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John Carter (1695-c1760) and Isabella Atkinson of Chester and Delaware Co., PA
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John and Isabella Carter are my 8 times Great Grandparents.
Much of what I have on this family is from the book Those Who Were and Would be Named Carter The First 300 Years in America (1682-1982), Charles Marcus Liddell, II. 1982; 2 Vols. This title is currently available from the Mars Hill University book store.
Another source, probably used by Mr. Liddell, is Memorial of Jeremiah Carter Who Came to the Province of Pennsylvania in 1682, Thomas-Maxwell Potts, 1883. Chapter 1 contains “A Short Account of Early Pennsylvania Settlers bearing the name of Carter” and includes some information on our Carters.
John Carter was born 21 Apr 1695 (source?) in Chester Co., PA (now Delaware Co., PA). He is a son of Robert Carter and Lydia Walley. He is the second son of that name, the first was born in 1691 and died in 1693.
Potts stated, “John Carter, of Aston, son of Robert and Lydia, seems to have been a blacksmith.” Potts, p. 12.
John Carter was listed on various tax lists in Chester Co., PA in Aston Township 1719/20 through 1758. Another John appeared in East Bradford in 1747/48 through 1764. Another, or perhaps ours, was in Kennett in 1756, 1758 and 1760, though if ours, there is a bit of overlap.
Source: https://www.chesco.org/1729/18th-Century-Tax-Records
In the Middletown Monthly Meeting (Bucks Co., PA), on the 5th day of the 2nd month of 1716, John Carter and Isabella Atkinson announced their intention to marry. On the 3rd day of the 3rd month, 1716, they again announced their intentions to marry. They were given permission to marry, so it presumably happened soon after this date. That would be 3 May 1716 or after.
Isabella Atkinson and her family are included in the book, Atkinson Families of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 1907 Oliver Hough, published in The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 1907, Vol 31, No 2, pp. 157-175.
Isabella was born 14 Nov 1699, and christened 19 Nov 1699, at Liverpool, Lancashire, England, a child of Christopher Atkinson and Margaret Fell.
John and Isabella went back to Chester County about a year and a half after marriage, with her being received in the Chester Monthly Meeting from Middletown 30th day of 10th month, 1717 (30 Dec 1717).
Isabella Atkinson Carter died before 19 Jun 1760 for she wasn’t named in her husband’s Will of that date.
John Carter made his Will on 19 Jun 1760 in Chester Co., PA, as John Carter, Blacksmith, of Aston. He named:
∙ my son Joseph
∙ my son Samuell (sic)
∙ my daughter Hanna
∙ my grandson Isack
∙ my son Edward
∙ my son Joseph my executor
He signed the Will. Witnesses were Hugh Linn, Jacob Richards and Elizabeth Askew. The Will was proven 1 Jul 1760 in Chester Co., PA, meaning he was dead by then.
John’s 1760 Will names four children, Joseph, Samuel, Hanna and Edward and one grandchild, Isaac. Joseph Carter made his Will on 14 May 1765 and names brother Edward Carter, brother Robert Carter, brother Samuel Carter, sister Hannah Farah and cousin Isaac Carter. That adds Robert to the family.
Potts adds John and perhaps a Margaret for seven total. I don’t know the proof for those two.
Liddell also includes a son named Isaiah and even includes him in his transcript of John’s Will. However, he misread “grandson Isack” as “son Isaiah” somehow. There is no Isaiah in this family as far as I can tell.
He also included a son Nathaniel Carter, but offered no proof for him.
1. John Carter (Jr) married Barbara Routh 1749 Chester Co., PA. Potts includes him, as does Liddell, but neither provide any proof that he is a son of John (Sr). The Will of Francis Routh 30 Sep 1767 names grandchildren Isaac Carter and Lydia Carter. If those are John’s children, then that more or less proves that John Jr is a son of John Sr.
2. Edward Carter was named in his father’s 1760 Will, and his brother Joseph’s 1765 Will.
3. Robert Carter was not named in his father’s Will of 1760, but was named in Joseph’s 1765 Will as his brother.
4. Samuel Carter (1733-1804) married Mary Barnes. He was named in his father’s 1760 Will, and his brother Joseph’s 1765 Will. These are my ancestors. They moved to North Carolina. See their own page for more information.
5. Joseph Carter died in 1765 leaving a Will. He was named in his father’s 1760 Will. It’s possible he never married for no wife or children were mentioned in his own Will, though Potts stated he was the father of Hugh and Sarah Carter.
6. Hannah Carter married Samuel Farrow (Farro) in 1756 in Chester Co., PA. She was named in her father’s 1760 Will and her brother Joseph’s 1765 Will.
For Family Group Sheet and other notes see my database pages for John Carter.
Revised: January 21, 2025
Copyright © 1996-2025 Marvin A. Grant, Jr. All Rights Reserved.
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