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Submitted: 11/29/16 • Approved: 11/29/16 • Last Updated: 12/2/16 • R1162945-G0-S3
SERGEANT Company I 36 Arkansas Infantry
Confederate States Army
December 5, 1837 - June 22, 1925
William M. Carter was born in Habersham County, Georgia, on 5 Dec 1837, the fourth child and second son of Thomas Carter Sr. and Jane (Irvin) Carter. He came with his parents to what is now Faulkner County in the late 1840s. On 15 Aug 1858, he married Mary Jane Lackey, the daughter of George Washington Lackey and Louisa Jane (James) Lackey. Mary Jane was born in Tennessee, on 24 Dec 1843, and was only 14 at the time of her marriage to William. During the Civil War, William M. Carter served first in Co. "I", 36th Arkansas Infantry, Confederate. He enlisted at Springfield, Conway County, Arkansas, in June 1862. He served as a sergeant with this unit into 1863, seeing action at the battles of Prairie Grove in northwest Arkansas on 7 Dec 1862 and at Helena on the Mississippi River on 4 July 1863. He is shown as present on the rolls through 31 Aug 1863. William then left the Confederate Army and joined the Union forces at Little Rock on 27 Dec 1863. He served as a sergeant in Co. "L", 3rd Arkansas Cavalry, until the end of the war, being mustered out on 30 June 1865. It is not known positively why William switched sides during the war, but several men from this area are known to have done the same thing. Pressure to join the Union army could have come from the Union troops themselves, since this part of Arkansas was occupied by the Union from early 1863 until the end of the war. Switching sides did not always indicate a sudden change in loyalties but a need to protect one's family and self in the presence of "the enemy."
Sentiment toward men who served on both sides during the war was not always positive, and William moved his family to Van Buren County following his discharge. There he appeared on the 1870 census, living not far from his mother-in-law, who had also moved to Van Buren County following the death of her husband in 1865. Three of William and Mary Jane's children-Sam, Joe, and Veane-were born in Van Buren County. The rest were born in what is now Faulkner County.
After returning to Faulkner County, the Carters lived for a time in the Sunny Gap community near where his father had operated a cotton gin before the war. William and Mary Jane were living in the northeast corner of Cadron Township on the 1880 census, as was their oldest daughter and her family. Later, the Carters lived in the Holland community in Harve Township, where William served as a Justice of the Peace for many years. They were members of Oakland Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
In later years, William applied for and received a pension from the United States for his service in the 3rd Arkansas Cavalry. His service records also give his physical description at the time of his enlistment in 1863: 5 ' 11 1/2" tall, light complexion, black eyes, and sandy hair. His occupation was listed as farmer. William M. Carter died on 22 June 1925 at his home in Holland. He was almost 88 years old. His wife Mary Jane (Lackey) Carter died on 1 Sept 1925 at the age of 81. "Grandpa" and "Grandma" Carter are both buried in Oakland Cemetery at Holland, along with all of their daughters.
William and Mary Jane Carter were the parents of ten children:. Amanda T. "Mandy", married her first cousin, Bart E. Butler; George Thomas, married Sarah Elizabeth Sosbee; William M. Jr. "Bill", married Francis E. "Fannie" DeFoor; Charley (William M. Jr.'s twin) who died young; Samuel Houston, married Ella Robertson; Joseph E., married Mary Jane Guess; Mary Louvenia "Veane", married Charles Wesley Jackson; Clarissa A. "Clara", married Joseph Harry McCarty; Martha Jane "Doll", married first to William Cullen Grisham, second to Franklin Howard McCarty, and third to Eli Jasper Glover; and Cora Belle, married first to James Wesley Clements, second, for a short time, to William Arch Middleton, and third to Henry Matthews Chaney.
Family links:
Parents:
Thomas Carter (1801 - 1865)
Jane C. Irwin Carter (1803 - 1880)
Spouse:
Mary Jane Lackey Carter (1843 - 1925)
Children:
Amanda T. Carter Butler (1859 - 1930)
George Thomas Carter (1862 - 1936)
William M. Carter (1864 - 1935)
Charles Carter (1864 - 1870)
Samuel Houston Carter (1867 - 1939)
Joseph Elbert Carter (1870 - 1949)
Mary Louvenia "Veane" Carter Jackson (1872 - 1947)
Clarissa A. Carter McCarty (1876 - 1903)
Martha Jane Carter Glover (1878 - 1959)
Cora Bell Carter Clements (1880 - 1964)
Siblings:
Elizabeth Carter Arnold (1825 - 1906)
Lavina Carter Butler (1829 - ____)
Alfred Carter (1833 - 1908)
William M. Carter (1837 - 1925)
George Washington Carter (1840 - 1913)
Thomas Carter (1843 - 1864)
Contributed on 11/29/16 by hawkinsdonna
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Record #: 1162945