Carter of Spotsylvania, in 1739 
used a seal bearing the initials 'T. C." surmounted by a crest showing a demi-talbot out of a mural crown. This is one of the crests of the Kimpson Carters and of Ancell Carter of 
London. 

Though the parentage of Capt. Thomas Carter is not known, as is likewise the case of Col. John Carter of "Corotoman and a number of other prominent emigrants to Virginia, 
there is plenty of evidence to show that he came of a good family, whose claim to gentility was unquestioned. He lived in an age when a man's pretensions to social consideration 
must bear thorough investigation before being allowed; and Capt. Thomas Carter's seem to have stood the test. 

 Mr. Richard Alexander Bruce in his Social History of the Seventeenth Century in Virginia says: "There was the clearest recognition of class distinctions in every department of 
Virginia life during the seventeenth century, a fact brought out in numerous ways by the silent testimony of different legal documents which have survived to the present day. The 
colonial custom, following the immemorial English, was in such documents to fix by terms, whose legal meaning was understood, the social position of the principal persons 
mentioned therein. In conversation the term "Mister" was no doubt applied to both gentlemen and yeomen; the term seems in fact to have been reserved in those early times in all 
forms of written and printed matter for those whose claim to be gentlemen in the broad social sense was admitted by all." 

Mr. Bruce says further that in Virginia this use was observed most constantly in the county tax lists, where only gentlemen received any designation at all; and that was always 
either "Mr." or a military title if such was possessed. The Lancaster records abundantly substantiate such a claim for Thomas Carter, as from his first appearance in the tax list of 
1653 as "Mr. Tho: Carter" until his death in 1700 he does not appear without the distinguishing "Mr." or "Capt." 

 HlMSELF 

The first written account we have of Thomas Carter, Gent., the emigrant, is in a MSS. account of the family in 1858 by John Carter of "The Nest," Lancaster County, who derived 
most of his traditions from a maiden aunt — Miss Fanny Carter, born on 1738, died in 1830, who seems to have known a great deal about the family. But in every generation the 
spinsters of a family, having no husband or children to occupy their time, have been the repositors of its genealogical lore. The account of Thomas Carter is as follows:  "Our 
ancestors came to Virginia about two hundred years ago and settled in Lancaster County. The first one of the Carters was my grandfather's grandfather Thomas Carter son of a 
London merchant of good family". 

 "I have heard said there was two brothers of them the other being a John Carter who settled south of the river in Essex but further I can’t say. And I have heard said we are kin to 
old Robert Carter who is buried at old Christ Church in this County but have never found out how. He was very rich — some say the richest man in Virginia. 

 "Our old Ancestor Thomas Carter was about 21 years old when he come to Lancaster and he was a man of substance and position as a planter and tobacco trader. He was 
married twice. First to an English woman whose name I've never heard, they had 2 or 3 children who all died young. She died and he married a Miss Dale of good connections 
and had seven sons and two daughters named Thomas, Edward, James, John, Henry, Peter, and Joseph and the girls was Betty and Katy. 

Betty married a Mr. George and has descendants in this county. Katy, aunt Fanny said, was a great beauty and married a Mr. Tabb and I guess was the great grandmother of the 
Gloucester Tabbs who are a rich and prominent family.” Note — The old Carter Prayer Book says that Katharine Carter married John Lawson on the 16th of June 1703 (this is 
Thomas Sr.'s daughter Katherine;  ed) . 

The remainder of this MSS will be given under the different branches of the family to which it refers. It is written in a little leather bound "Diary" for the year 1858 and is owned by 
Miss Mary Carter, an aged lady, at present living in Lincoln County, Ky. It was sent to her uncle Thomas Carter, in 1S58, by his uncle John Carter of Lancaster County. The first 
page is as follows: "The Carter Family Tree, for Thomas .Carter Esq', Lexington, Ky. Written out by John Carter of The Nest Lancaster County Virginia from notes from the old 
papers at the Court House and the recollections of his aunt Miss Frances Carter who was born in the year 1738 and died in the year 1830." 

As shown by the above note and the Lancaster records, Capt. Thomas Carter was besides being a planter, a merchant and tobacco trader and probably was the son of a 
merchant. This is true of the majority of the seventeenth century Virginians who made any stir in the social or political affairs of the colony. While most of them were more or less 
closely connected with the minor gentry at home in England, and an occasional "cousin to a lord," in the main the emigrants were either members of the various craft guilds or 
professions or sons of members. 

