Henry D. Carter

Henry D. Carter and Wife

    Eighty-five years ago the first of the Carter Family to become identified with what has in more recent years been known as Grant county, made his way from North Carolina into this section of the country, and from then to now men of the name have been worthily connected with the enterprise that have made of Grant County the progressive and prosperous district that it is.

    Henry D. Carter, now deceased, represented the third generation of the name in Grant County. He was a son of George Carter and a grandson of Solomon Carter, the one who first settled here, and concerning those worthy pioneers it is proper that some mention be made at this point.

    Solomon Carter came of an old North Carolina family whose habitat there had long been Randolph County, which has in the past century contributed much new blood to the growth and upbuilding of this county. He was born there in the latter part of the eighteenth century, and there was reared. In young manhood he was married. His wife's surname was Jane, and with their family the migrated to Grant County, Indiana, about 1827. It is not to be thought that they found conditions other than most primitive in those early days. The state was young, having been admitted to the Union but a few years previous, and Grant County was in a particularly undeveloped and uninviting state. Mr. Carter had come to make a new home in a new land, however, and he did no permit the conditions that confronted him to daunt him in any manner. The result was that he settled down in what is now Center Township, Grant County, his place being located on the turn of the Mississinewa River, a spot of singular beauty even in those wilderness days.

    Here Solomon Carter and his wife passed the closing years of their busy and fruitful lives, death claiming them there not many years after they had settled, when they were somewhere between the ages of sixty and seventy years. They reared a fine family of seven sons and two or three daughters, none of which are living today. All of them married with the exception of Solomon Jr., who was a veteran of the Civil war and died in the Soldiers' Home in Illinois when he was quite an old man, and Jane, a daughter, who died aged sixteen years.

    Of these children, George Carter, who became the father of Henry D., of this review, was a good sized boy when his parents came north. He saw much of pioneering in the days of his residence on the home farm in Center Township, and when he reached his majority began to look about for himself, he felt that he could do no better than to take some Indiana land on his own account. He accordingly entered 120 acres in Section 9, Mill township, and when he married a little later, he located on this new and uncultivated spot of land. There he built a log house, small but comfortable, and until 1850 he lived the life of a pioneer farmer. In that year they built a fine frame house, in which they passed their remaining years. He died on April 3, 1889, and his wife passed away on April 10, 1903. Both had reached a fine old age, and were ready to go when their summons to another life came to the. They were reckoned among the finest citizenship of their time, and as successful farming people of a splendid type, they had a secure place in the esteem of their fellows. Mrs. Carter particularly was known to be one of the most excellent managers of her day, and proved herself possessor of qualities and powers in matters of finance that undeniably had much to do with the prosperity they enjoyed. She retained her splendid mental vigor and much of her physical strength until the closing hours of her life. They were long active members of the United Brethren Church and were among its early organizers in their community. Mr. Carter was a prominent man in the community as an office holder, and his interest in the affairs of the church was such that he was usually to be found holding some important office in the administration of its activities. Their home was the free abiding place of all the itinerant preachers of the day, that being the period characterized by the circuit riders of the church, and all knew that the Carter latch string always hung out with a hearty welcome forthcoming to those who would avail themselves of it. Twelve children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Carter. The names of the twelve in the order of their birth are here given as follows:

1. Eliza J., born in 1838, and died in 1848.

2. Mary Ann, born in 1840, and now Mrs. Bond. She is without issue and has her residence at the Old Ladies Home of Marion.

3. John was born in 1842 and died in the same year.

4. Susanna was born in 1843 and died in 1849.

5. Elizabeth, born in 1845 and died 1846.

6. Lydia, born in 1846, died in 1871. She married Thomas Knight and had one son.

7. William Carter was born in 1850 and died in February, 1912, on his fine farm home in Mill Township. He married Elizabeth Knight, now living in Marion, Indiana, and they have one son.

8. Martha was born in 1851 and she died in 1875, two years after her marriage to Jesse Bogue, without issue.

9. Solomon Jr. was born in 1854 and now is a resident of Marion. He married Lydia Linder and is the father of three children.

