John B. Carter Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1065-1066 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside
	a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at

	http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm


				JOHN B. CARTER. 

	The men who braved the hardships and privations of pioneer life 
and thus laid the foundation for the present prosperity and progress of 
South Dakota certainly deserve mention in her history. Among this 
number was John B. Carter, who was long identified with the Chicago & 
Northwestern Railroad in this state. He was born in Dresden, Ohio, in 
1831, a son of Ezekiel Carter, a representative of the prominent old 
Virginian family of Carters. Ezekiel Carter wedded Rebecca Bryant, also 
of Virginian ancestry and nativity. 

	John B. Carter spent the first seventeen years of his life in his 
native state and then went to Columbus, Indiana, where he was living at 
the time that President Lincoln issued his first call for volunteers. 
Mr. Carter had watched with interest the progress of events in the 
south preceding the Civil war and had resolved that if a blow was 
struck to overthrow the Union he would stand loyally in its defense. 
Accordingly he went to the front, becoming a member of the Thirteenth 
Indiana Regiment under General McClellan. Afterward he reenlisted, 
serving for another year as quartermaster sergeant and then received an 
honorable discharge on account of ill health. 

	In 1858 Mr. Carter had married Miss Margaret J. Wemyss, who 
belonged to the Wemyss family of Scotland. The marriage was celebrated 
in Louisville, Kentucky, and they became the parents of two daughters, 
one of whom died in infancy. The surviving daughter is Mrs. Charles E. 
Barrows, of Huron, whose husband came to South Dakota in 1883 and has 
since been traveling in connection with the shoe trade. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Barrows were born two sons and a daughter, of whom Wells W. and Miriam 
J. are both deceased. George Carter was married in Minnesota to Miss 
Sadie Sampson, and they have two sons, John and Charles. Mrs. Barrows 
also took up a homestead and proved up on it, living on it for six 
months in a little "shack" which she built and of which she still has a 
picture. She is indeed well known in her section of the state. She is 
today the oldest living resident of Beadle county from the standpoint 
of the length of her connection with the county. 

	Mr. Carter came to the territory of Dakota from Winona, 
Minnesota, to construct the bridge for the Chicago &; Northwestern 
Railroad over the James river in 1880. He took charge of the bridge 
building on this division and was employed by the railroad company in 
that capacity for thirty years. Long prior to his coming to this state 
he was in the employ of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, having 
gone to Winona in that connection in 1866. His industrial activity made 
him a prominent factor in the early development of the state, for 
railroad building is the forerunner of settlement and civilization. 
After retiring from the railroad service Mr. Carter took up a homestead 
three miles from Huron, located thereon and lived there for a few 
years. He then removed to the town and was appointed deputy United 
States marshal under President Cleveland. He made an excellent record 
in office, displaying the same fidelity to duty which he ever 
manifested whether in railroad employ, engaged in agricultural pursuits 
on his own account or in the public service. He led a very active and 
useful life and was greatly esteemed by all who knew him. Death called 
him on the 8th of May, 1905, while Mrs. Carter survived until 1911. 

	They were consistent and faithful members of the Presbyterian 
church and Mr. Carter belonged to the Grand Army of the Republic, thus 
maintaining pleasant relations with the boys in blue, with whom he had 
served at the front during the dark days of the Civil war. His long 
residence in the state brought him a wide acquaintance and there were 
few points of local history from the time of his arrival to the time of 
his death with which he was not familiar, his own labors contributing 
in no unsubstantial way to the material development and progress of 
county and state.