Of the social status of these ancient tradesmen we know that in the seventeenth century the military, clerical, legal and medical professions and the mechanical and mercantile arts 
held relations to the social life of England vastly different from, what they now have. These professions and occupations at that time were filled by the younger sons of both the 
nobility and landed gentry, who, owing to the law of primogeniture fixing the parental estate upon the eldest son, were thus dispersed to seek their fortune and honor elsewhere, 
without in any way affecting their lineal traits or mental and social investments. So a great deal of the very best blood in England entered the twelve great craft or livery companies 
as indentured apprentices to learn some trade or craft and later to be freemen of the same. Long lists of titled persons who actually served their apprenticeship have appeared. It is 
said that "from these companies sprang many of the noblest houses and grandest characters of English history." 

Upon their arrival in Virginia many of these seventeenth century emigrants set up stores along the great rivers; commanded their own trading vessels, or went into business as 
master craftsmen, such as saddlers, carpenters, etc. Among the early merchants were the ancestors of many of the families that for three centuries have been pre-eminent in 
Virginia, such as the Lees, Byrds, Randolphs, Nelsons, Carters of Corotoman, Lightfoots, and others. Upon acquiring land, which most of them did soon after landing, the English 
law gave them the right to resume the distinguishing title of "gentleman" and the coat of arms, which came to them from their landed ancestors in England. 

Mrs. Sally Nelson Robins, a descendant of some of Virginia's most prominent families, writes: "We Virginians should never be scornful of trade, for the best of our forefathers (and
indeed most of the early ones) coined money in their houses of general merchandise. * * * They did not come to the New World for the pleasure of the thing — ah, no! it was for a 
better living than England afforded them, and when they got here they had to hustle, as the pioneers who suffered and toiled in Alaska hustled twenty years ago. The Virginia 
colonist didn't have the snow and ice in abundance, but he had chills and fever — much worse — and other ills not accounted for. To make his living he set up a store, or contracted 
for the erection of buildings, and in consequence was called "carpenter." and this affix to his honorable name shocks his twentieth century descendants, who think of Virginians as 
dashing cavaliers, never as tradesmen.  The little store helped to move the great plantation and evolved the lordly planter, the most picturesque personage (after the Indian) in 
America." 

Like Colonels Edward and John Carter, Captain Thomas Carter seems to have lived at first after he came to Virginia in Nansemond County and to have continued his store in that
county after he had removed to Lancaster. He appears first in the tax list of Lancaster County in 1653 when 'M” Tho: Carter" paid tithes on himself and four servants. From this time
on until his death he appears with a varying number of servants — in 1663 he paid for twenty, and in 1699, the year before he died, for nine. 

He purchased his first plantation of about eight hundred acres on the "Eastermost branch of Corotoman River" from Col. John Carter, and June i, 1654, acknowledged the debt in 
court — 12,852 pounds of tobacco to be paid the following October "at ye dwelling house of the sd M' Tho: Carter," and 130 sterling on Sept. 18, 1655. "Mr. Thomas Carter," 
"Planter," "Merchant," and "Gent." acquired land as follows:  Jan. 14, 1656, from George Marsh, 560 acres; 1658 from Edmund Lunsford a plantation, acreage not given: Dec. 8, 
1674 from his father-in-law Edward Dale, "Gent." 500 acres; May 27, 1657 a patent for 150 acres; Sept. 20, 1661, patent for 220 acres; and in the next thirty years patents for 
small parcels aggregating 470 acres. He seems to have kept practically all of this during his lifetime. The old court records show that he appeared frequently as the attorney for 
non-residents of Lancaster both in other parts of Virginia and England, thus showing that he had a wide acquaintance. 

