| The son of Walter
and Elizabeth (Chiles) of Spotsylvania, Virginia,
William was born in Charlottesville, Albemarle
Co., Virginia on 15 Apr 1783. The sixth child of
eleven, he arrived in St. Louis in a keel boat
from Louisville, making the passage in the
"short time of 25 days" in 1804.
Briefly after his arrival, he went to Saint
Genevieve and opened a law office. There he
married Anna Maria Elliot, the daughter of Dr.
Aaron Elliott on 17 Nov 1807, but returned to St.
Louis where he permanently made his home. The
couple had five children before her death on 11
Aug 1826, those being: William H., Anna Maria,
Charles E., Virginia E., and Cornelia. In 1826 he was appointed by
Governor John Miner as Circuit Judge of the St.
Louis Circuit, a position he held for nearly
eight years. During his appointment, he had
bitter enemies who conspired to drive him from
the bench and attempted to impeach him with
charges of favoritism, partiality, prejudice,
oppression, neglect of duty and incapacity. He
was, however, acquitted of these charges after a
tedious investigation but resigned the following
year in 1834.
He married his
second wife, Dorcas Bent, daughter of Silas and
Martha (Kerr) and sister of Governor Charles
Bent, who was the first governor of New Mexico
but was murdered in an uprising. Judge Carr and
Dorcas were married in St. Louis on 10 Dec 1829
and had nine children: Dabney, Walter, William,
Charles, George, Thomas, Robert, Martha and
Eugenia, the youngest having been born in 1847.
Judge Carr died 31
Mar 1851, forty-seven years after his arrival in
St. Louis. His widow outlived him by many years,
passing on 25 Feb 1888 in St. Louis.
|
