Hon. Charles Congreve Carter; Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana Submitted to the USGenWeb Archives by Mike Miller, Aug. 2001 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ Hon. Charles Congreve Carter. When the chief executive officer of any community is retained in office for more than twelve consecutive years it is a foregone conclusion that such an official must possess qualities eminently fitting him for his possession and also that he has exercised these abilities in a way that has gained the confidence and respect of his fellow-citizens. In the case of Hon. Charles Congreve Carter the evidence is direct, for since he was first elected mayor of Hammond, in 1912, this community has developed into one of the best governed municipalities in the state. Mayor Carter was born at Amite, the county seat of Tangipahoa Parish, June 4, 1884, and is a son of Thomas Lane and Anna Hennen (Jennings) Carter. His father was born in 1819, at Charlestown, West Virginia, was reared in his home community, and enjoyed excellent educational advantages, being eventually graduated from the University of Virginia. After his graduation he moved to New York City, where he was interested in the then new Morse telegraph instrument, from that city going to New Rochelle, New York, where he was married. After his marriage he spent several years in traveling in Europe, then returned to New York City, where he operated as a capitalist in financing various enterprises, and in 1879 came to New Orleans, Louisiana, and became assistant cashier of the Illinois Central Railroad Company. Three years later Mr. Carter moved to Amite, where he held a like position, and in 1890 to Sheffield, Alabama, as cashier of the Northern Alabama Railroad Company, a position which he retained eight years. In 1898, while on a visit to his birthplace of Charlestown, West Virginia, he was suddenly called in death. He was a democrat and a Mason, and a strong supporter of the Presbyterian Church. During the Civil war he fought throughout the struggle under the colors of the Confederacy. Mr. Carter married Anna Hennen Jennings, who was born on the old Hennen plantation, fifteen miles cast of Hammond, and survives her husband and lives in ripe old age at Camden, Maine. They became the parents of the following children: Needler, who died at Chicago, aged twenty-one years; Alice Marguerite, who is unmarried and makes her home at London, England; Benjamin Palmer, former manager of the Crown Deep gold mine, who died at Johannesburg, South Africa, aged forty-four years; Lady Lillian, the wife of Sir Otto Beit, a capitalist of London, England; Cora, who married the late W. E. Hall, a farmer, and after his death married Ernest Robbins, a newspaper publisher of Camden, Maine; Thomas Lane, Jr., a mining engineer, who died in Montana, aged thirty-nine years; William H., who is engaged in farming near Hammond; Hon. Charles Congreve; Ellen, the wife of Elmore Rundle, who is engaged in the export log business at New Orleans; and two children who died in infancy. Charles Congreve Carter attended the private an public schools of Tangipahoa Parish and the high school at New Orleans, and after graduating from the latter attended the academic department of Tulane University, New Orleans, for two years. He completed his educational training by two years at the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College, Starkville, Mississippi, which he left in 1904 to take care of the farm of his late brother-in-law, W. E. Hall. He gave this up in 1906 and engaged in the drug business at Hammond until 1912, when he disposed of his interests. In that year, as a democrat, he was elected mayor of Hammond, a position which he has since retained through re-election every four years. His offices are in the City Hall. As has been intimated, Mayor Carter has established a splendid record. Under his administrations Hammond has paved its main streets and graveled all the others; and in 1923 completed the new brick City Hail, situated on Thomas Street. The city boasts of as fine a fire department and water works as any city of its size in Louisiana, and this happy result has been brought about mainly through Mayor Carter's efforts. His Honor belongs to the First Presbyterian church, is fraternally affiliated with Hammond Camp No. 5, Woodmen of the World, and belongs to the Chamber of Commerce. With his family he occupies a pleasant home situated at the corner of Charles and Pine streets. On June 6, 1906, Mayor Carter married at New Orleans Miss Helen Gurley, daughter of the late J. Ward Gurley, who, as city attorney of New Orleans, was assassinated in 1904. Mrs. Carter died November 24, 1919, leaving three children: Helen and Edith Congreve, who are attending the Hammond High School; and Aurora Gurley, attending public school. On November 11, 1921, Mayor Carter married Miss Ruth Corbin, a graduate of the Randolph Macon College, Lynchburg, Virginia, and a daughter of A. D. and Kate (Morrison) Corbin, the latter of whom resides at Hammond, where the father, a planter, died in 1912. A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), pp. 184-185, by Henry E. Chambers. Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.