Cloud Carter of Cherry Hill (1792–1863)
Evidence key: DOCUMENTED SUPPORTED FAMILY TRADITION HYPOTHESIS DISPROVEN-CORRECTED · what the labels mean · “Potts” = Potts 1883 · “Court Record” = Record of the Courts of Chester County (1910)
Cloud Carter (15 Apr 1792 – 24 Apr 1863), generation 4 (Jeremiah, Abraham, Joseph, Cloud), Potts no.62. He was the youngest son of Joseph Carter the Cartertown potter and Margaret Cloud, and became a merchant at Cherry Hill, Cecil County, Maryland. SUPPORTED (Potts p.95)
His life in plain words
Cloud Carter was born at Carterville and carried his mother’s family name as his first name. His father’s will of 1828 left him and his brother Joseph the family fishery at the Lazaretto, on the Delaware at Tinicum. Cloud sold his half to his brother William in 1832. Like his brother Robert, who built the Cecil Paper Mills, he settled in Cecil County, Maryland. He kept a store at Cherry Hill and was a trustee of the village’s first Methodist church in 1831. He married first Margaret Miller, and second Mrs Mary Plummer, born Hopkins. He died at Cherry Hill in 1863, aged 71.
| When | What | Label | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 Apr 1792 | Born at Carterville | SUPPORTED | Potts p.95 |
| 16 Jul 1828 | Father’s will: “my Fishing-place at the Lazaretto” to “my sons Joseph and Cloud” as tenants in common (proved 6 Feb 1830, Will Book C p.187) | DOCUMENTED | Will text printed in Potts pp.65–66; Ashmead 1884 p.281 |
| 30 Sep 1831 | Elected a trustee of the first Cherry Hill Methodist church; his brother Robert is president and gives the lot | SUPPORTED | Cherry Hill UMC history (chmdumc.org) |
| 1832 | Sells his share of the fishery to his brother William | SUPPORTED | Ashmead 1884 p.281 |
| 24 Apr 1863 | Dies at Cherry Hill, Cecil Co., Md. | SUPPORTED | Potts p.95 |
| — | Burial at Cherry Hill Methodist Church Cemetery | HYPOTHESIS | Online family tree (lead only) |
The Lazaretto fishery: one family, three generations
The great 19th-century lawsuit over the Tinicum fishery was a Carter family matter from start to finish. The fishery was bought by Cloud’s father Joseph in 1796–1805, left to Cloud and his brother Joseph in 1828, and bought up from 1847 by Joseph’s grandson Paul-Beck Carter. SUPPORTED Ashmead’s account of the case cites Potts’s printing of the same will.
Children (by Margaret Miller)
| Potts no. | Name | Married | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 208 | Sarah-Jane (b. 29 Jan 1823) | John-W. Tyson, 5 Jan 1843; farmer, Bay View, Cecil Co.; 11 children (nos. 602–612) | SUPPORTED |
| 209 | Margaret-R. | John-T. Miller, 14 Dec 1848 (d. 1871), Elkton; 5 children (nos. 613–617) | SUPPORTED |
Potts gives the Tyson grandchildren’s marriages into the Field, Kline, Abrams, Burns and Cochran families, and the Millers’ into the Mahoney and Lazerlere families. SUPPORTED
Where the sources disagree
- First wife: Potts says Margaret Miller. One online tree says Rachel Miller, married 2 Jun 1821 in Cecil Co. HYPOTHESIS The site follows Potts until a record turns up.
The Cloud family
Cloud’s mother, Margaret Cloud (11 Jun 1753 – 20 Oct 1827), was the daughter of Robert and Madeline Cloud. She is buried with her husband at Mount Hope Methodist Church, Aston. SUPPORTED Potts thought she was “probably” descended from William Cloud of Seend, Wiltshire, an early settler. HYPOTHESIS The court records show a William Cloud “of Concord” standing surety for his brother Robert Cloud in 1685, and land on Naaman’s Creek passing from Robert to William in 1686. DOCUMENTED A Joseph Cloud signed as a witness at Jeremiah and Mary Carter’s wedding. DOCUMENTED The exact links between these Clouds and Margaret are not proven.
Sources: Potts 1883 pp.64–67, 95, 138–140; Ashmead 1884 pp.281, and the Chester court and Upper Chichester sections; Cherry Hill UMC history. Notes: people/Cloud-Carter.md.