- ALMERINE M. CARTER. The subject of the following sketch,
descended from a long line of
- distinguished ancestors, all tillers of the soil, realizes
in his own life, perhaps as much as any other man now living,
the fulfillment of the prophecy so beautifully paraphrased by
Mrs. Hale, regarding those who cultivate the soil:
-
- "'Go till the soil,' said God to man,
- 'Subdue the earth, it shall be thine;'
- How grand, how glorious was the plan!
- How wise the law divine!
- And none of Adam's race can draw
- A title, save beneath this law,
- To hold the world in trust;
- Earth is the Lord's, and he hath sworn
- That ere Old Time has reached his bourn
- It shall reward the Just."
-
- Mr. CARTER has spent nearly the whole of his active life
as a farmer, and now enjoys that respect, confidence and affection
of his fellow-citizens which a useful and upright life alone
can permanently secure. He was born in Litchfield Co., Conn.,
Oct. 4, 1814, and is the son of Guy and Serepta (MARSHALL) CARTER,
of the same State; the CARTERs claim descent from English ancestors
who settled at Litchfield, Conn., about the year 1690; their
descendants, who are now quite numerous, are found in most of
the States of the Union, have generally been husbandmen, imbued
with Puritanic principles, and mostly connected with the old
Presbyterian and Baptist Churches; his grandfather, Adonijah
CARTER, a man of high moral character and sterling religious
principles, died at Litchfield, Conn., in 1820, in the 79th year
of his age; his father moved to the State of New York in 1815,
and settled at Paris, Oneida Co., where he purchased a large
farm, and followed the occupation of husbandry all his life;
in 1855, he removed to Johnstown, Wis., where he died in 1857;
he was a man of more than ordinary intelligence and considerable
local influence, and was for a number of years a Trustee of the
Madison University of New York, a Baptist educational institute
of some eminence; the mother of our subject was a woman of most
exemplary character, intelligent, hospitable and self-sacrificing,
always studying the interests and welfare of those around her;
she was also noted as a musician and sweet singer, a quality
which she transmitted to her posterity, and especially to our
subject; she died in 1855, leaving behind a memory fragrant with
good deeds and holy precepts. Our subject was the eldest of a
family of five children, three boys and two girls, and was named
after his maternal grandfather, who was a wealthy merchant in
Pennsylvania, and who lost his life at the burning of the theater
in the city of Richmond, Va., in 1811, the Governor of Virginia
and some forty or fifty others perishing in the same catastrophe;
he was educated at Hamilton Academy, N.Y., from which he graduated
in 1832; determining to pursue the business of husbandry, he
purchased a large farm in Oneida Co., N.Y., on which he remained
until 1843, when, following the tide of empire, he removed to
the Territory of Wisconsin and settled at Johnstown, Rock Co.,
which has since been his home; he entered a farm of Government
land, the deed to which was signed by President John Tyler, and
in real earnest set about the business of taming the wilderness,
which, under his strong hand, guided by his consummate skill
and taste, has long since been made to "rejoice and blossom
as the rose;" he was one of the most successful and dexterous
farmers of the West. He was never ambitious for office, but,
being a gentleman of more than ordinary capacity, of high education
and refined manners, he has been frequently selected by his fellow-citizens
to fill positions of trust and honor, upon which he has always
reflected the highest credit; he was one of the first Commissioners
of Rock Co., and has held various town offices and other positions
from his fellow-citizens; he was elected a member of the Constitutional
Convention of 1847-48, which framed the Constitution now in force
in the State, serving on the committee of fifteen, of which the
late Byron KILBOURN was chairman (which mapped out the business
for the various other committees, and was facetiously designated
as the "breaking team"), being one of its most practical
members; he has recently written a history of that Convention,
which is quite an elaborate and racy document, containing some
finely drawn pen pictures of prominent members of that body;
Mr. CARTER is the only one of six colleagues from Rock Co., now
a resident of Wisconsin; four are deceased, and one is a citizen
of another State; from the document referred to, we make the
following extracts, which are mainly in the line of our work:
"We were then a sparsely settled Territory, numbering only
210,000 souls; now we are a large and prosperous State. Then,
Wisconsin was the 'Far West,' Minnesota was not known; now, the
western boundary of population, enterprise and wealth of the
nation is the Pacific Ocean. Then, our people were poor; now,
there is great wealth among us. Then, no railroad had reached
Lake Michigan; now, the whole country is marked into squares
by the iron band, and the steam-horse snorts in every locality.
