Joseph Carter (abt. 1753 - aft. 1802)

Born about 1753 in Frederick, Virginia

Ancestors

Husband of Rosamond (Rhoda) Carter — married 1770 in South Carolina

Descendants

Died after 1802 after about age 49 in Gut of Canso, Guysborough, Nova Scotia, Canada [uncertain]

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Biography

Joseph Carter was a United Empire Loyalist.
UEL Status:Undetermined
Date: Undated

Joseph was born in 1744 in Winchester, Virginia, the son of Richard and Margaret (Bruce) Carter.^{[citation needed]}

He married Rosamond Rhoda about 1770 in South Carolina.^{[citation needed]}

A Loyalist, he arrived at Nova Scotia in 1784 on the transport ARGO, with other refugees from Saint Augustine, Florida,^[1] with his family (Roxanne[sic], Richard, Elizabeth, Temperance, Susan, and Joseph, Jr), and was granted 400 acres at the "Gut of Canso" in Sydney County (now Guysborough County).^[2]

The Saint Augustine Loyalists' land grants were very poor land for farming, and most of them left over the following decade or so. Joseph apparently relocated across the Gut of Canso to Cape Breton. In 1811, Joseph Carter, Sr. is recorded farming near Ship Harbour (now Port Hawksbury) on the Cape Breton side of the Gut of Canso.^[3] It is noted that his neighbours included several other Saint Augustine Loyalists, including the Kings and Reynolds.

In 1814, his petition for land in Cape Breton near his son was finally approved.^[4] He passed away in Nova Scotia some time after 1814.^{[citation needed]}

Research Notes

• The two FamilySearch sources disagree about his DOB, either c1744 or c1753 and date of death, either 1795 or after 1814.
• The 1818 Census lists a "George Carter" living next to George Carter at Ship Harbour. This "George Carter is listed as 78 years old, born in America (i.e., the U.S.A.), and might actually be Joseph Carter.

Sources

1. ↑ Joseph carter, in Muster Roll of Loyalists from St. Augustine on board the Argo Transport, bound to Chedebucto, Halifax, 13th July 1784: https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/loyalists/loyalists-ward-chipman/pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=5265&
2. ↑ Joseph Carter , from St Augustine, 400 acres, 1785, in Marion Gilroy, Loyalists and Land settlement in Nova Scotia, Public Archives of Nova Scotia Publication No.4, p.122
3. ↑ Joseph carter, Sr., farmer, 1811, Ship Harbour: https://archives.novascotia.ca/census/rg1v445/returns/?ID=58
4. ↑ Nova Scotia Archives: Cape Breton number: 985 Microfilm: 15791; Year: 1814: Petition to Swayne: Petitioner was born in Virginia whence he emigrated to Nova Scotia with other Loyalists in 1784. He has lived the past fifteen years at the Gut of Canso where he has cleared about sixty acres, and has buildings. He asks a lot in the neighbourhood of his son in Cape Breton. Note: complied. [This date 1814 was probably the date of approval, Joseph had already been living in the area near Ship Harbour, perhaps since 1799. The son referred to is likely George Carter, based on the 1811 Census.]

• FamilySearch Tree. Joseph Carter, born c1753. Husband of Rhoda or Rosamond. Son of Richard Carter and Margaret Bruce.

• FamilySearch. c1744-1814.

• FamilySearch Tree. Born c1753.

Acknowledgments

• Thank you to Gil Carter for creating Carter-8650 on 1 Nov 13.