To follow up on a previous post:

The introduction to The Marriage Registers of St. Dunstan’s Stepney, in the County of Middlesex, Thomas Collyer-Fergusson, ed., 1898, comments: “This volume does not require many words of introduction, as anyone familiar with the parish of Stepney must realize the importance of its registers. Stepney, once a country parish, the home of our city merchants and of our great shipbuilders, naturally had many interesting inhabitants; and amongst these I may mention the names of Borough, Burrell, Pett, Dethick, and Ryder, which all appear in this volume. Stepney, St. Dunstan, was the abode of a family of Crockson (Croxon). John Crockson “of Shadwell sailler” (later of Wapping), was the father of John Crockson (bapt. March 20, 1606, and Alice Crockson (bapt. Feb. 25, 1609/10), in St. Dunstan. This surname is scarcely otherwise recorded in inner or outer (Middlesex), London.

1. William Carter, m. Alice Stile, Jan, 16, 1568/9. (John Bowton, m. Katherine Lambert, Jan. 2, 1576).

1.1. John Carter, bapt. Sept 13, 1572, “s.o. William”. Oct. 25, 1611, married, John Carter of Stepney, Middlesex, mariner, and Jane Cleaves of All Hallows, Barking, widow of John Cleaves of same, mariner.

1.1.1. “John Carter. A clue to the ancestry of John Carter, the Virginia, Councillor, seemed to be afforded in the Will of Edward Carter of Edmonton, Middlesex, esquire, dated and probated in 1682 (New England Hist. and Geneal. Reg., Vol. XLVII.), disposing of much property in Virginia, and speaking of having resided on Nansemond River, showing that he must have been the Col. Edward Carter who was in Virginia. about 1660, and who may naturally be supposed to have been brother of John Carter. The Will gives to a son, Edward “my third part (the whole in three parts to be divided) of and in all those messuages, tenements, lands, and hereditaments in Chalfont St. Peter’s, Bucks”. Probably John Carter’s wife Anne, daughter of Cleave Carter, was cousin — in fact, first cousin of her husband; so there is ground for supposing that the grandmother was a Cleave, particularly as that name was given to one of the seats of the family in Virginia.

The published lists of London marriage licenses include one of Oct. 25, 1611, for John Carter of Stepney, Middlesex, mariner, and Jane Cleaves of All Hallows, Barking, widow of John Cleaves of same, mariner, doubtless relations-in-law, and possibly parents of the Virginia Councillor, or of Cleave Carter. Mr. W. G. Stanard finds that John Carter married at least five times, inc. 3rd, Anne, dau. of Cleave Carter, she being buried with her husband, and appearing to have had no children by Carter, and to have d. in or before 1662, to allow time for Carter to have married again, and have had a son born after Aug. 4, 1663, and before Aug. 4, 1664; 4th, Sarah, dau. of Gabriel Ludlow, she being buried with her husband, and her daughter Sarah, and having died in or before 1668, having been mother not only of Sarah, but also, according to tradition, of “Robert, King Carter,” who d. Aug. 4, 1732, in his 69th year”. (Charles Penrose Keith, The Ancestry of Benjamin Harrison: President of the United States of America, p. 87, 1893).

Probate of Will of Edward Carter of Edmonton, esq.; made Oct. 18, 1682; proved P.C.C. Bequests include: all premises in Edmonton, 1/3 share of all premises in Chalfont St. Peter, Buckinghamshire, and plantations called Brices and Monasco on north side of River Rappahannock, Virginia, to son Edward Carter and his heirs, with remainder to eldest daughter, Elizabeth, and her heirs; other premises in Virginia and Maryland to be sold by executrix and proceeds used for education of children; also legacies to poor of parishes of Edmonton and St. Dunstan in the East. Nov. 29, 1682. (London Met. Arch., ACC/1376/67).

“Colonel Carter married, first, apparently, Jane Glyn, who was the mother of George, John, and Elizabeth Carter. His second wife, Eleanor, the widow Brocas, of the ancient family of Eltonhead of Eltonhead, Lancashire, whose four sisters. married into Virginia and Maryland families and left descendants, seems to have had no children. The third wife, Anne, the daughter of Cleave Carter, who was probably a cousin, as “Cleve” is the name of one of the Carter places, also died childless. Sarah Ludlow, Colonel John Carter’s fourth wife, died in or before 1668, and was the mother of Robert Carter of “Corotoman,” popularly known as “King Carter”. Colonel Carter’s fifth wife, who is mentioned in his Will, was Elizabeth Shirley, and she had one son, Charles Carter, of whom nothing is known beyond the mention of his name in the Wills of his father and his brother John.

The evidence for the Ludlow maternal parentage of “King Carter,” corroborating the statement as made by one of his descendants, is to be found in the arms on the tombstone over his first wife. This is decorated with two shields, each bearing the Carter arms (azure, a chevron or, between three wheels) impaled, with another coat. The impaled arms of one shield bears three crosses croslet, and is to be interpreted as representing Colonel John Carter’s mother or paternal grandmother. The families of Kerby, Thears, and Candishe all bore the three crosses croslet, the difference being in the tinctures.

The female half of the other shield (a chevron between three heads, erased, of animals, evidently martens, as borne by Ludlow) could only be appropriate to Robert Carter as the son of the Ludlow marriage. It may be noted also that the name of Ludlow” was given to the place of one of King Carter’s grandsons. From Robert, the only son of Colonel John Carter and Sarah Ludlow, all the Carters of Virginia, of whose ancestry anything is now known, are descended”. (Thomas Allen Glenn, Colonial Mansions: And Those who Lived in Them, p. 218, 1898).

1.2. “William Carter of Limehous”, m. “Martha Rainam of Ratcliff”, on October 15, 1599.
1.2.1. Edward (Carter), difficult to read, bapt. July 20, 1608, s.o. “William … of Lymehous, mariner”. Limehouse adjoined the hamlet of Ratcliff.
1.2.2. William Carter, bapt. Sept. 11, 1611, s.o. “William Carter of Ratcliff, Marriner”.
1.2.2.1. John Carter, bapt. Nov. 28, 1630, s.o. “Wm. Carter of Ratcliff, Marriner, and Hanna” (Reignolds), m. June 11, 1620.
1.2.2.2. John Carter, bapt. (6 days old), Dec. 2, 1647, s.o. “John Carter of Ratliff, mariner, and Ann”.

1.3. Richard Carter.
1.3.1. John Carter, bapt. Dec. 16, 1599, s.o. Richard
1.3.2. (Possibly, “Edward Carter of Ratcliffe mariner”, who m. “Gartrad Stratton widow”, on Feb. 13, 1623).

1.4. Cuthbert Carter (perhaps named for the Cuthbert family of Limehouse, mariners).
1.4.1. Wm. Carter, bapt. Dec. 23, 1599, which matches the deposition of William Carter, made in Surry County, May 2, 1654, William Carter stated he was 54 years of age and that his wife Alice Croxon was aged 55, which would match the birthdate of Alice Crockson (bapt. Feb. 25, 1609/10 in St, Dunstan), if a mistake in transcripton has occurred, with her being 45, instead of 55 years of age in 1654; which would conform the the norm of this time of a wife being younger than her husband.
1.4.2. (Possibly, “Edward Carter of Ratcliffe mariner”, who m. “Gartrad Stratton widow”, on Feb. 13, 1623).

About 1668, a Edward Carter returned to England, and lived at Edmonton, in Middlesex, just outside of London. Perhaps he buried on November 13, 1682, presumably in the middle aisle of the Church of Saint Dunstan in the East, in London, as his will specified.

by m stanhope, copyright B.T. Shannon 2024