Side - Union; Company - C; Soldier's
Rank In - Pvt; Soldier's Rank Out - Pvt
Date of filing: 1904 Dec 9; Invalid; Appl # - 1328585; Cert. # -
1103831
May E. Carter (daughter) 1874-1958
Wilbur E. Carter born Oct. 27,
1878 died Oct. 16, 1888
Biographical Publishing
Company,
Chicago 1900. Page 359-360.
In
the years that have elapsed since Mr. Carter first came to Joliet
there has been a marked development of the city’s commercial and
manufacturing
interests, and he has witnessed the growth of local enterprises with
the
keenest penetration as to future prosperity. When
he arrived here, during the Civil war, he had
himself but recently
left the army and had endured the hardships and dangers of a soldier’s
life. As he was brave and loyal in
service, so he has since been public spirited as a citizen. In the various occupations he has followed it
has been said of him that he invariably proved himself to be honest and
reliable. In 1892 he started a
greenhouse at No. 601 Collins street
and afterward built two others, in order to accommodate his growing
business in
the propagation of plants and the sale of flowers.
The
Carters are an old Maine
family. Charles E. was born in
Hallowell, that state, and was the oldest of three sons, two of whom
attained
manhood. His brother, Eugene B.,
enlisted in the First Maine Cavalry during the Civil war and died while
at the
front. The father, B.J., who was a
carpenter and builder in Hallowell, married Louisa F., daughter of
Timothy
Stevens, who moved from New Hampshire
to Maine and settled on
a
farm. She was born in Maine
and died in Joliet in
July, 1898,
when eighty-four years of age. In the
village where he was born, June
4, 1842,
Charles E. Carter grew to manhood, meantime studying in the public
schools and
an academy. When he was a small child
his father died, and in 1853 his mother was again married, her second
husband
dying in 1858.
In
September, 1861, Mr. Carter enlisted in Company C, first Maine Cavalry,
which
was mustered in at Augusta, Me.,
and wintered in that state, joining the army of the Potomac
in March, 1862. Not long afterward he
was taken ill and sent to the hospital, where he remained until, on
account of
physical disability, he was discharged October 20, 1862. After
a short
visit in Maine he
settled in this
county in March, 1863, and for a few months worked on a farm, after
which he
took a course in the Chicago
Commercial College. On his return he became a member of the firm
of Campbell & Carter, but after a year sold out and engaged in the
hardware
business. In 1866 he started across the
plains with an ox-team from Iowa
to Virginia City, Mont.,
following the Powder River route through the
Big Horn
country. The next year that route had to
be abandoned on account of Indian hostilities, and at the time he
crossed via
that route the Indians stampeded stock-trains ahead and behind of him. He encountered many dangers in the
trans-Mississippi region, but passed safely through them all. He remained only a short time in the west,
his mother’s ill-health causing him to return to Illinois. The trip back was made from Fort
Benton by flat-boat
to Sioux City, Iowa,
where he took the
train for Joliet.
During
the first two years after his return to this city Mr. Carter carried on
a
roofing business. Next he engaged in
farming near Mexico,
Mo.
Again coming back to Joliet,
he began gardening on a small farm adjoining the city, remaining there
for
eight years. In December, 1880, he
accepted a position as time-keeper for the Illinois Steel Company, with
whom he
remained, with the exception of one year, until January, 1898, being
chief
time-keeper twelve years, and keeping the time of more than two
thousand men. He finally resigned, in
order to devote his
attention to the florist’s business, which he had started six years
before. On the Republican ticket he was
elected alderman from the first ward, which office he filled for two
years. In religion he is a Universalist. For two years he was secretary of the board
of directors of the Steel Works Club, of which he was one of the first
members. He is connected with Bartleson
Post No. 6, G.A.R. While living in Missouri
he married Miss Annette Evarts, who was born in New
York. Of their
children, Ada
and Wilber died at the age of four and ten years; Alice,
Mrs. Harris, resides in Joliet;
May
L. and Harry are at home, the former assisting in the greenhouse.