 "Oct ye 21st 1663 According to order the Oath of a Commissioner (justice) was this day Administered to Capt. Thomas Carter after which he sat in the Court," and continued on
the bench until Nov. 8. 1665. March 8, 1670 the following order of court was recorded: "At ye request of Mr. Edward Dale, Mr: Tho: Carter is dep'td Clerke for the said Dale for 
conformation of whom in ye Clerke's place it is ordered by this Court Y(at)* a …… bee sent to ye Ho(bl) Thomas Ludwell Esq., Secretary for his approbation." The first order shows
that he was a captain in the Lancaster militia. It is also believed that he was a burgess in 1667 and probably subsequently. The Randolph papers show that a “Captain Carter"
was a burgess in that year and a member of one of the committees. This was during the "Long Assembly", which convened March 23, 1661, and lasted until Mar. 7, 1676 without a
general election. At this time there seems to have been no other Carters, of any prominence, in Virginia outside of those in Lancaster County, and Giles Carter of Henrico County, 
who is said to have never held any military or political position. In Lancaster County the tax list for 1667 shows the names of "Col. John Carter, Sr."; Col. Edward Carter", "Capt. 
Thomas Carter," and ''Mr. John Carter, Jun." April 11, 1666 Col. John Carter, Sr. as presiding justice administered the oath of a justice to his son "Mr. Jo: Carter", whose name 
appears in the list of justices with the title of "Mr." until 1670, when he appeared as "Capt." John Carter. For a number of years prior to 1661 Lancaster county had two and 
sometimes three representatives in the House of Burgesses, but the incomplete lists of the "Long Assembly" give her but one, though it is presumed that she had as many 
burgesses during that period as before and after. 

Were the old vestry books of Christ Church in existence they would most probably show the name of Capt. Thomas Carter among the vestrymen and church wardens. The old 
vestry book beginning in 1739 or the combined parishes of Christ Church and St. Mary's White Chapel, gives the names of the two sons of Capt. Thomas Carter surviving at that 
time, and two of his grandsons among the vestrymen and church wardens; and a grandson and a great grandson were clerks of the vestry for a number of years. 

From Mrs. John Scarlett Smith of San Francisco, whose stepmother was a Carter, I have obtained the old Carter Prayer Book, printed in 1662, which contains many valuable 
records of this family. 

The early marriage and birth records in this old book are all in the same handwriting, but as it is a seventeenth century hand, they were probably written in by Capt. Thomas himself
 in his old days, or else copied from some other record by one of his sons. 

His Marriage and Children. 

 "With With this Book p* Rev Mr John Shepperd on Wednesday ye 4th Day of May 1670 — was Mar(d) Mr Thomas Carter of Barford in ye County of Lancas(ter) in Virg(a) & Katharine 
Dale ye eldest Daugh(r)of M(r) Edw: Dale ye same County."  

            Capt. Thomas and Katharine Dale Carter had issue ten sons and three daughters, three of whom died in infancy.

 "Edward ye eldest Sonne of Tho: & Kath(n) Carter was born on ye 9(th) Ap'll 1671 of a Sunday at 8 aClock in ye Morn^ and was bap* on Sunday the 30th Mr John Carter, Mr 
Edw° Conaway & Mr Edw : Dale Gdfath* & Mrs Diana Dale & Mrs Lettys Corbyn G’dMoth** 

 "Thomas Carter son of Thomas was Born on the 4th day of June 1672 betw'n 3 & 4 aclock in ye ^Morn^ and was Baptz* att ye new Church Aug' 5th. Captn John Lee, Mr Th: 
Hayne, ye Lady Ann Skipworth & Elizh Dale godparts" 

 "John 3d Son was bornd ye 8th May 1674 and bapd  Sunday ye 24th and had for God parents Coll. Jno : Carter, Mr Jno Stretchley and Mrs Ball." 

 "Henry Skipwith, 4th sonn Tho. & Kath. Carter bornd of a Wednsdy the 7th June & was baptzd att Home by Rev Mr Dogette on Sunday after  Service ye i8th Capn Wm Ball, Capn 
David Fox and Mrs Sarah Fleete standing. 

 "Diana ye Eldest Daughr Th : & Kathn Carter was born on the last Day of Apll 1678 near 5 in the Aftrnoone and Christnd on Sunday 12 of May by Mr Doggett when was 
Entertaind a large Company. Mrs Diana Dale, Mrs Mary Willys & Capn Ball God parents. She Departd this Life of a Putrid Soar Throate at ye age of 2 yeares and 3 days." 

 Wm & Nich° twinn sonnes of Tho: Carter born 2nd Novr 1679 and dyed on the 11th & 12th July 1680 of a Cholrey. 

