Carter, Charles Wesley 1853-1954 & Clementine Perdue Family

CARTER, PERDUE, CLARK, SHRIVER

Posted By: Wilma J. Vande Berg - volunteer (email)
Date: 12/28/2021 at 08:49:01

Carter, Charles Wesley 1853-1954 and Clementine Perdue Family

This story was taken from the ‘Rock Valley Records & Recollections’ book (pp. 65-66) written about 1976 in honor of the two hundredth birthday of our nation. Story found on pages 65 and 66. It was a revision of the history written by Lottie Thomas in 1955. It was transcribed for this BIOS by Beth De Leeuw of the Greater Sioux County Genealogical Society and some research notes were added.

In October, 1888, Charles Wesley Carter brought his family to live in Rock Valley. They had previously lived in Orange City where Mr. Carter had practiced law. He had invested in land west of Rock Valley and moved here to develop it.

Mr. Carter was the first mayor of Rock Valley, serving from January 16, 1889, to March 11, 1889. From the old records, he apparently engineered the incorporation of the town and took office until a mayor could be elected. He also served as a member of the town council for several years, and as a member of the state legislature from Sioux County for two terms, 1900 and 1902.

In an early day, he was one of a group of citizens who was interested in the race track which was located on the west side of Main Street at the north edge of town. Horse races were held there each summer for many years and drew big crowds from the surrounding territory. As a hobby, Mr. Carter raised and trained horses for racing. He was also one of the men who owned interest in the boat, “The Rock Valley.”

Mr. Carter helped organize the Farmers Lumber Company, and for a short time he operated a grain elevator in Rock Valley. In about 1890 he bought, in partnership, the lumber yard now known as the Rock Valley Lumber Company.

Mr. Carter helped to organize the Rock Valley Fair Association. He was also an organizer of the Masonic Lodge in Rock Valley.

He and his wife were members of a Chautauqua Circle in town. This was a reading group of ten to twelve couples which met every two weeks to discuss reading assignments. Each year’s course covered six books of history, biography, or economics.

For many years Mrs. Carter was active in the town’s Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and she attended two of their national conventions, at Boston, Mass., and Chicago, Ill. She also organized a group of young men and women into a society called the “Y,” which was sponsored by the W.C.T.U. A large number of the young people belonged, for in addition to temperance programs, it was a popular social group. Mrs. Carter was also instrumental in organizing the P.E.O. in Rock Valley

The Carters were very hospitable and many guests entered their home. They tried to provide pleasure for their children and included their neighbor’s and friend’s children. They had a tennis court in the summer and in the winter it was banked up for a skating rink.

Once, in about 1897, the two elder daughters had a house party and nine girls from Alton and Orange City came to stay three days. The outstanding entertainment was the last day, Mr. Carter chartered a merry-go-round for a morning and all the children of the neighborhood and others who, hearing the music, came, joined the house party and rode for two solid hours free!

In 1902 the family moved to Grinnell, Iowa so that the children might attend college there. In 1913 they moved to California. Mrs. Carter died in 1933 and Mr. Carter in 1934.

In 1911 Henry B. Carter, the only son of the Carters, returned to Rock Valley and in partnership with Mr. Freerks, bought the same lumber yard which his father had owned twenty years before. He and his wife lived here until 1917 when he enlisted in the U.S. Army. After the war, he and his family moved to California.

(Above - Condensed from history written by Lucia Carter Harper in 1955)

An early land map of the Rock Valley area indicates that Mr. Carter had extensive landholdings west of town. The land four and one-half miles west of Rock Valley, south of Hi-way 18, is still Carter land, being owned by a grandson, Carter Pitts, a resident of LeMars, Iowa and publisher of the town newspaper. Presently, the Jake Kooimas live on this farm. On this farm was located the grain storage buildings used to store Mr. Carter’s share of the crops from all his farms in the area. The only remains of this granary are some foundation rocks on its location. Also on this farm Mr. Carter built a fence using cement fence posts, and of these about one-fourth of a mile still remain.

Another Carter landmark is Carter’s Bridge, located on what was Carter land at one time, being west of Rock Valley on Hi-way 18, and just south of the Rock River Bridge. The original road went over this bridge. Later the road was straightened at this point and the present bridge built, leaving the old Carter Bridge unused and deteriorating until today only a few pilings and some broken concrete remain. The Bill Ter Maats live on this farm now.

