CARTER.
John Carter obtained in 1730 the grant of nine thousand,
three hundred and fifty acres, which embraced the whole of
what is still called Carter's Mountain. It seems strange he
should have taken up a rugged mountain, when the whole
country lay before him to choose from, the Biscuit Run
valley, the fair campaign between Moore's and Meadow
Creeks, the fertile lands of Ivy, the North and South Gardens,
and the Rich Cove; but perchance, having spent all
his days in the tidewater district, wearied with its flatness,
and languid from its malaria, the breezy summits of the
mountains had a peculiar charm in his eyes. He was the
eldest son of Robert (King) Carter, and was made Secretary
of the Colony in 1721; for which appointment it is said he
paid fifteen hundred pounds sterling. He also patented
ten thousand acres on Piney and Buffalo Rivers in Amherst.
He died in 1742, about two years before the formation of
Albemarle; hence the title frequently given him in the early
records in connection with places associated with his name,
the late Secretary's Ford, Road, Mill, &c. He never lived
in the county, but had in it two establishments, both furnished
with a large number of servants, the Mill improvement
on the west side of the mountain, on the north fork of
Hardware, and the other on the east side called Clear Mount,
perhaps the same with Redlands, or Blenheim. His eldest
son Charles succeeded to his patrimonial estate in Lancaster,
but his lands in Albemarle were given to his son Edward.
Edward married Sarah Champe, and in his early life lived
in Fredericksburg, but in his latter years spent much of his
time at Blenheim. He represented the county in the House
of Burgesses with Dr. Thomas Walker from 1767 to 1769,
and in the House of Delegates with George Nicholas in 1788.
He died in 1792. His children were John, Charles, Edward,
William Champe, Hill, George, Whitaker, Robert, Elizabeth,
the wife of William Stanard, uncle of Judge Robert
Stanard, Sarah, the wife of her cousin George Carter, Jane,
the wife of Major Verminet, Mary, the wife of Francis T.
Brooke, Judge of the Court of Appeals, and Ann W. Troup.
Charles married Elizabeth, daughter of Fielding Lewis,
and among his children was Maria, the wife of Professor
George Tucker, of the University, and mother of Eliza, wife
of Professor Gessner Harrison, and Maria, second wife of
George Rives.
Edward married Mary R., daughter of Colonel Charles
Lewis, of North Garden, and had among other children by
this marriage Dr. Charles Carter. His second wife was
Lucy, daughter of Valentine Wood and Lucy Henry, sister
of the famous orator. He sold his possessions in Albemarle,
and removed to Amherst.
William Champe married Maria Farley, lived at one time
at Viewmont, which he purchased from Governor Edmund
Randolph, and subsequently removed to Culpeper. His
daughter Elizabeth became the wife of Samuel Sterrow, of
that county. Hill lived in Amherst, and married there it, is
said, a Miss Rose.
George became insane, and was no doubt suffering from
mental derangement, when in 1800 he was bound over for
challenging James Lewis, and a few days after killed Samuel
Burch. Mr. Jefferson in a letter to his daughter dated July
fourth refers to this event: "A murder in our neighborhood
is the theme of present conversation. George Carter shot
Burch of Charlottesville in his own door, and on very slight
provocation. He died in a few minutes. The examining
Court meets to morrow." As the result of the trial, he was
sent to the Asylum, where he continued until his death in
1816.
Whitaker never married, and squandered his property by
dissipation. He died in Charlottesville in 1821. A year or
two before his death he conveyed to his sister-in-law, Mrs.
Mary Eliza Carter, one-seventh and one-twelfth of a parcel
of land in Fluvanna, about twenty-five acres near Scott's
Ferry, devised by Edward Carter to his seven youngest sons;
in the consideration for this fag-end of a handsome estate,
"for kindness, pecuniary and other favors," there was something
sadly pathetic.
Robert married Mary Eliza, daughter of John Coles. He
lived at Redlands, just east of Carter's Bridge, where he died
comparatively young in 1810. His children were John Coles,
who married Ellen Monroe Bankhead, was a magistrate, was
once the owner of Farmington, and moved to Missouri. Robert
H., who succeeded his father at Redlands, was admitted
to the bar, was appointed a magistrate, and married Margaret
Smith, a granddaughter of Gov. W. C. Nicholas, Mary,
the first wife of George Rives, and Sarah, the wife of Dr.
Benjamin F. Randolph.
