JOSIAH M. CARTER, of Plainview, Hale county, was the first permanent settler of this West Texas town, and has been prominently engaged in the real estate business and in ranching in that locality for more than fifteen years. He is a public-spirited, enterprising and energetic man, capable in all lines of his endeavors, and has made and deserved a fine success in his career.
Mr. Carter was born in Lincoln county, Kentucky, in 1849, a son of Champe and Mary (Montgomery) Carter. Both parents were natives of Virginia, whence they moved to Lincoln county, Kentucky, after their marriage. The mother died at Stamford in that county in 1856. Champe Carter was county clerk of Lincoln county for a number of years, and also practiced law at the county seat of Stamford. In 1859 he brought his family to Texas, locating at Milford in Ellis county, where he was a prominent and widely known lawyer for a long number of years. His later years he passed at different places, living with his children, and he died at Chapel Hill, Washington County, in 1874.
Mr. Carter grew to manhood at Milford, this state, but got most of his education at Stamford, Kentucky, to which place he returned, some years after the family moved to Texas, and attended school there for four years. After finishing his schooling he came back to Ellis county, where he was engaged in farming for some time. During the past twenty years he has been engaged quite extensively in the land business in Western Texas. He has been a resident of Hale county since 1887, and on coming to this county he took up some land north of where Plainview is now located. However, the county was not organized nor the town started until August, 1888, and when he arrived here there was only one house in the county that was constructed of lumber, and that belonged to Horatio Graves at Hale Center. Hale county was thus entirely new and unsettled, and Mr. Carter has borne a prominent part in all its subsequent development and progress. At the present time he owns a fine lot of land in the county, west of Plainview, where he has had special success in alfalfa growing, and has handled all his ranching and farming enterprises, with a great deal of success. His home and his land business are at Plainview, and he is one of the prominent citizens of that town, where he has lived from the inception of the town.
Mr. Carter’s wife, who is deceased, and to whom he was married at Milford, was Miss Amanda McGilton, who left three children, namely: Eli M., Thomas B. and Ellis B. Mr. Carter affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and may be found supporting every movement for the general welfare and progress of his community.
Source: B. B. Paddock, History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), Vol. II, p. 465.