The Carter home in Rock Valley was at 1805 17th Street. The house is now the residence of the Sparky De Ruyter family.

Above concludes Story in the Rock Valley book.

Obits added by Beth De Leeuw
OBITUARY OF CHARLES WESLEY CARTER
From the Hawarden Independent, August 30, 1934
WAS SIOUX COUNTY PIONEER
Charles W. Carter Passed Away in Pasadena, Calif., Aug. 21st
Charles W. Carter, Sioux county pioneer and one time representative in the state legislature from Sioux county, passed away at his home in Pasadena, Calif., Aug. 21st, following a three day illness from pneumonia. He was 81 years old.
Mr. Carter came to Sioux county in 1878 and located in Orange City where he practiced law for ten years. In 1888 he discontinued legal practice and moved to Rock Valley where he engaged in business and became one of Sioux county's most extensive land owners. He was elected to the state legislature in 1898 and served two terms, resigning that office in 1902 when he moved with his family to Grinnell Iowa. In 1912 the family moved to Pasadena, Calif., where he has since resided. Mrs. Carter passed away last November.
Mr. Carter is survived by five daughters and one son, Mrs. A. S. Harper, Oelwein, Iowa; Mrs. C. W. Pitts, Alton; and Mrs. W. A. Wilkinson, Henry B. Carter, Edna Louise Carter and Mrs. E. D. Vasse, all of Pasadena. Funeral services were held in Pasadena last Wednesday and the body was then brought to Orange City this week for interment in the family lot there.
* * * * * * * * * *
From the Alton Democrat, August 24, 1934:
DEATH CALLS C. W. CARTER AT PASADENA
Mined Coal in His Youth—Early Citizen
Mrs. C. W. Pitts has received word that her father, Charles Wesley Carter, passed away Tuesday, August 21, at his home in Pasadena, California. Death resulted from pneumonia following a three-day illness.
Mr. Carter was born April 11, 1853, near East St. Louis, Illinois. As a young man he worked in coal mines at Collinsville, Illinois, later as a telegraph operator, and for three years as a station agent at Brownville, Ill., which position he resigned to study law. He graduated from what is now the School of Law of Northwestern University and in November, 1878, came to Sioux county with Charles L. Davidson, a classmate. They drove all over Sioux county, as the result of which Mr. Davidson located at Pattersonville, now Hull, and Mr. Carter located at Orange City.
He was married in 1882 to Clemmie Purdue, and they lived in Orange City until October, 1888, when they moved to Rock Valley, at which time Mr. Carter, due to trouble with his eyes, gave up the practice of law and went into business. Mr. Carter was elected state representative in 1898, and served in the state legislature for two terms, resigning that office in 1902, when he and his family moved to Grinnell. In 1912 they moved to Pasadena, California, where they have since resided. As one of its pioneers, Mr. Carter took an active part in all Sioux county affairs until he left, and like most of its pioneers, he never lost his interest or faith in Sioux county. He was a member of the Christian church.
Funeral services were conducted in Pasadena on Wednesday, August 22, and will be followed by interment at the family lot at the Orange City cemetery, probably on Tuesday, August 23. Mrs. Carter passed away last November.
The following children mourn their loss: Mrs. A. S. Harper, Olwein; Mrs. C. W. Pitts, Alton; and Mrs. W. A. Wilkinson, Henry B. Carter, Edna Louise Carter and Mrs. E. D. Vasse, all of Pasadena. Two brothers, Donald Carter of Chicago, Ill., and George Carter, Santa Ana, California, and one sister, Miss Luvley Carter, of Santa Ana, also survive.
* * * * * * * * * *
From the Rock Valley Bee, August 31, 1934:
DEATH OF C. W. CARTER
(From Pasadena Star, Aug. 21)
Charles Wesley Carter, for twenty one years a resident of Pasadena, died at his home, 424 North Madison avenue, early this morning after a short illness.
Mr. Carter was born near Collinsville, Ill., April 11, 1853, the son of Henry T. and Hester Ann Carter. He was graduated in 1878 from the Chicago College of Law, later Northwestern University, and moved to Orange City, Iowa in that same year to practice law. He was a resident of Orange City and Rock Valley, Ia., until 1902, and took an active and influential part in the development of Northwestern Iowa, representing Sioux county in the Iowa State Legislature until he resigned in 1902 to make his home at Grinnell.
Mr. Carter married Clementine Perdue, at Oskaloosa, Iowa, in 1882, who preceded him in death on November 27 last year. Mr. and Mrs. Carter, after spending a number of winters in California, chose Pasadena for their home in 1913, moving here from Grinnell, Iowa, and purchasing the residence on North Madison Avenue which has been the family home since that time. Mr. Carter was a member of Pasadena Lodge No. 272, F. & A.M.; the Pasadena Scottish Rite; and attended the First Congregational church.
[Survivors same as above, and fifteen grandchildren.] Funeral services will be held at Ives & Warren mortuary, North Hill Avenue, at 2 p.m. tomorrow. Dr. Daniel F. Fox will officiate.

