John Carter

John Carter (July 21, 1745August 19, 1814) was an early American printer, newspaper publisher, and postmaster of Providence, Rhode Island. Carter entered the printing profession as an apprentice of Benjamin Franklin while living in Philadelphia. After he entered into a partnership and ran The Providence Gazette, which he eventually purchased and ran on his own up until the year of his death. During the Gaspee Affair Carter played an active role in reporting the subsequent arrests and other developments in his newspaper, for which he himself was arrested, for libel. During his career as a vigilant printer Carter became one of the leading publishers and printers in the country. Family and early life John Carter was born to a prominent family in Philadelphia. He removed to Providence and after a few years there he married Almey Crawford, on May 14, 1769. Carter was the son of his father of the same name, John Carter, born in 1713, who married Elizabeth Spriggs on July 3, 1734, in Christ Church, Philadelphia, who was a descendant of John Carter, the elder, an early settler in Norfolk, Virginia. On May 14, 1769, Carter married Amey Crawford, the second daughter of Captain John and Abijah (Bowen) Crawford.