Carter's success as a planter and entrepreneur made him one of the wealthiest men in Virginia. At the time of his death in 1806, his will enumerated more than 13,000 acres in thirteen Virginia counties and at least 710 slaves. In addition to his extensive landholdings Carter operated a large mill near Corotoman, lent substantial sums of money to other planters, and provided in his will for investing some assets in bank stocks or similar securities. He was also a sometime administrator and trustee of the complicated estate left by his brother-in-law, the councillor William Byrd (1728–1777). Although Carter's uncle, Landon Carter, characterized him as an inefficient plantation manager, the uncle's pessimistic frame of mind and negative assessments of nearly everyone suggest that the criticism was overstated.
Carter became a justice of the peace in Lancaster County on July 17, 1761, and served until he moved to Charles City County. He was a vestryman of Christ Church Parish for several years before leaving Lancaster County, and on the eve of the Revolution he was a member of the board of visitors of the College of William and Mary. Carter served in the House of Burgesses representing Lancaster County continuously from 1758 until the Revolution. He gradually emerged late in the 1760s as a reasonably responsible member who was routinely appointed to the Committees on Privileges and Elections, on Propositions and Grievances, and for Religion. Throughout the imperial crises of the 1760s and early 1770s Carter supported Virginia protests of parliamentary measures. Lancaster freeholders elected him to the county committee in February 1775 and to the Revolutionary Conventions that met in August 1774 and in March, July, and December 1775. In September 1775 he angered Landon Carter by endorsing nonimportation of British goods but opposing the termination of exportation to Great Britain and its Caribbean colonies. He argued that exports were needed to provide money for the war and to enable Virginians to pay their debts. Although Carter was not elected in April 1776 to the fifth and final Revolutionary Convention, probably because by then he had moved to Shirley, on June 29, 1776, that convention elected him to the Council of State. He declined the appointment and never took the oath of office.
Carter remained active in the affairs of the church and attended annual Episcopal Church conferences in Virginia from 1789 to 1793 as a lay delegate from Westover Parish. Carter died at Shirley on June 28, 1806. His will directed that he be buried near the bodies of his parents (probably at Shirley or in the graveyard of the Westover Parish church) "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)."
Time Line
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1732 - Charles Carter (1732–1806) is born to John Carter and Elizabeth Hill Carter, probably at Shirley plantation in Charles City County.
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Mid-1750s - Charles Carter (1732–1806) marries Mary Walker Carter, of King George County. They will have two daughters and six sons.
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1758 - Charles Carter (1732–1806) is elected to the House of Burgesses from Lancaster County. He serves continuously until the American Revolution.
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July 17, 1761 - Charles Carter (1732–1806) becomes a justice of the peace in Lancaster County.
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January 30, 1770 - Mary Walker Carter, wife of Charles Carter (1732–1806), dies.
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November 1770 - Charles Carter (1732–1806) marries Ann Butler Moore. They will have eight daughters and seven sons, of which four will die in infancy and one will be stillborn.
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1774–1775 - Charles Carter (1732–1806) is elected to the Revolutionary Conventions that meet in August 1774 and in March, July, and December 1775. He is not elected to the fifth and final Revolutionary Convention.
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1775 - Charles Carter (1732–1806) moves permanently to Shirley plantation in Charles City County.
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June 29, 1776 - The fifth Revolutionary Convention elects Charles Carter (1732–1806) to the Council of State. He declines the appointment.
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1789–1793 - Charles Carter (1732–1806) attends annual Episcopal Church conferences in Virginia as a lay delegate from Westover Parish.
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June 28, 1806 - Charles Carter (1732–1806) dies at Shirley plantation.
References
Further Reading
Cite This Entry
- APA Citation:
Tillson, A. H., Jr., & the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. Charles Carter (1732–1806). (2017, April 19). In Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved from http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org/Carter_Charles_1732-1806.
- MLA Citation:
Tillson, Albert H., Jr. and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. "Charles Carter (1732–1806)." Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, 19 Apr. 2017. Web. READ_DATE.
First published: June 17, 2013 | Last modified: April 19, 2017
Contributed by Albert H. Tillson Jr. and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. Albert H. Tillson Jr. is a professor of history at the University of Tampa.