Carterville through the years
Stories from the family's collection of newspaper clippings, court records and papers, by year. Use the buttons to filter by period or by strength of evidence.
1687 DOCUMENTED
Jeremy Carter in the first county court records
By 1687 a road is laid out "crosse Jeremy Carters land". Jeremy Carter serves on juries, including a petty jury in a criminal trial, and is chosen constable. On 11 Sep 1694 Robert and Lydia Wade deed 50 acres in Chester Township to Jeremiah Carter for his daughter Lydia.
Who: Jeremy/Jeremiah Carter (gen 1); Lydia Carter (his daughter); Robert & Lydia Wade (donors). The many "Edward Carter" entries in these minutes are probably Edward Carter of Aston, a different immigrant family (see the William R. Carter genealogy), and must not be merged with Jeremiah's family.
Where: Chester Township; the road across Jeremy Carter's land; Chester court
Record of the Courts of Chester County 1681–1697 (pub. 1910), 1687–1694
1687–1694 · related page
1736 SUPPORTED
Burial ground in use on the Carter tract (site name: Carter Graveyard 1736)
1736 · related page
1850 DOCUMENTED
Robert S. Brookings, Robert Carter's grandson, born in Cecil County
1850 · related page
1877 DOCUMENTED
“The Carter Will Case”: P. B. Carter answers the papers
Paul B. Carter sued his sisters and the heirs of his brother Edward Carter Jr. over their father Edward Carter's estate, and he writes in to say the press reports were false. "Drowning men catch at straws."
Who: Paul B. Carter (plaintiff); Mrs S. A. Williams, Mary Stealing, Sarah Roberts, Emma L. Millenlock, Rachel Carter (his sisters or nieces); two minor sons of Edward Carter Jr., deceased; the elder Edward Carter (Edward the potter, 1787–1875, gen 4, son of Joseph)
Where: Carterville lands; Media courthouse
Delaware County Daily Times, Wed 13 Jun 1877, p.4
Wed 13 Jun 1877, p.4 · related page
1877 DOCUMENTED
Edward Carter's monument defaced
The monument over Edward Carter's grave in Mount Hope Cemetery was defaced by plaster of paris pressed into the name of P. B. Carter. This happened during the family will fight.
Who: Edward Carter (the potter, d. 1875); P. B. Carter
Where: Mount Hope Cemetery (Aston/Chester area)
Delaware County Daily Times, Sat 6 Oct 1877, p.4
Sat 6 Oct 1877, p.4 · related page
1879 DOCUMENTED
Special Court at Media: Carter v. Carrigan and Carter v. Ramsey
Judge J. R. Ludlow of Philadelphia hears P. B. Carter's ejectment suits for land near Cartertown. Edward Carter's will of August 1872 is attacked on the ground that he had suffered "congestion of the brain" for years. Witnesses Joseph Taylor and Charles Flower swear he was of sound mind.
Who: Paul B. Carter; James Carrigan; George W. Ramsey (defendants, purchasers); Edward Carter (testator); Joseph Taylor; Charles Flower; Judge J. R. Ludlow
Where: Cartertown/Carterville; Media courthouse
Delaware County Daily Times, Tue 15 Apr 1879, p.3
Tue 15 Apr 1879, p.3 · related page
1879 DOCUMENTED
“Takes Exceptions”: one-tenth of Carterville
A correspondent "learned in the law" (almost certainly P. B. Carter) says the suits concerned only the plaintiff's one-tenth share, as an heir-at-law, of lands at Carterville on the south side of Concord Avenue. His June 1877 jury verdict did not establish the will. The full page also carries a circus at Sneath Street and Concord Avenue.
Who: P. B. Carter; heirs of Edward Carter
Where: Carterville, south side of Concord Avenue; Sneath St & Concord Ave
Delaware County Daily Times, Tue 22 Apr 1879, p.3
Tue 22 Apr 1879, p.3 · related page
1880 DOCUMENTED
“Carterville, Chester Township” No. 1: Concord Avenue fifty years ago
P. B. Carter's reminiscence of the road between Carterville and Chester around 1830. No house stood between Carterville and Birchell's Corner (Third St & Concord Ave). The forty-acre common was "too poor" for crowfoot. Wellington was hanged there for the murder of Bonsall, the last public execution in the county. The Upland farm had saw and flour mills before John P. Crozer bought it. A towering thorn hedge ran from Pennell's gate, and the road was haunted: no dairy maid went to the Chester market without a lantern and the black family dog. In 1880 the village had two active mechanics, Caleb T. Pierce (iron) and George McCartney (wood), "eighteen curbstone lawyers" and several wealthy bachelors. It claims Jeremiah arrived two years before Penn and that the Carter purchase ran from Chester's South Ward to Baldwin's Run.
