Wood Sisters

John Carter

Male 1602 - 1692  (90 years)


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  • Name John Carter 
    Born 1602  Devonshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Died 14 Sep 1692  Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I2665  My Genealogy
    Last Modified 9 Feb 2014 

    Father Thomas Carter,   b. 08 May 1566, , , , England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 25 Jun 1652, Charlestown, Middlesex, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 86 years) 
    Relationship Natural 
    Mother Mary (Parkhurst) Dalton,   b. Abt 1582, Ipswich, Suffolk, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 06 Mar 1665, Charlestown, Middlesex, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 83 years) 
    Relationship Natural 
    Family ID F1067  Group Sheet

    Family Elizabeth Kendall,   b. 1613,   d. 06 May 1691, Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 78 years) 
    Married Abt 1642  Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F1093  Group Sheet

  • Notes 
    • John Carter became a freeman on 29 May 1644 and on this date his brother-in-law William Greene, also took the freeman's oath.
      He spent from about 1636-1640 at Charlestown, probably in his father's home, but when in 1640 land was granted across the Mystic River to the north to form "charlestown Village" he was one of thirty-two Charlestown men who became proprietors and settlers there. On 18 December 1640, they met and signed a series of "Town Orders" which were the basis of the laws of the new town.
      John Carter with his friend Capt. Edward Johnson, became involved about 1658 in a controversy with Thomas Dutton, about a land boundary and Thomas Dutton became very abusive toward John and finally the three of them petitioned the General Court for a ruling in the case. On 19 October 1657 a committee of three was appointed to go to Woburn, hear the evidence, swear in witnesses< " & determine and setle the bounds of the lands in controursy..." At the next nterm of court the committee reported, and were further authorized to render a specific judgment. On 12 November 1659, their decision was approved by the court and it required that Dutton should pay Ens. Carter the charges of £3. 2s. 4d. resulting from a previous trial in their local court, that the three men should share the charges for the committee's hearings and finally that Thomas Dutton pay Carter "tenn pounds starling..." for defaming Carter.
      On 10 December 1658 Carter was sued in court by his friend Johnson for "slanderous speeches against him." Both sides brought in witnesses total seventeen, one of which was Francis Kendall. Edward Converse, friend of Johnson's, seemed to agree with John Carter as to the value and condition of the records for the lease between Edward Johnson and Thomas Dutton. The jury found Carter guilty and ruled that he, lieutenant of the military company under Johnson as captain, should "both publicly and
      solemnly in front of the military company " make a public statement of having wronged Johnson.
      In later years he was on a committee with Johnson to make a division of timber and wood lands among the proprietors and also worked on a boundary dispute between Woburn and Billerica in 1669. On 22 February 1669 he served on a coroner's jury which considered the accidental death of Samuel Converse (Edward) who was caught in the water wheel of the corn mill which he and his brothers had inherited from their father.
      John along with his brothers Thomas, Samuel and Joseph had trusteeship over this brother-in-law William Greene's children. In fact the children might have lived with John Carter. Later his nephew John Green acknowledged receipt from "his much respected uncle, John Carter, Senior, of Woburn" of all the estate willed him by William Greene, his father.
      In 1671 John was chairman of a committee to build a new meetinghouse. In 1673 the General Court promoted John Carter to Captain over the Woburn Military Company. John served as selectman during several years, was a commissioner to "end small causes" and was also a tax collector.
      In December 1675 he took part in the battle at Swamp Fort being one of the officers of the company.
      His will was signed 15 June 1691, five weeks after his first wife Elizabeth died. It made his son John the executor and his two sons-in-law the overseers. It made bequests to the children of his three daughters; divided a five hundred acre tract in Quinebaug into five equal parts of which one each went to John and to the two sons-in-law, a fourth part to his widowed daughter Abigail and the fifth part to whichever son took on the expense of survey and division. The residue of his estate which inventoried over £1.020 was to be divided into five shares of which John was to have two while the others went to sons-in-law Peter Fowle and James Converse and to daughter Abigail. He added an undated codicil to the effect that as he had married since writing the will he left his now wife Elizabeth £5 per year while she remained his wodow or £50 in one sum if she preferred it. As an after thought he added that if he should die within a year and a half she should receive £4 per annum or £40 in one sum.
      [Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines compiled by Mary Walton Ferris]

      Some give his birth as: John, b. Hereford, Eng. 1618; d. 14 Sept 1692; m. Elizabeth Kendall