Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Carter, Charles E 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com November 10, 2007, 4:00 am

Author: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County

CHARLES E. CARTER. In the years that have elapsed since Mr. Carter first came 
to Joliet there has been a marked development of the city's commercial and 
manufacturing interests, and he has witnessed the growth of local enterprises 
with the keenest penetration as to future prosperity. When he arrived here, 
during the Civil war, he had himself but recently left the army and had 
endured the hardships and dangers of a soldier's life. As he was brave and 
loyal in service, so he has since been public-spirited as a citizen. In the 
various occupations he has followed it has been said of him that he invariably 
proved himself to be honest and reliable. In 1892 he started a greenhouse at 
No. 601 Collins street and afterward built two others, in order to accommodate 
his growing business in the propagation of plants and the sale of flowers. The 
Carters are an old Maine family. Charles E. was born in Hallowell, that state, 
and was the oldest of three sons, two of whom attained man-hood. His brother, 
Eugene B., enlisted in the First Maine Cavalry during the Civil war and died 
while at the front. The father, B. J., who was a carpenter and builder in 
Hallowell, married Louisa F., daughter of Timothy Stevens, who moved from New 
Hampshire to Maine and settled on a farm. She was born in Maine and died in 
Joliet in July, 1898, when eighty-four years of age. In the village where he 
was born, June 4, 1842, Charles E. Carter grew to man-hood, meantime studying 
in the public schools and an academy. When he was a small child his father 
died, and in 1853 his mother was again married, her second husband dying in 
1858. In September, 1861, Mr. Carter enlisted in Company C, First Maine 
Cavalry, which was mustered in at Augusta, Me., and wintered in that state, 
joining the army of the Potomac in March, 1862. Not long afterward he was 
taken ill and sent to the hospital, where he remained until, on account of 
physical disability, he was discharged October 20, 1862. After a short visit 
in Maine he settled in this county in March, 1863, and for a few months worked 
on a farm, after which he took a course in the Chicago Commercial College. On 
his return he became a member of the firm of Campbell & Carter, but after a 
year sold out and engaged in the hardware business. In 1866 he started across 
the plains with an ox-team from Iowa to Virginia City, Mont., following the 
Powder River route through the Big Horn country. The next year that route had 
to be abandoned on account of Indian hostilities, and at the time he crossed 
via that route the Indians stampeded stock-trains ahead and behind of him. He 
encountered many dangers in the trans-Mississippi region, but passed safely 
through them all. He remained only a short time in the west, his mother's ill-
health causing him to return to Illinois. The trip back was made from Fort 
Benton by flat-boat to Sioux City, Iowa, where he took the train for Joliet. 
During the first two years after his return to this city Mr. Carter carried on 
a roofing business. Next he engaged in farming near Mexico, Mo. Again coming 
back to Joliet, he began gardening on a small farm adjoining the city, 
remaining there for eight years. In December, 1880, he accepted a position as 
time-keeper for the Illinois Steel Company, with whom he remained, with the 
exception of one year, until January, 1898, being chief time-keeper twelve 
years, and keeping the time of more than two thousand men. He finally 
resigned, in order to devote his attention to the florist's business, which he 
had started six years before. On the Republican ticket he was elected alderman 
from the first ward, which office he filled for two years. In religion he is a 
Universalist. For two years he was secretary of the board of directors of the 
Steel Works Club, of which he was one of the first members. He is connected 
with Bartleson Post No. 6, G. A. R. While living in Missouri he married Miss 
Annette Evarts, who was born in New York. Of their children, Ada and Wilber 
died at the age of four and ten years; Alice, Mrs. Harris, resides in Joliet; 
May L. and Harry are at home, the former assisting in the greenhouse.

Additional Comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical 
Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/carter1821nbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ilfiles/

File size: 4.9 Kb