 "Elizabeth 2nd Dauter was Bornd 4th day of Feb 1680 about Sunrise & weighd 11 lbs. Baptzd at St Marys Sunday 15 May Mrs Margaret Ball. Mrs Elizabeth Rogers & Captain 
Ball standing for her. 

 "Daniel son of Thomas & Katharin Carter born 22nd Oct'br 1682 and died on the 30th of a Fit." 

 "James 8th sonn was Borne on Christmas Day 1684 it being Thursday at 2 in the morng & was Chrisnd at Home on Sundy. Mr Jno Edwards, Mr Tho. Wilkes & Mr Edwards 
standing as Godpar(en)ts.”

 "Katharine 3rd Dau. was born at 6 aclock Easter Morning 4th Apl 1686 Bapd on Whit-Sundy Mr David Fox Mrs Hannah Fox & Mrs Sarah Perrotte Gdpts" 

 "Peter 9th Son was Born near Midnight 23rd May 1688 & Baptzd on 3rd June Mr Edwin Conaway, Mr Tho. Dudly & Mrs Ann Chowning standing." 

 "Joseph Youngest son born Friday 28 Novr 1690 & Christnd at home on l0th Decr Mr Robt Carter & W Joseph Ball Godfathrs & Mrs Judith Carter Godmother." 

Capt. Thomas Carter, Sr. died Oct. 22, 1700 "aged about 70 years."  Mrs. Catharine Dale Carter died May 10, 1703 in the 51st year of her life. 

 Capt. Carter's will, dated Aug. 16, 1700 was probated Nov. 14. 1700 by his second son Thomas Carter, Jr. He divided his estate as follows : Wife Catharine to have the home 
plantation for the rest of her life, a negro man named Dick, the great table, and one-third of the remainder of his personal property. Sons Edward, Thomas, Henry (then in England) 
and John to each have a hundred acres of land ; son James to have the land devised to Henry if the latter did not return from England. 

Daughters Elizabeth and Katharine, and sons Peter and Joseph had been provided for by their grandfather Dale. Son-in-law William George to account for 1,560 pounds of 
tobacco that he had advanced him on the Dale estate due to his wife from her grandfather. Son Thomas to have the home plantation after the death of his mother. The rest of his 
real and personal estates to be divided equally between all children. 

Capt. Carter sealed his will with a seal showing the crest of his father-in-law, Edward Dale, which doubtless was more convenient at the time of signing the paper than his own 
seal. The original papers in Virginia show numerous examples of men using some other family seal than their own, though they are known to have possessed one with their own 
crest on it. 

The personal estate amounted to £236. and included a "parcel of old Bookes", a silver drinking pot, tankard, and twelve 'silver spoons, beside the usual household and plantation 
furnishings of a man of his class. 

I obtained from a Mr. Dorit, a Lancaster photographer, a photograph and description of a dilapidated old frame house standing not far from Corotoman River, and said to have 
been the old Carter home. It is a long wooden building, a story and a half high, and dormer windows front and back. There are four rooms and a small hall on each floor. A small 
chimney in the center and a great inside chimney at each end with enormous fireplaces upstairs and down. On either side of these end chimneys were large alcoves or closets 
with windows in them. The main rooms were about sixteen by twenty four feet. 

Imagination easily pictures Thomas Carter with his family and neighbors in the long winter evenings gathered about the huge log fires piled high in these wide throated chimneys 
at “Barford.” And while the boys and girls played the old-time English games, roasting chestnuts, telling apple seeds, or dancing the old English dances, their elders around a great
bowl of steaming punch (as was the custom), sang the old songs and told tales of the old days -at home"— their hearts and minds filled with happy recollections, as they watched 
the tree in its last glorious hour giving back its memories in amethyst' and sapphire haze, and gold and crimson flame. Memories, like those of the men and women about it. of blue 
skies and lost rainbows of Junes far past; of threatening clouds and scurrying snowflakes of gray days untinged with gold. The sweet perfume of flowers, soft, clear call of birds, and 
drifting mounds of fallen leaves — friendly ghosts of days long gone conjured back in swift changing.

Reference:
"The Descendants of Capt. Thomas Carter Of 'Barford' Lancaster County, Virginia"   Joseph Lyon Miller M. D., Published 1912