John Carter Sr.

John Carter (1613–January 10, 1670) was an English merchant who emigrated to the Virginia colony, where he speculated in land, established plantations using indentured and enslaved labor, and served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly. He founded the more famous branch of the Carter family of Virginia. The immigrant ancestor of the other branch, Thomas Carter of Barford plantation (d. 1700) may have been related since both came from the same English village, and while Thomas Carter initially settled in Northumberland County, both men eventually settled in Lancaster County.

Early life and emigration

Born probably in 1613 to Bridget Benion Carter, the second wife of the London merchant and vintner John Carter, he was christened on December 18, 1614 at Christ Church Parish of Newgate Street in London, near St. Paul's cathedral. He (and his 2-year-older brother, Thomas, and other brother, William), had kinship ties to members of the Virginia Company of London, which financed the first expeditions to Virginia, but whose charter was revoked in 1624. Although some histories portray Carter as an unhappy supporter of King Charles I who fled England after that royal execution, one biographer speculates Carter may have been learning the tobacco trade, and may have been a relation of Edward Carter (d. 1682) who served with him in the House of Burgesses as well as the Virginia Governor's Council.

Career

John Carter, age 22, sailed to the Virginia Colony from England in 1635 aboard the ship Safety with his elder brother Thomas, but returned to England the same year to court Jane Glyn (whose father owned land in Middlesex, England and Llanidloes and Montgomeryshire in Wales), and also made a business arrangement with his maternal uncle Gabriel Benion (whose son Daniel was in the Virginia colony) and his partner Richard Glover.