Re: Two Thomas Carters of Colonial Goochland
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In reply to:
Re: Two Thomas Carters of Colonial Goochland
Richard Zieman 12/28/05
I thought it would be appropriate to move this discussion toa more descriptive thread rather than leave it tied to "ANOTHER LEWIS CONNECTION? Cartersville?".
The Thomas Carter who deeded land to John McGuire and his wife Rebecca Carter on27 Jun 1757 [Cumberland DB2/414] was the Thomas Carter who first appeared in Goochland Co., Va. on 28 Sep 1730 when as Thomas Carter, Junior he received a patent for 200 acres in the Rock Castle area of Goochland Co. on Fleming Park Creek [VPB 14/144]. As evidenced by this transaction he would have been born prior to 1710. He received another patent on 8 Sep 1736 for 400 acres in Goochland Co., south of the river on both sides of Turkey Cock Creek [VPB 17/165].It was from this later patent,which became situated in Cumberland County when it was formed in 1749, that 100 acres was deeded to McGuire.
The use of "Junior" must have beenin deference to Thomas Carter who first appeared in Henrico Co., Va. in 1720 when he purchased a 100 acre parcel of land from John Woodson that was part of Woodson's Licking Hole Survey but was actually on Beaverdam Creek. This area became part of Goochland County when it was formed in 1728. I know of no definitive proof that this Thomas Carter was the father of Thomas Carter, Junior but in light of timing and proximity it seems most likely to be the case. We are thus left to ponder the ancestry of this Thomas Carter.
Before we do let'saddress the "who founded Catrersville question". As I reported in another recent post the 327 acres of land on which Carter's Ferry and later Cartersville was establishedwas patented in 1725 [VPB 12/301] to Robert Carter of Henrico County and remained in Carter possession until after Robert Carter's death in 1759 when it was sold by his heirs to John Woodson. In Hening's Statutes at Large [5/249]CHAP. XVIII LAWS OF VIRGINIA, SEPTEMBER 1744-18th GEORGE IIwe find:"BE it enacted, by the Lieutenant Governor, Council, and Burgesses, of this present General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That public ferries be constantly kept, at the places herein after named: and that the rates for passing the said ferries, be as follows, to wit, . . .From the land of Ashford Hughes, on the north side of James river, near the mouth of Willis's creek, in the said county, across the said river, to the land of Robert Carter; and from the said Robert Carter's, to the said Ashford Hughes's, the price for a man, three pence, and for a horse, three pence. . ."We can thus be fairly certain that Carter's Ferry was in fact so named because of this Robert Carter and not the " King".I may have discovered the origin of the Cartersville "King" myth in a footnote added on page 162 of "The Diaries of George Washington. Vol. VI. January 1790-December 1799" by Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1979. It reads -Carter's ferry became the site of Cartersville in Oct. 1790, when the Virginia General Assembly authorized trustees to lay out the town on 27 acres of land that John Woodson (d. 1793) owned at the south landing. Established in 1744, the ferry was originally designated to run between "the land of Ashford Hughes, on the north side of James river," and "the land of Robert Carter" (apparently the deceased Robert "King" Carter) on the opposite shore, but by 1763 the land on both banks, including the ferry, belonged to the Hughes family, the family into which John Woodson married (HENING, 5:250, 6:16, 13:155, 171; WMQ, 1st ser., 11 [1902--3], 52--53).
At the time Thomas Carter purchased the 100 acre parcel from John Woodsonanother200 acre parcelwas purchased jointly byRobert Carter , Charles Huddlesey and John Webb from the same survey.These transactions are recorded in Henrico County COB 1719-1724 by the Feb Court of 1722 and provide evidence that both Thomas and Robert Carter were born prior to 1700. As in the case of Thomas Carter, Junior there is no definitive proof that this Robert Carter isa son of Thomas Carter but there is considerable evidence to that effect.The LWT of Thomas Carter dated 2 Nov 1726 does name a Robert Carter as his eldest son and a Thomas Carter as his second son. If Thomas and Robert are father and son that would put the likely date of birth of Thomas before 1680. In any case the birth date of this Robert Carter is, as you say, at least a generation earlier that the birth date of Robert of Thomas of Giles Carter who wasborn around 1727 and it thus appears he is NOT from the Giles Carter line unless Thomas is a completely missed son of Giles and Hanna.
Now back to Thomas. This Thomas may have been the Thos. Carter claimedas a head right in the patent to Abraham Michaux for 850 acres in Henrico Co. on the south side of James River adjacent to Charles Fleming on 27 Jan 1713 [VPB 10/123]. The date of the patent would have been sometime after, perhaps years after, the arrival of the head right Carter. The location and timing of the Michaux land grant does provide a plausible basis for placing this Thomas Carter in the right place at the right time to have purchased the Beaverdam Creek property. However, if he was "imported" less than3 yearsbefore 1713, how do we get him reunited with his foreign born sons Robert and Thomas?