Joel Roger Carter

  Noted events in his life were:

• source. Anne Speight who notes:
Between 1867 and 1871, Joel's son John and his family returned from London. On the 1871 census John Carter is described as a market gardener, living in Newton Poppleford.
In 1873, Joel's younger brother, Robert, died aged 60. He suffered from pulmonary and cardiac disease for about a year and also from anasarca (dropsy) for about three months. In Robert Carter's will he is described as of Hayne in Ottery St. Mary. Robert left a legacy of £100 to his brother Joel and a similar sum to his sisters, Martha Ham and Elizabeth Salter. For his sister Anna Chown he left 5/- per week for life and for his brother John 3/- per week for life. The residue of Robert's estate was left to his widow Eliza and this included "all my household goods and furniture, china, linen, household and domestic effects, silver and plate jewellery and ornaments of the person". There was a sizable residue, several thousands of pounds.
In 1874, Joel's son Sydenham aged 37 years married Susan Emma Podbury, aged 22 years. The following year their first son Sydney was born.
In 1876, Joel's wife, Mary Carter died on the 13th March. She was aged 79 years. She was buried in the family grave at Harpford.
In 1877 when Joel re-wrote his will he mentioned each of his children and was aware of their various marriages. The family kept in contact with one another in Devon, Bath, London and Tasmania, Australia.
In a directory of 1878 Joel Carter and his son Sydenham are recorded as farmers of Podbury's Farm, Harpford. According to the family story all nine of Sydenham's children were born at Podbury's
In 1879 Joel Carter died aged 86 years. He was buried at Harpford in the family grave with his wife, mother-in-law, and six children, Sydenham 1831-1832, Betsy 1828-1833, Betsy 1833-1834, Robert 1842-1846, Anna 1821-1846 and William 1823-1848.
In full, Joel Carter's will reads as follows:
"The last will and testament of me Joel Carter, yeoman of the parish of Harpford, in the county of Devon made this 29th day of January in the year of Grace 1877. I do hereby give and bequeath the sum of £5 to each and every of my children as follows, that is to say to Joel Roger CARTER, Mary HOLMES wife of Thomas Holmes, Oliver CARTER, Sarah Hare WYATT wife of Thomas Wyatt, Joanna MacRUDEN wife of Hugh McRuden, John CARTER, Elizabeth DALEY wife of Michael Daley, Emily YOUNG wife of William Young. I also give and bequeath to my next of kin free from the power of any husband of my said daughters all the money that is vested in me as next of kin to my deceased brother Robert Carter, such money being divisible at the decease of Eliza Carter widow of the aforesaid Robert Carter. I also give and bequeath to my son Sydenham Carter all the residue and remainder whatsoever and wheresoever, and I also appoint my son Sydenham Carter the aforementioned to be the sole executor of this my last will and testament. As witness my hand this 29th day of January 1877."
The will was signed by Joel Carter and witnessed by Charles Mackie, clerk in holy orders, Harpford and John Seager Grundy, clerk in holy orders Honiton. Joel's estate was small, less than £100.
During his life, Joel Carter had come to live in much reduced circumstances. At the time of his birth the Carter's were a well established family with considerable status in the lower Otter valley, but by the time of Joel's death there were few Carter's left in the locality.
Joel's son, John Carter died at Newton Poppleford in 1879. His widow later remarried and returned to London.
Sydenham and Susan Carter remained at Podbury's for some years. But between 1891-1897 they lived at Rosebank Cottage, Harpford, before farming at Metcombe, in the parish of Ottery St Mary. In later years they lived at The Barton, Otterton.
There is no dispute that during the 19th century the Carters were a well established family in Harpford and were influential in political, social and economic spheres. By the close of the 19^th century the Carter family had largely dispersed.
Joel Carter lived through the reigns of four monarchs, George III, George IV, William IV and Queen Victoria. Throughout his life he would have seen many changes. Joel Carter, my great-great-great-great-grandfather, died in 1879 and the England of that time was very different to the England of his birth.
After the 1834 Poor Law Reform Act and the 1868 Church Rate Act (which made it no longer compulsory for people to pay a Church Rate), the inhabitants of Harpford parish were largely deprived of the opportunity to conduct their own parish affairs. In an age of progress there was less and less for them to do for themselves or that they were able to do owing to lack of funds. Locally it was an age of frustration not made any easier by the slow progress of the railway line from Ottery St. Mary to Sidmouth, which did not open until 1874. The branch line from Tipton to Budleigh Salterton was not opened until 1897.
During the nineteenth century the passage of the River Otter was becoming increasingly difficult and was a grave matter of concern to yachtsmen, fishermen, fishmongers and the farmers through whose meadows it flowed. The Harpford register of baptisms of 1813 until the middle of the century gives the calling of the father and includes mariner, rope maker, ships carpenter etc. It is hard today to picture a time when the River Otter was navigable. The trouble began as far back as 1811 with the enclosure of the estuarial land when it became difficult for shipping to cross the newly created shingle bar.
Generally, the outlook for the Carter family in Harpford was very limited.
In 1854 Joel Carter is listed on the electoral role as farmer of Harts. Having been declared bankrupt, it's interesting he was still entitled to vote.
Except for their married daughter, during the 1850's all of Joel and Mary Carter's daughters left Devon. With a spirit of adventure they appear to have headed towards London, probably to seek work as domestic servants. The family story says that the youngest, Emily was only 17 years old when she left home. Their son, John, also left Harpford in the 1850's.
What happened to the various children is described in the order in which they were born.
1) I believe Joel's daughter Sarah got as far as the Bath/Bristol area. On the 1861 census Sarah, 36 years, is a domestic servant, living at 8 Lambridge Place, Walcot, Bath with the elderly Ann Furber and her unmarried daughters. In 1871 Sarah is still in service with Ann Furber but they now lived at 28 Park Street, Wilton, near Taunton, Somerset. At 47 years old, Sarah Carter married Thomas Wyatt on 11^th April 1871 at Wilton, both of them were grandchildren of Anna Carter, née Vincent. The marriage was witnessed by Sarah's brother, Sydenham Carter, of Harpford. Thomas Wyatt who was two years younger than Sarah, had been born at Upottery, a son of Rachel and Francis Wyatt. Rachel was Mrs. Anna Carter nee Vincent's, illegitimate daughter. On the 1871 census Thomas was living at Locksbrook Road, Weston, Bath. He was a widower with children, at that time employed as a gardener. In 1881 at Locksbrook Road, Sarah is living with her husband, a market gardener and stepdaughter Sarah Wyatt, b.1860. Thomas and Sarah are still at Weston, Bath in 1901. Thomas died in 1909, Sarah died the year later.
2) Joel's daughter, Joanna reached London. On 22-1-1856 Joanna Carter, aged 25 years, married Hugh McRuden, aged about 47 years, at St Olave, Southwark, London. How they met is still a mystery but Hugh had certainly had a 'colourful' life. Born in Donegal, Ireland, he had joined the 58th Regiment. Whilst stationed at Chatham, after a trial when he was accused of rape, in 1845 on the convict ship Mount Stewart Elphinstone he had been deported to Van Dieman's Land - Tasmania, Australia. In 1851 he obtained his Certificate of Freedom and subsequently returned to England. By 1866 Hugh and Joanna were living in Tasmania, Australia. From 1874 Hugh held the licence of the Sportsman Hall Hotel, Launceston. In 2009 this establishment still trades under the same name. Much further detail is known of this particular story.