Who: P. B. Carter (Paul-Beck Carter, gen 5, Potts no.196, author); Jeremiah Carter (gen 1); Sheron Carter of Philadelphia ("cousin of the elder Joseph Carter"; unplaced); the elder Joseph Carter (prob. Joseph, son of Abraham, gen 3); John P. Crozer (mill owner); Caleb T. Pierce; George McCartney; Wellington (executed) and Bonsall of Upper Darby (victim); the Wm. Kerlin farm
Where: Concord Avenue; Birchell's Corner (Third & Concord); the forty-acre common; Upland farm, saw-mill and flour mill; Chester Creek Railroad; Perkins and Dr Young estates; Pennell's gate; Chester Water Works basin; Seventh St crossing; Baldwin's Run; South Ward of Chester; Wm. Kerlin farm
It is DOCUMENTED that P. B. Carter wrote this. The 'two years before Penn' arrival claim in it is FAMILY TRADITION, and the 1715 warrant says 1682.
Delaware County Daily Times (Chester), Wed 25 Aug 1880, p.3
Wed 25 Aug 1880, p.3 · related page
1880 FAMILY TRADITION
“Carterville” No. 2: ghosts, witches and Bluebeard's gold
Penn's Chester Township once ran from Lower Chichester to Aston and Ridley Creek. Spectres walked Concord Avenue: a great black or white dog, a calf walking upright on two legs, a three- or five-legged calf, a headless man in grave clothes. Legend held that "Bluebeard" buried money along the Delaware and Chester Creek and killed a man to guard each hoard, and that diggers lost the pot if they spoke. There were two township schools: the log "mud wasp" on Chichester Road west of Carterville, and one at Sneath's Corner on the Middletown Road. Carterville children in summer walked to Dutton's crossroads or to Chester. Carter predicts Carterville will join the city by 1900. Signed "P. B. C."
Who: P. B. Carter (author)
Where: Concord Avenue; Baldwin's Run hill (wooded); Chichester Road 'mud wasp' log school; Sneath's Corner school, Middletown Road; Dutton's crossroads, Lower Chichester; Chester Creek; Delaware shore
Local legend as printed (DOCUMENTED as a printed story)
Delaware County Daily Times, Fri 3 Sep 1880, p.4
Fri 3 Sep 1880, p.4 · related page
1880 DOCUMENTED
“Carterville” No. 5: Robert Carter, the plough boy who built paper mills
Carterville's thrift and neighbourliness in 1800–1825, when "the borrower's word was as good as his bond", and how its sons went west or to Maryland's Eastern Shore. Robert Carter, "a Carterville boy, born in a log cabin on Chester creek, where six other brothers first beheld the light of day", learned paper-making on Darby Creek and settled in Cecil County, Md. His mills on the Elk River, four miles from Elkton, later became George W. Childs's paper mills, which made all the paper for the Philadelphia Public Ledger. Robert said his worst mistake was not buying the Upland mill-power before John P. Crozer. A grandson of his was then principal foreman of Childs's Marley mills. The series had five numbers (Nos. 3 and 4 are not in the archive).
Who: Robert Carter (son of Joseph, gen 4; Potts) — grandfather of Robert S. Brookings via Mary Eliza Carter; George W. Childs (Ledger publisher); John P. Crozer
Where: Log cabin on Chester Creek; Darby Creek paper mill; Elk River and Marley mills, 4 mi from Elkton, Cecil Co., Md.; Upland mill-power; Childs's Ledger building, 6th & Chestnut, Philadelphia
The newspaper report is DOCUMENTED. The 'seven brothers in a log cabin' detail is SUPPORTED by family recollection only
Delaware County Daily Times, Thu 4 Nov 1880, p.3
Thu 4 Nov 1880, p.3 · related page
1903 DISPROVEN-CORRECTED
Not our Carterville: two clippings about other places
In 1903 someone wedged a coupling in a switch and partly derailed the eastbound Harrisburg accommodation at Pomeroy, "four miles west of" a Carterville, Pa., on the Pennsylvania Railroad main line in Chester County. In 1916 Altoona visitors went to "Sharon, Carterville, Pa., and Youngstown, O.", a Carterville in Mercer County. Neither is the Chester Township village.
