Robert Carter I
American businessman and politician / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Colonel Robert Carter I (c. 1664 – 4 August 1732) was a planter, merchant, and government official and administrator who served as Acting Governor of Virginia, Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and President of the Virginia Governor’s Council. An agent for the Northern Neck Proprietary, Carter emerged as the wealthiest Virginia colonist and received the sobriquet “King” from his contemporaries connoting his autocratic approach and political influence.[1] Involved in the founding of the College of William and Mary, he acquired at least 300,000 acres and engaged one thousand enslaved laborers on fifty plantations.[2] Carter was the largest land owner in Virginia.[citation needed]
Robert Carter I | |
---|---|
Royal Governor of Virginia | |
In office 1726–1727 | |
Preceded by | Hugh Drysdale |
Succeeded by | Sir William Gooch |
25th Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses | |
In office 1696–1697 | |
Preceded by | Philip Ludwell |
Succeeded by | William Randolph |
In office 1699–1699 | |
Preceded by | William Randolph |
Succeeded by | Peter Beverley |
Personal details | |
Born | c. 1664 Corotoman Plantation, Lancaster County, Virginia, British America |
Died | ( 1732 -08-04)4 August 1732 (aged 69) Lancaster County, Virginia, British America |
Spouse(s) | Judith Armistead Elizabeth Landon Willis |
Children | 15, including Landon Carter, Charles Carter (of Cleve) |
Born around 1664 at Corotoman in Lancaster County, Carter received a classical education and studied the tobacco trade in London under Arthur Bailey.[3] He returned to Corotoman between 1678 and 1679 and inherited the plantation when his elder half-brother, John Carter Jr., died in 1690. He married Judith Armistead of Hesse in 1688. Following her death in 1699, Carter married widow Elizabeth Landon in 1701.
Elected a burgess in 1691, Carter represented the electoral constituency of Lancaster County consecutively during the 1695 to 1699 assemblies and served as Speaker from 1696 to 1697 and in 1699. After an appointment as militia commander of Lancaster and Northumberland counties and naval officer in 1699, he served as Treasurer of Virginia from 1699 to 1705. Appointed to the Governor’s Council by Francis Nicholson in 1699, Carter opposed Nicholson’s policies in 1704 and indirectly influenced the governor’s removal in 1705.
Carter was appointed agent of the Northern Neck Proprietary in 1702 though lost the lease to his political opponent, Edmund Jenings, in 1711.[4] He regained the proprietary in 1722 and was involved in the dismissal of Alexander Spotswood. In 1726, he was designated President of the Governor’s Council and appointed Acting Governor when his predecessor, Hugh Drysdale, died in office, and he was succeeded by William Gooch in 1727.[5] Afflicted with gout in later life, Carter died on August 4, 1732, at Corotoman and was buried at Christ Church in Lancaster County.