Source: CARTER-L(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: [CARTER-L] Ammon Carter
The below information is possibly seriously flawed. First, the Joseph
Carter who died in Spotsylvania in 1751 (I put three * beside him), WAS
NOT NECESSARILY the son of William Carter of Middlesex.
I agree this far.
Many believe (in
fact the mainstream) he was the son of CPT Thomas Carter Jr. Next,
there is a great controversy as to if this Joseph Carter married
Catherine AMMONS or Catherine STEVENS (as Dr. Miller said).
I also agree about the controversy, and I have never seen any evidence to
strongly favor either conclusion. I don't agree that those who think this
Joseph was the son of Capt. Thomas are any more knowledgeable or have any
better evidence than those who think he was William's son.
It is possible William of Middlesex had a Joseph who married a
Catherine
Ammons, but it wouldn't have been this Joseph..
And what do you base that on? Do you have evidence to rule it out? There
is a much better case for the Joseph who married Catherine Ammon in
Middlesex being William's son than Thomas'. But that still doesn't help
decide who the Joseph is who left his will in Spotsylvania dated 1750,
probated 1751. There is another record of a Joseph who I think is more
likely to be Thomas's son than William's in a different location (another
county in Va. I think), but I can't put find it at the moment. (I will post
the data when I find it.)
There is more on this argument in a book by Elby Bowman
Mr. Bowman gives a pretty good analysis of the available evidence, and I
agree with him on most of his analysis (I had done most of the same analysis
independently before reading his work a year or so ago), but he suffers
from the same problem we all have--there just isn't enough data to decide
the matter conclusively. Another analysis of the Virginia Carter mess that
I like is in "THE ANCESTRY OF BENJAMIN HARRISON" by Charles P. Keith,
Philadelphia, 1893.