"COUNTIES OF MORGAN, MONROE & BROWN, INDIANA. HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL."
CHARLES BLANCHARD, EDITOR. CHICAGO: F. A. BATTEY & CO. PUBLISHERS. 1884.
F. A. BATTEY. F. W. TEPPLE
BROWN TOWNSHIP AND MOORESVILLE
PAGE 219
JOHN D. CARTER was one of the pioneers of "the new purchase," a wealthy
farmer of Brown Township, a native of Ashe County, N.C., is the son of
Nathaniel and Ann (Ramsy) Carter, and was born March 1, 1811. His parents
came to Indiana in 1814, and settled in Orange County, where they lived
eight years, coming to Morgan County in 1822, when they located upon a small
tract of land entered from the Government, and at once proceeded to erect a
log cabin, ,upon the dirt floor of which they stowed away their little
family and scant supply of household goods. Their stock consisting of
horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, geese and ducks, they brought with them for
Orange County. From a journal, written by the subject of this sketch, in
which it faithfully recounted the many experiences of this family, we quote:
"We saw hard times the first winter; we had to cut down green beech and
sugar trees for our cattle to eat the buds; had to go from twenty to thirty
miles for corn to make bread; and five to six miles for help to raise the
cabin." But their experiences were but repetitions of those of hundreds of
brave pioneers whose hardships and privations are recounted upon the pages
of the early history of our country. November 26, 1834, Mr. Carter was
married to Ruth Pickett, in the manner and form peculiar to the Friends'
Society, of which they were both birthright members. This union has been
blessed with ten children--George, Amos (deceased), Vincent, Sarah Ann
(deceased), Mary, Ella (deceased), William P., Nathaniel, Benjamin, Harriet
B. and Emma. Three of his sons, George, Vincent and Nathaniel, are
prominent attorneys at law in the city of Indianapolis, and his son William
lives in San Antonio, Tex. Mr. Carter has been one of the hardest working
men of the county. His children have all been thoroughly educated, and as
they have arrived at the estate of men and women, have received bountifully
of the world's goods from the munificent hand of an ever generous parent.
The declining years of his life are being happily spent upon his magnificent
farm of about 350 acres, one and a half miles southeast of Mooresville,
where at least once a year he assembles around his hearthstone and at his
sumptuous table his children and grandchildren, and where the merry romp and
laughter of the little folks are subdued to breathless silence, as they
listen to the tales of pioneer life, as they come from the lips of one who
has been an actor in scenes that seem to their young ears fraught with
wondrous impossibilities. In politics, Mr. Carter has always been a
Republican of the most pronounced type. He is a consistent Christian
gentleman, and lives supremely happy in the glorious anticipation of eternal
life in Heaven.
Data Entry Volunteer: Diana Flynn "ivie@tima.com"
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