Charles Carter of Ludlow

Charles Carter (October 15, 1732 – April 29, 1796) was a Virginia planter, patriot, and politician. He was sometimes nicknamed "Blaze" for his red face or reckless behavior, or "Nanzatico" or "Ludlow" for plantation houses he erected but was later forced to sell. He held several local offices in King George County and later in Stafford County, both of which he represented at various times in the Virginia House of Burgesses before the American Revolutionary War. This Charles Carter also represented Stafford County in four of Virginia's Revolutionary Conventions and operated saltpeter factories and the important Chiswell lead mines during the conflict, then won election to both houses of the Virginia General Assembly, although he may only have been seated (multiple times) as one of Stafford County's representatives in the Virginia House of Delegates before taking a sear on the Governor's Advisory Council shortly after his election to the Virginia senate. Early and family life The eldest son of prominent planter and burgess Charles Carter was born on October 15, 1732. The exact location of his birth is unknown, because his father owned several plantations ind different counties of the region now known as Virginia's Northern Neck, and Cleve plantation (for which his father was known and resided for many years) was only built in 1754, presumably after this boy's education in England was finished. This firstborn Charles Carter was baptized on November 15, 1732 at Christ Church in Lancaster County, Virginia. His mother, Mary Walker, was the daughter of Joseph Walker of York County, and died when this boy was ten years old, and also after having given birth to three daughters (his full sisters). His father remarried, to Anne Byrd, the then 17-year old daughter of burgess William Byrd II (1674-1744), so this man gained two half-brothers and six half-sisters from that relationship, and another half sister from his father's third wife and widow, Lucy Taliaferro (daughter of Capt. William Taliaferro was at most seventeen years old at the time of her marriage in 1763, younger than her stepson). His paternal grandfather Robert Carter I was known as "King Carter" even during his lifetime for his political influence and great wealth based on landholdings and enslaved labor. In King Carter's time, the church was in Middlesex County, Virginia and still is sometimes known as "King Carter's Church".