Early Years Carter was born around 1664 probably at Corotoman, his father’s Lancaster County estate on the Rappahannock River. He was the son of John Carter (ca. 1613–1670) and the fourth of his five wives, Sarah Ludlow Carter. His immigrant father, a member of the governor’s Council, had prospered in Virginia, and when Carter was orphaned, his elder half brother, John Carter (ca. 1653–1690), was able to educate him as their father’s will directed by sending him to London about 1673 to live for six years with Arthur Bailey, a merchant and family friend. Carter gained a lifelong appreciation for the classics and a thorough knowledge of the English end of the Virginia trade.