Landon Carter

Col. Landon Carter, I (August 18, 1710 – December 22, 1778) was an American planter and burgess for Richmond County, Virginia. Although one of the most popular patriotic writers and pamphleters of pre-Revolutionary and Revolutionary-era Virginia, he may today be perhaps best known for his journal, which described colonial life leading up the American War of Independence, The Diary of Colonel Landon Carter. Early life and schooling Landon Carter was the son of Robert Carter (a Virginia-born merchant planter, so rich and politically powerful that contemporaries nicknamed him "King" Carter) and his second wife. His mother died when he was young, and his father remarried, but died when Landon was still a boy. His elder half brother John Carter became guardian of his under-age half siblings, and his brother Robert's young son, Robert Carter III, who would like his uncle John serve many years on the Governor's Council. In 1719, at the age of nine, Landon Carter was sent to England to be schooled under the early linguist, Solomon Lowe. Although he proved a good student and received four more years of education than his brother Charles Carter of Cleve, Landon returned to Virginia in 1727, where he continued his education at the College of William and Mary, then assisted his father operating various plantations and other businesses. Family connections and personal life "King" Carter died in 1732, and upon reaching legal age, Landon inherited a portion of his father's estate. He would marry three times, each time within the First Families of Virginia. He survived all three wives and increased his landholdings (which he farmed using enslaved labor) and siring several children. Shortly after reaching legal age, Carter married his first wife, Elizabeth Wormeley, daughter of burgess Ralph Wormeley. She died in 1740, but gave birth to Robert Wormeley Carter, who had at times a rocky relationship with his father, but ultimately followed a similar career path. In 1742, Landon married Maria Byrd, the 15 year old daughter of William Byrd II, who died two years later. Carter married his third wife, Elizabeth Beale, in 1746, and decided not to remarry again after her death.