William D. Carter was born on 28. Jul. 1836 at Harrison County, Indiana. He was the son of
William Davisson Carter and
Eleanor Lemmon. William D. Carter married
Martha Combs Conover, daughter of
Levi P. Conover and
Margaret Wilson, on 26. Nov. 1857 at Lewiston, Fulton County, Illinois. William D. Carter was a farmer on 16. Jul. 1870.
William D. Carter and
Martha Combs Conover appeared on the census of 16. Jul. 1870 at Sulpher Springs, Morgan County, Illinois. William D. Carter was a farmer on 1. Jun. 1880.
William D. Carter and
Martha Combs Conover appeared on the census of 1. Jun. 1880 at Alexander, Morgan County, Illinois. William D. Carter and
Martha Combs Conover resided at at Yates Center, Woodson County, Kansas, c 1887. William D. Carter married
Louisa Foutch in 1892 at Woodson County, Kansas. William D. Carter died on 1. Mar. 1900 at age 63. He was buried a 1. Mar. 1900 at Foutch Cemetery, Fulton County, Illinois. William appears in his parents' Harrison County, Indiana household in the 1850 and 1860 Indiana census records. He was listed as a 24 year old day laborer in 1860, when he was the only child left at home. His name is given as William D. Carter in his father's will, in which he was left $25 rather than an equal share of the estate.
Nancy Grieve (nancy@avonil.net) sent an e-mail note 14 Jul 1999 saying she had found William D. Carter buried in Foutch Cemetery, Fulton County, Illinois. He was in the Civil War, Co. A, 12th Inf., Co. 58. She sent the following information from his pension papers: Born 1836 Harrison Co IN. Raised there, his father lived near the Ohio River, in Indiana. Enlisted 23 April 1861 at New Albany, Indiana, Floyd County, age 25. Discharged 19 May 1862, Washington, DC. Lived in
Harrison County after discharge until 1870, when he moved to Illinois. Declaration for invalid Army Pension 1879, res. Alexander, in Morgan Co., IL. Went back to Harrison County, Indiana in June 1879 to get witnesses (doctor) for claim for pension. Marriage information and birth of son James was included, and information on children of his second wife. We subsequently obtained a copy of William's pension papers. The text of a statement he made on December 10, 1880, at Alexander, Illinois in support of his claim follows:
"Dear Sir:
Yours of ?? just received and in reply will say that I was born and raised in Harrison Co. Ind. My occupation previous to my enlistment into the Army was a farm laborer. My father lived near the Ohio river on the Indiana side. His family physician was Dr. Ambrose Geohaghan, who lives in Kentucky just across
the river. I still lived in Harrison Co., Ind. after my discharge until the year 1870 when I moved to this state where I now live. My physicians since I came here have been Drs. E.F. Baker and Samuel Edwards. My occupation since my discharge has been farming--what time I have been able to work. I have been employed as superintendent of a farm and keeping boarding-house for Sam. S. Dewees who lives at this place. At present I am keeping his boardinghouse only. I am not able to perform hard labor at anytime on account of a severe pain in the right side. I can superintend a farm and keep men at work in fine weather, but the least cold I take it lays me up with a severe pain in my right side so that I am not able to be out of doors more than one half of my time. The doctors call my disease chronic pleurisy. Upon the slightest exposure I am laid up and have to call a physician. The first time I felt this pain in my side was in Dec. 1861 about the 20th. I was on picket duty at the time at a place called Shephards Island on the Potomac river in the state of Maryland. I took a hard chill while on duty and was carried to Sharpsburg in an ambulance and placed in the hospital where I was treated by Drs. Howard and Campfield. The Drs. called my disease typhoid pneumonia. For two months I was sick in the hospital. After I was discharged from the hospital I was not able to perform any manual duty, but was kept on the payrolls until May 1862 when I was discharged from the service and went home. Since I was taken sick when on picket duty, as before
stated, I have never been free from a pain in the right side. When the regiment marched I was no longer able to march in the ranks and had my arms and accoutrements ordered carried by the regimental doctors (Howard and Campfield). I was back in Indiana in Harrison Co., where I was raised in June 1879. I went there to get witnesses in my claim for pension. Dr. Goehagan attended upon me several times after I was discharged until I moved to this state. Drs. Baker and Edmonds have attended on me since I have been in this state, and their attendance has been so frequent that it would be hard to enumerate them--I think it would be safe to say twenty times each. Their address is Alexander, Morgan Co. Ill. I find that my disease grows worse as I grow older and the doctors inform me that I cannot be cured but must continue to grow worse. I was drafted into the Army in 1864 and was assigned to Co. K 58th Ind. but was not able to do any duty. At the present time I am not able to leave the house and cannot draw a long breath without pain. Believing that I have answered the questions asked in your letter, I am, Yours Respectfully, William D. Carter."
The Fulton County, Illinois census for 1860 shows William's wife Martha and her son living with Martha 's mother and brother. Why William would have been living with his parents and Martha with her mother is a mystery right now. William is listed as a 43 year old brick mason in the 1880 Alexander, Morgan County, Illinois census. Also in the household were wife Martha, son James, cousin Martha Wilson, servant Sallie Mathews and boarders Stephen A. Baker, Harvy
Sorrells, and Henry Plumper. William listed his father's birthplace as Tennessee and his mother's as Maryland.
On September 13, 1873 William D. Carter of Morgan County purchased Lot Number 1 in Block Number 15 in Alexander, Morgan County, Illinois from James C. and Emma J. Garmong. On August 14, 1886 William and wife Martha C. Carter of Woodson County, Kansas sold the same lot to Samuel S. Dewees.
William has a Union tombstone in Foutch Cemetery, Isabel Township, Fulton County, Illinois. It provides his birth and death dates and states that he was a veteran of Co. A 12th Ind. Inf. Co. 58, Civil War. He also shares a stone with his second wife, Louisa (Foutch).