THOMAS H. CARTER was born in Little York, York county, Pennsylvania, October 11, 1823. His father, Bushnell Carter, a native of Connecticut, came when a young man to Pennsylvania, where he married Julia L. Barber, an estimable lady. He was an educated man, a successful lawyer, and died in early manhood. After the death of his mother our subject was taken by his father to an uncle in Connecticut, and there he grew to manhood. When twenty years of age he became a school teacher, and so continued until 1847, when he went to Canfield, Ohio, where he began the study of law under Judge Newton. He was admitted to the bar in 1852, after graduating from Ballston, New York. About this time, with a young wife, he made his way to Beardstown, and engaged in partnership in a general law business with a cousin, Carter Van Vleck, who had come here some years before. In later years he was connected in a legal way with Henry Philips, of Virginia, Illinois, but after some years he had sole charge of the business himself. He became well known through the State as one of the legal lights of the day, and has figured in it prominently. He has amassed a good farm property in Missouri, which is still in the family. He was not a politician, but he had been City Attorney of Beardstown, and from 1858 to 1861 he was Postmaster of the place. He was held in high esteem for his upright character and good qualities. He was a Democrat, a Master Mason, a good moral man and a great lover of home.He was married to Miss Maria L. Peck, in Warren, Litchfield county, Connecticut, where he was reared. She was born in the same place December 13, 1825, and was a daughter of Phineas and Phoebe (Taylor) Peck, both of Litchfield. Mr. Peck was a farmer and purchased the old Peck homestead, which is yet in the family. His death occurred July 11, 1870, at the age of seventy-seven. He was a strong, active man, and both he and his wife were members of the Congregational Church, as are also their children. Mr. and Mrs. Carter had one son, Augustine P., now chief clerk of Superintendent Johnson of the Montana Central Railroad of Helena, Montana. He married Miss Frances B. Henderson, of Monmouth, a daughter of Colonel Henderson, a prominent man of Warren county. Mr. and Mrs. Augustine Carter and wife have one bright daughter, Marcia P., named for her grandmother.
Mr. Carter died while in Peoria, Illinois, for treatment, on March 19, 1886, leaving to his many friends a memory most pleasing to cherish.
Biographical Review of Cass, Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois, Biographical Review Publishing Co., Chicago, 1892, pages 259-260.
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