Baynes Carter, Patriot
(c1756 - c1788)
Baynes Carter was born to Thomas Carter Jr. (c1705-c1760) and his wife Mary on their
plantation in Goochland (formerly Henrico) County, Virginia, about 1756. The inventory
and appraisal of the estate of Baynes Carter, recorded in Henry County, Virginia, shows
that he died prior to 11 August 1788 at about 32 years of age.
Baynes Carter is believed to have been named for the Baynes family of Henrico County,
Virginia. Some researchers believe Baynes’ paternal grandfather was married to Susannah
Baynes, daughter of Edward. The name Susannah has been carried down thru the Carter
family for many generations, as has the name Baynes. The spelling of Baynes can also be
found in records as Bains, Baines, Barnes or Banes.
Baynes Carter’s paternal grandfather, Thomas Carter Sr. (died c1738), came to the Colony
of Virginia sometime prior to 1713 as is noted in Volume 3 of Cavaliers and Pioneers:
27 Jan 1713: Abraham Michaux [a Huguenot], 850 acres [New Land], Henrico Co VA; south
side of James River, p123, Patent Book 10, adjoining Mr. Chas Fleming on the river.
Importation of 9 persons: THOMAS CARTER, Andrew Sayer, Martha Riggs, Mary Miles, Susan
Wickson, Mary Loyd, Mary Mason, John Roberts Sr., Richard Cocke Jr.
This Carter family, one of several in the area, is thought to have arrived in the Colony
of Virginia from England. The Carter surname Y-DNA genealogy project shows the family to
be in the Q3 haplogroup which suggests that they most likely came to Britain with the
Norse Vikings, or with Roman troops and settlers of Western Asian or Eastern European
descent.
Thomas Carter Sr. and his family settled on the James River at the present-day town of
Cartersville, Virginia, which was named for the family. Thomas’s eldest son Robert owned
and operated a ferry there, known as Carter’s ferry. The family was neither of the
poorest or of the wealthiest class. Records show that the family was law-abiding and
active in their parish and community. They were landowners and industrious people and
appeared from various transactions to be allied with their more prosperous neighbor, the
Woodson family.
Baynes Carter’s father, Thomas Jr., was likely the second eldest son of Thomas Sr.
Thomas Carter Jr.'s Last Will and Testament was written 14 February 1760 and was
recorded in Goochland County on 19 April 1763. If his sons were named in chronological
order, his oldest would have been Thomas [III], then John, then Josiah, then Baynes. In
his Will, Thomas Carter refers to his ’Youngest sons, that is to say John Carter, Josiar
[sic] Carter, and Baynes Carter.’ He also refers to his wife Mary Carter. Mary may have
been Mary Kilpatrick based on the 1751 marriage recorded in the Douglas Register for
Thomas Carter to Mary Kilpatrick.
Thomas Carter Jr.'s will is abstracted as follows:
“In the name of God Amen, February 14th, 1760:
“To my Dear beloved son Baynes Carter the land I now live on containing 225 acres with my
house and plantation also one middle sized Rone mare with a white spot in her face. . .she
and her increase forever also one new man's saddle and bridle.”
Beginning in the early 1770's, there was a migration of families from the Goochland
County and surrounding area to southwest Virginia. Descendants of these families (Carter,
Atkins(on), Dillon, Callaway, Tatum, Anthony, Bowman, Stoval, and others) can still be
found in the beautiful and remote hills of Patrick and Henry Counties today. Baynes
Carter and his brothers Josiah and John, third generation Carters, were among the early
settlers who made their way south and west for better opportunities and more productive
land.
A 1773 Goochland County deed shows Baynes Carter and his widowed mother Mary, now of
Pittsylvania County, selling their home place to Samuel Coleman Morris. Beginning a year
or so prior to the sale of the Goochland County home place, Baynes, Josiah and John had
begun to leave records in Pittsylvania, Bedford and Henry Counties.
In August of 1774, records show that Baynes Carter, about age 18 or 19, received pay for
82 days service under Captain Abraham Penn in the conflict between the Colony of Virginia
and the Native Americans of the Ohio Valley. This conflict, Dunmore’s War, was named for
the Royal Governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, who organized a large militia to ultimately
prevent the Delaware, Mingo, and Shawnee from settling or hunting south of the Ohio River.
John Carter, an elder brother of Baynes, served in this conflict as well.
Just three years later, Baynes Carter (age 22) and his brother Josiah, along with other
citizens of Henry County, Virginia, were called upon to renounce their allegiance to Great
Britain and swear their allegiance to the Commonwealth of Virginia. Their signatures
appear on the on 30 August 1777 list of Edmond Lyne, Esquire. This demonstrates that both
men supported the impending Revolution and qualifies their descendants for membership in
the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution. Josiah is also recorded in the
Virginia Publick Claims for Henry County as being reimbursed for provisions supporting the
war:
Monday, 06 May 1782: 5s-6 for 3 diets, 1 bu corn, 1 peck do. furnished Hugh Armstrong on
march to General Greene with county lead; 4s-6 for 150 bundles fodder furnished Jacob Gore
quarter master Genl. 1st Regt, Light Dragoons; 10s for 4 bu corn meal furnished a guard
with British prisoners on march from the southward to Winchester; 12s for 3 bu rye for 4
teams on return from Charlotte in North Carolina to Peytonsburg by cert. from Wm. McCraw
ADQM.