The Convention was composed of sixty-nine members, mostly young
men, and men of energy, who had left luxurious home in the East
to seek fame and fortune in the West. They were proud of their
adopted State, and had met to frame a fundamental law, under
which their children should live happily. There was earnestness
and determination depicted upon each countenance as they took
their respective seats. To trace the after career of some of
these men may not be uninteresting. The President was Morgan
L. MARTIN, who served in the Legislature of 1874. Two of the
members have been Governors of the State - HARVEY and LEWIS;
while the Judiciary of the State has largely and honorably represented
by others; WHITON graced the bench from the organization of the
State until his death; Orsamus COLE first represented his district
ably and well in Congress, and has, for the last nineteen years,
done the State distinguished service upon the supreme bench;
LARRABEE has been on the judicial bench, a member of Congress,
and at present is a distinguished citizen of Oregon; CALE has
been upon the bench, and scarcely has there been a Legislature
since in which one or more of them have not occupied seats; twelve
have left the State; of these, REED has been Governor of Florida;
REYMERT, a man of wealth in New York City; EASTERBROOK is a prominent
citizen of Nebraska, and all are occupying distinguished positions;
eighteen have died." Such is a brief extract from a document
brimful of the most important historic matter, and destined to
be an honored place among the records of the State Historical
Society. In 1868, just twenty years after the Constitution was
framed, Mr. CARTER was elected to the State Legislature, and
served much of the session as Chairman of the House Committee
on Corporations; since then, he has declined all overtures to
office, and has resided in ease and quietness at his home in
Johnstown. He is a member of the Johnstown Fire Insurance Company.
He has gone through the chairs of the Odd Fellows' fraternity,
and is a member of the Granger organization, having been the
presiding officer in his district since the Society was organized;
he has been for twenty-five years a member and Secretary of the
Society for the Suppression of Horse-stealing, an organization
which has done more toward the abatement of this species of plunder
than all laws and law officers of the State. In a word, Mr. CARTER
is an honest, truthful and capable man, both in public and private
life, ardently attached to those things which are true, good
and just, hating oppression in all its forms, ever ready to rebuke
meanness wherever it showed its head. In politics, he is a consistent,
intelligent and active Republican; he ever held that all men
should be unfettered in running the race of life, hence the system
of human slavery ever found in him an honorable but unrelenting
foe; and when that accursed system organized a rebellion against
our Government, too old himself to undergo the privations and
hardships of camp life, he sent an only son to uphold and sustain
the just cause of his country. But the crowning excellence of
his character is his quite, unostentatious religious life; the
sweetness and fragrance of his daily walk is a constant blessing
to the community in which he resides, and when he shall be finally
called to his long home, it shall be justly said of him, "he
was one of the organizers of the Johnstown Congregational society
in 1844, and has ever since led the psalmody in the congregation,
being rarely absent from his post on the Sabbath; he is, moreover,
one of the most generous contributors to the support of the organization.
He has been twice married; first, Sept. 26,1836, in Goshen, Conn.,
to Miss Dolly A., daughter of Timothy WADMAN, of that place;
she died in 1847, leaving two children surviving her, namely,
Ellen, wife of E. L. CARTER, a merchant in Mendota, Ill., and
Charles, who served his country throughout the late war, and
is now a successful merchant in Johnstown; Mr. CARTER's second
marriage was to Miss Sarah WEDGE, daughter of Asa WEDGE, of Warren,
Conn.; she is the mother of one daughter - Frances W., a young
lady of superior education and accomplishments, especially noted
as a musician. The deceased Mrs. CARTER was a lady of rare beauty
of person, of the most amiable temper and engaging manners, of
high intellectual and social attainments, and an exemplary member
of the Baptist Church, beloved and revered by all who knew her.
-
- Taken from "The History of Rock County, Wis."
(c)1879; pp. 698-699.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
|