RESEARCH NOTES: added by Wilma J. Vande Berg
Family history taken from and account on Ancestry.com (done by other family members)

Charles Wesley Carter was born 1853 Collinsville, St. Clair, Illinois and died 21 Aug 1934 Pasadena, Los Angeles, CA. His parents were listed as Henry Tolson Carter 1809-1876 and Hester Ann Clark 1815-1858.

His wife was Clementine Perdue born 23 Nov 1856 Minerva Stark Ohio and died 27 Nov 1933 Pasadena, CA. Her parents were Benjamin Rush Perdue 1820-1887 and Catharine Shriver 1825-1905

Children listed were: Clarie Leighton Carter 1883-1885; Lucia May Carter 1885-1977; Hester Perdue Carter 1886-1963; Henry Benjamin Carter 1888-1950, Anna Lois Carter 1891-1975, Anna Carter 1894- ; Edna Louise Carter 1894-1974; and Jesse Marie Carter 1896-1975.

OBITUARY OF CLEMENTINE CARTER
Rock Valley Bee December 8, 1933
Death of Former Resident
Mrs. C. W. Carter, a former pioneer resident of Rock Valley, passed away at her home in Pasadena, CA Nov 27, 1933 The following account of her death is taken from the Pasadena Star News:
Mrs. C. W. Carter a resident of Pasadena since 1913, died at her home 424 North Madison Ave at 6 O’clock last night of heart disease after an illness of less that one week.
Surviving are her husband, Chas. W. Carter; a son Henry B. Carter of Cannaga Park; Five daughters, Mr. A. S Harper, Oelwein IA; Mrs. C. W. Pittes, Alton; Mrs. W. A. Wilinson; Mrs. E. D Vasse and Miss Edna Carter , all of Pasadena and fifteen grandchildren. Mr. and Mrs. Carter had celebrated their 51st wedding anniversary on Oct 10.
Before her marriage, Mrs. Carter was Miss Clementine Perdue. She was born in Minerva OH, November 23, 1856, the daughter of Benjamin Rush and Catherine Shriver Perdue. Shortly thereafter the Perdues removed to Oskaloosa, IA where her girlhood was spent. She was educated at Penn College, Oskaloosa, and taught in the Oskaloosa schools for a number of years.
In 1872 she was married to Charles W. Carter, the couple making their home in Orange City IA, and Later Rock Valley, IA where they were identified with the growth and development of the then new country of northwestern IA. In 1902 they moved to Grinnell IA, where they made their home ntil they ame to Pasadena in 1913.
Mrs. Carter was a member of the PFO sisterhood for many years, becoming a member of Chapter F in Pasadena, in which he held many offices. She was a charter member of the Martin Severame Chapter DAR, in which she served as regent, and at one time was a state officer. She was also a member of the Shakespeare Club and Civic League. During her residence in Pasadena she was an attendant of the First Congregational church. Funeral services will be held on Wed. at 3 pm at the chapel of Ives and Warren Co. conducted by Dr. Danial F. Faox, former pastor of the First Congregational Church. Interment will be private.

This picture of Charles Carter and wife Clementine Perdue was taken from the Carter family account on ancestry.com.

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