Nicholas Carter Sr. (abt. 1629 - abt. 1681)

Born about 1629 in Helperby, North Yorkshire, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died about Oct 1681 at about age 52 in Elizabeth, Union County, New Jersey

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Biography

This profile is part of the Carter Name Study.

Nicolas was baptized on 4 June 1629.^[1] He died before 8 Nov. 1681 when administration of his estate was granted to his son John.^[2]

Biography from Long Island Genealogy (multiple access restricted; originally C.H. Cory, Lineal Ancestors of Captain James Cory^[1]):

Nicholas Carter, I was born in 1629 in Helperby, Yorkshire, a son of Roger Carter, I. Before 1652, Nicholas immigrated to America, where he settled in Stamford, Connecticut. When Nicholas' brother, Roger Carter, II was married, his records showed him as the son of Roger Carter of Helperby and his wife, Ellen, and brother of Nicholas Carter, now in New England. Nicholas' wife is believed to have been related to Robert Watson, of Windsor, Connecticut, who immigrated to America from Holderness, Yorkshire, England.

Nicolas did not reside in Stamford, very long before he crossed the sound to Middleburg, on Long Island. On 12 Apr. 1656, Nicolas was one of the purchasers of land from the Indians for a town site at Middleburg and was given twenty acres as his allotment. Each of the "purchasers", as they continued to be called, gave according to his possessions at the rate of a shilling per acre. The village, originally named Middleburgh, was established in 1652 by English Puritans, approximately 7 miles from New Amsterdam. When the British took over New Netherland in 1664, they renamed it New Town, which was eventually simplified to Newtown. It remained a rural community until the late 1890s when it was renamed Elmhurst and became part of the City of Greater New York.

On January 22, 1657, Nicolas and some of his neighbors joined in a letter of protest to Governor Peter Stuyvesant against the action of the town in giving to the minister at Middleburg, Reverend John Moore an absolute deed for the parsonage. The governor decided in favor of the protestors but, in 1660 Nicholas and nine others complained that Francis Doughty, who had married the widow of the preacher, was preventing Richard Mills, the school teacher and preacher at Middleburg, from having peaceable possession of the parsonage and the adjoining land. The Governor ordered Doughty to refrain from any further molestation of Mr. Mills.

Nicholas was one of nineteen men who signed a petition to the Dutch government at New Amsterdam for some land, "beyond the Hills by the South Sea," with the privilege to settle a town, which eventually became the town of Jamaica, in New York. The Dutch authorities, on February 4, 1660, granted them permission: "To settle a plantation upon, or about the place mentioned, upon such conditions and freedoms as the inhabitants of our owne Nation in this province doe Enjoye, provyded that the petitioners and theyre [associates] for theyre own Safety & common good, doe Settle theyre howse Lots Soo close as the conveniency of the place and Generall order shall admitt."

Despite the fact that he joined the movement to help create the new town, Nicholas was still living in Middleburg when the Dutch Authorities at New Amsterdam, on July 3, 1662, notified the inhabitants of the town and all other "plantations" that: None of them shall remove or harvest any crop, such as corn, maize, tobacco, etc., before they have agreed about the tythes for the year with the Governor General and the Council, or their Commissioners, upon forfeiture of fifty gulders. An agreement was reached and the village was required to pay a tenth for that year which was eighteen schepels (3 & 7/10 bushels equal a schepel). It was to consist of half wheat and half peas. Among the forty-five signers of the agreement was the name of "NICOLAS KARTER".

War broke out between the Netherlands and Great Britain and the Dutch authority at New Amsterdam was superseded by the British. NICHOLAS applied to the Connecticut Court at Hartford and was admitted as a freeman of Connecticut on May 12, 1664, along with nine fellow townsmen of Newtown. About two years later there was a movement toward the colonization of the Jersey shore and Nicholas joined it. On reaching that place he was required to take the "Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity," at Elizabethtown on February 16, 1666, his signature being "NICOLAS CARTER". He returned temporarily to Newtown as he was one of the overseers of the town from March of 1666 to November 1666. He became a freeholder on March 4, 1666.

Nicholas died in October or November 1681 at Elizabethtown, NJ. On November 14, 1681, the administration of his estate--a house, one hundred and ninety acres of upland, and twenty-two acres of meadowland--was granted to his son JOHN. On August 18, 1682, he mortgaged the property to JAMES HINDE and SAMUEL MARSH of the town to hold it "harmless" as his bondsmen in the administration of his father's estate.

In New Jersey he was one of the original Elizabethtown Associates, taking an oath of loyalty to the Crown in February 1666 -- while apparently retaining property and freeholder status in Connecticut. In 1673 he took a loyalty oath to the Dutch authorities during their temporary reoccupation of the former New Netherland. Most of the Associates took the oath, preferring rule by the Dutch to that of the English Lords Proprietors. In October 1675 he applied for a survey of 360 acres.^[3]

Y DNA

Based on Y DNA testing by the descendants of Nicolas Carter and John Carter they were close cousins. Nicholas and John also had a distant cousin Joseph Carter who immigrated to Virginia. Links for all three men at the FTDNA Carter Surname Project can be found on the Carter Name Study page.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Cory, Charles Henry, Lineal ancestors of Captain James Cory and of his descendants: genealogical, historical and biographical ... (1937) , p. 332; Archive.org.
2. ↑ Nelson, William, ed., Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey, NJ Archives, 1st series, vol. 23; Calendar of New Jersey Wills, vol. 1, 1670-1730 (Paterson, NJ: State of New Jersey and New Jersey Historical Society, 1901), p. 84; Archives.org.
3. ↑ Hatfield, Edwin F., History of Elizabeth, New Jersey, including the Early History of Union County (New York: Carlton & Lanahan, 1869; Carlisle, MA: Applewood Books, n.d.), pp. 56, 57, 159, 182; Archive.org.

• Bio from Long Island Genealogy, https://longislandsurnames.com/getperson.php?personID=I17287&tree=Wood
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/55893509/nicholas-carter