I have already written a bit about my immigrant Carter ancestor,
Rev. Thomas Carter of Woburn. He was the first minister of Woburn. Under his ministry the church grew and flourished. In Johnson's
"Wonder-working Providence" (published in 1654), he is described as a "reverend godly man, apt to teach the sound and wholesome truths of Christ" and "much encreased with the encreasings of Christ Jesus, of whose labours in the Lord as followeth."
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| The Ordination of Rev. Thomas Carter |
Carter, Christ hath his wayes thee taught, an them [thou]
Hast not with-held his Word, but unto all
With's word of power dost cause stout souls to bow,
And meek as Lambs before thy Christ to fall:
The antient truths, plain paths, they fit thee best,
The lowly heart, Christ learns his lovely hest,
Thy meekness shews thy Christ to thee is nigh;
Yet must thou shew Christ makes his bold to be
As Lions, that none may his truths tread down,
Pastoral power he hath invested thee
With, it maintain, least he on thee do frown:
Thy youth thou hast in this New-England spent,
Full sixteen years to water, plant, and prune
Trees taken up, and for that end here sent;
Thy end's with Christ, with Saints his praises tune.
When he died, the town paid for his funeral expenses. Among the charges is one for fourteen gallons of wine. According to
The History of Woburn, the custom of the day was to bury their paupers with rum and their wealthy men and ministers with wine.
Rev. Thomas Carter and his wife, Mary Parkhurst had eight children.
1. Samuel was born August 8, 1640 and graduated from Harvard College in 1660. He held a number of town offices and married Eunice Brooks. They had eight children.
2. Judith married first Dea. Edward Converse and second Giles Fifield.
3. Mary was born July 24, 1648 and married John Wyman, Jr. He was killed by the Indians at the Swamp Fight, December 19, 1675. She married as her second husband, Nathaniel Bachiler (Batchelder) of Hampton, N.H. She had eight children with her second husband.
Mary & Nathaniel are the 7th great-grandparents of Clayton Blake who married Linona Yates, my mother's mother.
4. Abigail was born January 10, 1649/50 and married John Smith.
5. Timothy was born June 12, 1653 and married Anna Fiske, daughter of David Fiske of Cambridge (Lexington) on May 3, 1680. They had thirteen children, three of whom died before their parents. Timothy and his brother, Thomas, were husbandmen and proprietors of "several considerable tracts of land."
6. Thomas was born June 8, 1655 and married Margery Whitmore (Whittemore).
Timothy, son of Rev. Thomas and Mary (Parkhurst) Carter and wife Anna had:
1. David born October 17, 1681 and died May 22, 1736.
2. Timothy born July 12, 1683 and died the same year.
3. Anna born July 17, 1684.
4. Timothy born October 17, 1686.
5. Theophilus born October 20, 1688.
6. Thomas born August 14, 1690.
7. Abigail born March 18, 1692.
8. Sarah born November 24, 1694.
9. Elizabeth born August 27, 1696 and died June 26, 1709.
10. Benjamin born March 22, 1699 and died soon after.
11. Mary born June 23, 1700.
12. Martha born July 22, 1702.
13. Benjamin born November 8, 1704. Benjamin married Sarah Stone.
Timothy, son of Benjamin & Sarah (Stone) Carter, married Sarah Walker. Their son, Dr. Timothy Carter married Frances Freeland and moved to Bethel, Maine. Elias Mellen Carter, son of Dr. Timothy & Frances (Freeland) Carter married Irish immigrant, Rebecca Williamson and their son, Augustus Mellen Carter fought in the Civil War. Augustus married Mary Frances Stanley and had Edward Mellen Carter. Edward Mellen Carter married Fannie May Capen and they are the parents of my grandfather, Thomas Richard Carter.
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| Thomas Richard Carter - my grandfather |
The History of Woburn, Middlesex County, Mass., from the grant of its territory to Charlestown, in 1640, to the year 1680. by Rev. Charles C. Sewall.
Johnson's Wonder-Working Providence, 1628-1651 ed. by J. Franklin Jameson