Who: None of the family
Where: Pomeroy, Chester Co.; Carterville near Sharon, Mercer Co.
They are correctly reported, but they are not about the Carter land
Philadelphia Inquirer p.7; Altoona Tribune p.12, Wed 7 Jan 1903; Thu 23 Nov 1916
Wed 7 Jan 1903; Thu 23 Nov 1916 · related page
1911 DOCUMENTED
Public sale: estate of Mary Ann Coppock, 415 W. Third St, Chester
A three-storey brick house at No. 415 West Third Street (south side, west of Franklin St, backing on an alley to Fulton St) and its furniture are to be sold on 18 Oct 1911. The executor is Israel S. Coppock.
Who: Mary Ann Coppock, deceased: probably Mary-Ann (Wood) Coppock, b.1833, widow of William-Roberts Coppock (Potts no.230, Hannah Roberts's eldest son) (HYPOTHESIS). Israel S. Coppock, executor: probably a son or grandson in the Israel & Hannah Coppock family (HYPOTHESIS)
Where: 415 W. Third St, Chester; Franklin St; Fulton St
The sale notice is DOCUMENTED; the identification is HYPOTHESIS
Delaware County Daily Times, Thu 28 Sep 1911
Thu 28 Sep 1911 · related page
1913 DOCUMENTED
Death of Priscilla B. Weaver, descendant of Jeremiah Carter
Priscilla B. Weaver, 81, widow of Samuel Weaver, died in Washington, D.C., on 9 Feb 1913 after a fall. She was the daughter of John Lloyd (soldier of 1812, Delaware County coroner for six years, born at Marcus Hook, died at Chester) and Ann (Carter) Lloyd. She was a sister of Mrs. Paul B. Carter and, on her mother's side, a descendant of "Jeremiah Carter, who settled at Cartertown in 1682". The notice adds a Lloyd pedigree back to Roderick the Great of Wales and Col. Hugh Lloyd (1761–1832?), associate judge.
Who: Priscilla (Lloyd) Weaver (Potts no.231, b. 25 Jun 1831, gen 5: Ann, Daniel, Abraham, Jeremiah); Samuel Weaver; John & Ann (Carter) Lloyd; Mrs. Paul B. Carter (Ella-C. Lloyd, Potts no.233); Rebecca Bickley; Isaac Lloyd; Col. Hugh Lloyd
Where: Washington, D.C.; Chester; Marcus Hook; Cartertown; Darby
The death and the family ties are DOCUMENTED and agree with Potts. The descent from the Welsh kings is FAMILY TRADITION
Delaware County Daily Times, Wed 19 Feb 1913
Wed 19 Feb 1913 · related page
1931 DOCUMENTED
Quiet-title notice: the Carter burial-ground lot
John A. Trosino of Chester Township, in possession since 22 Sep 1909, petitions the Court of Common Pleas (No. 865, Dec Term 1930) against John Wesley Carter, Gilliad Carter and Abraham Carter for 0.5713 acres on the former centre line of Concord Road, beside a cemetery or burial ground called the "Meeting House Lot" in his 1909 deed from George W. Pierson, trustee.
Who: John Wesley, Gilliad (Gilead) and Abraham Carter (apparent owners; Abraham 1797–1873 and Gilead husband of Margaret 1798–1878 are on the 1936 WPA graveyard list); John A. Trosino; George W. Pierson
Where: Concord Road, Chester Township; the Carter graveyard ("Meeting House Lot")
Chester Times (legal notice), Thu 12 Feb 1931
Thu 12 Feb 1931 · related page
2024 DOCUMENTED
The graveyard today: parcel 07-07-021:000
Parcel 07000025701, "CARTER OLD CEMETERY, 0 Concord Rd", Chester Township, map 07-07-021:000, is tax-exempt and assessed at $3,430. It has no delinquent taxes, and the 2018–2023 Chester-Upland school taxes were not liened.
Who: —
Where: 0 Concord Rd, Chester Twp
Delaware County property records, c.2024 (printout)
c.2024 (printout) · related page