10. Lucy R. was born in 1856 and married Daniel Gibson. She died in 1898, leaving a son and daughter.

11. Rachel J. was born in 1860 and died in 1862.

12. Henry D.

    Henry D. Carter grew up on his father's farm and early in his boyhood he gave evidence of those qualities that make for unqualified success in the farming enterprise. After he married he located on a farm of seventy acres in Section 31, Mill township, and there he spent the remainder of his life. He improved the place until it reached a high plane of modern completeness, and his barns and  other similar buildings were built and equipped in a manner that left nothing to be desired. They were among the fines in the State and were built along scientific lines, in a manner most approved by experts in the line. His poultry house was a model of completeness with cement floors and every possible arrangement conductive to the comfort and general productiveness of the poultry.

    In addition to his own place Mr. Carter came into ownership of the old homestead farm of 120 acres, which is another of the tine places of the county. His widow now owns and operates these places, with a success that is praiseworthy and that reflects great credit upon her as a manager.

    Mr. Carter was a man of splendid native ability and of wonderfully fine character. In addition to the care and conduct of his two farms he has largely engaged in the contracting business, road and street building being his line. Two years before he died he suffered a stroke of paralysis, and though he did not enjoy the best of health thereafter, he was able to attend to his duties in his former manner. He was a Republican and died a member of the Christian Church.

    On March 27, 1880, Mr. Carter was married in Fairmount Township to Miss Sarah C. Lamm, born in Jackson Township, Miami County, Indiana, on January 18, 1857. Her mother, Johanna (Elliott) Lamm, died when Mrs. Carter was six weeks old, and she was reared by her grandparents, Isaac and Rachel (Overman) Elliott in Center Township, Grant County, Indiana. The home of the Elliotts in those days was on the spot now occupied by the National Soldiers' Home. The Elliotts in the earlier days entered the land from the government, and there they lived and finally died, after which the land was sold back to the government by their son, Isaac, Jr., as a site for the proposed National Soldiers' Home. The Elliotts were of an old Quaker Family, and people of many excellent qualities of heart and mind. The father of Mrs. Carter was Edmond Lamm, a native of Randolph County, North Carolina, who came to Miami County, Indiana, as a young man, in company with his parents, Caleb and Sarah Lamm, who passed the closing years of their lives in that county. They, too, were Quakers. Edmond Lamm was reared to the farm life and he entered land in Jackson Township, in Miami County, there passing his life, which, though busy, was uneventful. He was sixty-two years of age when he died and he had been three times married. The children of his first marriage were three in number, and besides Mrs. Carter there were Mrs. Margaret J. Bundy, now living at Converse, in Miami County, and Rachel, who died at the age of eighteen years. By his last marriage Mr. Lamm had one daughter who died in infancy.

    Mrs. Carter was educated in the public and normal schools and was for five years prior to her marriage engaged in teaching. She is the mother of Prof. George E. Carter, of Port Arthur, Texas, and an instructor in manual training at that place. Professor Carter married Esther Shafer of Jonesboro, Indiana, and has one daughter, Margaret Catherine. Frank another son of Mrs. Carter is now in the branch house of a Cincinnati, Ohio, roofing concern, with headquarters in Chicago much of the time. He is not married.

    Hazel Carter, a daughter, has been given an excellent education in the public schools and the Terre Haute (IN) Normal School and in Bradley Institute, having specialized in Domestic Science and Economy. She is now a successful instructor in that important branch in the Marion Normal.

    Mary, the youngest daughter, is a graduate of the Marion Normal, and is engaged in kindergarten teaching.

    Dwight is a graduate of the Marion Normal Institute in 1913, and he is busy at home, helping his mother to manage the farm, which is known as Oak Grove Terrace, and their combine skill and energy has been resultant in the most thriving and prosperous conditions about the place.

    Mrs. Carter is a member of the Friends Church, and is one of the most highly esteemed and popular women of the community.

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