Friday, 24 May 1782: 42s for a saddle impressed for hospital at Henry Courthouse &
lost.
Few records have surfaced on Baynes Carter but we know that he purchased “sundries” at
the estate sale of John Hail in Pittsylvania County (Inventory recorded 26 September
1774). He also served as a guard for his county in 1777: “Henry County Levy is made to
Baines [sic] Carter, guarding, same 5 days.” On 21 July 1778, Henry County deeds show
Josiah Carter conveying and selling to his brother Baynes 89 ½ acres of land crossing
Little Reedy Creek and Reed Creek to the mouth of said creek on Smith River. Over the
next few years, several other Henry County land transactions are recorded concerning
Baynes Carter. In 1780, Josiah Carter transferred some of his Reedy Creek property to his
brother Baynes due to damages sustained by Baynes resulting from a grist mill operation.
[This land is located near the present-day intersection of Route 220 and State Route 57
between Bassett and Collinsville, Virginia. Josiah Carter’s grist mill was still standing
there as of !
1920.] About the time Josiah Carter transferred the Reedy Creek property to his brother
Baynes, Josiah, along with a contingent of other Henry County, Virginia, families,
migrated farther south to the state of Georgia.
It’s not until a land transaction on 24 June 1784 that we learn Baynes Carter has a wife:
Baynes Carter and his wife Martha sell 221 ½ acres of land on Reed Creek to George
Hairston*. To date no marriage record or bond has been found and Martha’s surname remains
unknown, but other records conclude that Baynes and Martha had been married at least 10
years by this time. In 1788, just a few years after the sale of the 221 ½ acres of land,
Baynes Carter passed away, leaving a widow and a son Jesse, age 13.**
During the short span of Baynes Carter’s life, he likely heard about, and was inspired
by, his grandfather’s travels across the ocean to take advantage of the opportunities in a
new land. Just about 62 years from the time Thomas Carter Sr. arrived on the shores of
the Colony of Virginia, his grandson Baynes would travel into the wilderness of Virginia
to seek his own fortune. Unlike his grandfather, however, Baynes would see England loose
her grip on the Colonies and a new Nation begin under brilliant leadership with unheard of
rights for its citizens.
Written June 2007, by Rebecca R. Dyer, 5th Great Grand daughter of Baynes Carter.
* An excellent book about the Hairston family: The Hairstons: An American Family in Black
and White by Henry Wiencek
**I believe there was at least one other son: Baynes (born about 1784) who was in Warren
County, Georgia, in 1805, and migrated to, and died in, Louisiana around 1810.
Jesse Carter was born to Baynes and Martha in the fall of 1775, about a year after Baynes
served in Dunmore’s War. Jesse went on to take the young Elizabeth Philpott as his bride
on 25 May 1795, and followed in his father’s footsteps by serving his country as a Captain
in the War of 1812. Records show that Jesse Carter died at the age of 80 years and 2
months in neighboring Patrick County, Virginia.
SOURCE: Meet Your Ancestors: Descendants of Edward Philpott (1597? - 1678), Compiled by
Noland Hubbard Bowling, McDowell Publications, Utica, KY, 1985, page 116
Elizabeth Philpott, the daughter of David and Mary Ann Philpott, was born in Charles
County, Maryland, and if 18 years old when she was married, then she was born perhaps
around 1776 [rrd: born 1780 per tombstone]. She too had the distinction of being among
the 5th generation of Philpotts born in Charles County, Maryland, on the lands of her
ancestor, Edward Philpott, and therefore of the 6th generation to live there for a brief
time. Her home was in Guilford County, North Carolina, in 1781 when her father died. She
was in Henry County, Virginia, when she married. On May 25, 1795, a marriage license was
issued to Jesse Carter and Elizabeth Philpott. Her mother, Mary Ann Philpott and her
uncle John Philpott, who was appointed guardian by her father in his Last Will and
Testament in 1781, gave their consent for this marriage. James Meridith was security
[Henry Co VA MR].
Elizabeth Philpott's brother, Edward, was a Lieutenant in the 18th Regiment of the
Virginia Militia in the War of 1812 and was discharged in 1814. Edward married Martha
Turner, daughter of William Turner and Jane Hunter, and was Gentleman Justice of Patrick
County, Virginia, from 1809 thru 1836. He also served as Sheriff of Patrick County from
1832-1834. Edward Philpott was an ancestor of the former Speaker of the Virginia House of
Delegates, The Honorable A. L. Philpott.