• source. For more information on this line please check:
http://www.ova.org.uk/index.php?mact=Search%2Ccntnt01%2Cdosearch%2C0&cntnt01returnid=86&cntnt01searchinput=joel+carter&submit=Submit

• connection. ³⁰⁵ The link between Keith Heuer & me through Robert is as follows:

Keith Heuer . . .
His great great grand father was
Joel Roger CARTER jr (1816)
His father was Joel Carter (1793)
His father was Elias Carter (1798) & he also had Mary Carter (1798) who married William Hare (1792)
His father was Thomas Hare (c1760) who married Anne Tilke (1759)
His father was William Tilke (c1720)
He had Joel Tilke (c1755)
He had Mary Tilke (1796) who married William Tilke (1790)
His father was Simon Tilke (1764) & he also had Joel Tilke (1796)
He had Samuel Tilke (1833)
He had Samuel Tilke (1857)
He had Alban Tilke (1897) who married Eleanor Pickles (1912)
Her father was Ernest Pickles (1887) who married Eleanor Saunders (1888)
Her father was George Sanders (1849)
His father was William Sanders (c1817) who married Harriet Aldous (1791)
Her father was James Aldous (1755)
His father was Richard Aldous (c1731)
His father was Richard Aldous (c1705)
His father was William Aldous (1645)
His father was William Aldous (1610)
His father was Stephen the Third Aldous & he also had Stephen the Second Aldous (1607)
He had Stephen Aldous (1636)
He had John Aldous (1681)
He had William Aldous (1710)
He had William Aldous (1749)
He had Zephaniah Aldous (1778)
He had Amelia Aldous (1818) who married James Peck
They had Charlotte Peck (1843)
She had Annie Florence Dawes (1873) who married Arthur Augustus Bray
They had Albert Alan Bray (1896)
He had Robert Alfred Bray (1920)
He had Robert Arthur Bray (1947) who married me - Robyn Bray (nee Davies) (1950)

Joel married Mary Hare Paver, daughter of Roger Paver and Joanna, on 9 Oct 1815 in Harpford, Devonshire England.³⁰⁵ (Mary Hare Paver was born in 1796 in Harpford, Devonshire England, died on 13 Mar 1876 in Harpford, Devonshire England ³⁰⁵ and was buried in Harpford, Devonshire England.)