Carter, Champe, 1840-1886

Born to Champe Carter, Sr., and Mary W. E. Montgomery in Amherst County, Virginia, April 29, 1840, Champe Carter, Jr. moved with his family to Stanford, Kentucky, in October 1847. In 1859, Champe Carter, Sr. followed his son, Edward, to Texas and settled in Milford, Ellis County. Carter remained in Kentucky where he attended Centre College in Danville and graduated in 1861. Immediately after graduation, he ran the Union picket lines on horseback, and joined his family in Texas where along with his brothers Edward Hill, Richard Ellis, Thomas Montgomery, Charles L. and Powhattan enlisted in the 15th Regiment of Texas Volunteer Infantry. Wounded at the Battle of Fordoche Bridge, Louisiana, September 29, 1863, Carter eventually was declared unfit for field duty and assigned to General John B. Magruder's staff for the remainder of the war.

After the Civil War, Carter attempted farming, worked for the Bureau of Freedmen, Refugees and Abandoned Lands, and returned to Kentucky where he received an A. M. degree from Centre College in 1869. Upon returning to Texas, Carter practiced primarily real estate law in Robertson County specializing in locating, buying and selling land, and perfecting titles. In 1872 he started to actively seek veterans of the Republic of Texas and their heirs as clients. Intensely interested in Democratic politics, he was appointed to the Robertson County Board of Examiners in 1880, served as county judge in Robertson County from 1884 to 1885, and was a notary public intermittently between 1881 and 1886.

In 1870 Champe Carter, Jr. married Ruth Victoria Randolph (Vic), daughter of John F. Randolph and Jane E. Calvert, with whom he had five daughters: Randolph, Montgomery, Pattie, Roberta Lee and Jennie, and one son: Champe Carter III (1871-1874). Although residing and working primarily in the towns of Owensville, Calvert, and Franklin in Robertson County, Carter traveled extensively throughout Texas. By 1886 he had acquired a considerable estate of land scattered throughout the state.

Victora Randolph Carter died unexpectedly in January 1885. Soon afterwards, Champe Carter, Jr. planned and began to implement a relocation to Abilene and Anson, Texas. Before the move could be finalized, he died in August of 1886. His brother Charles L. Carter, also an attorney and land dealer, assumed custody of the children and the estate. He attempted for the next 18 years to manage an estate that included substantial debt, five minor children and land located in disparate counties of Texas. Over time, Charles was forced to sell much of the land. Randolph, daughter of Champe Carter, Jr. and wife of George C. Berry, won a lawsuit against her uncle and the much-reduced Champe Carter Estate was transferred to her and her sisters in 1904.

From the guide to the Champe Carter family papers MC030. 48381624, 48381357, 48381361, 48381390., 1809-1941, (Bulk: 1866-1886), (Albert and Ethel Herzstein Library, )