PIONEER SETTLERS ANSWER FINAL CALL

Two of County Pioneers Pass To Great Beyond. Double Funeral Ceremony Held. Both Reared In County.

PARENTS HOMESTEADED

Came To Washington County In The 50’s And Have Since Made This Their Homes.

Two of Washington County pioneers are to be buried today, Thursday, at 2:30 o’clock. Both were reared here, and they date back to the fifties. This is perhaps the most unusual coincidence in the history of the county. We refer to Mr. and Mrs. John B. Carter, known to all the older settlers of the county.

John Bennett Carter was born in Adams County, Ohio May 20, 1856, and when six months of age the family moved to this county where the father, Jacob Carter in company with his brothers, Alec and Marion, took up land. The present townsite of Blair is embraced in this land which made the first home of these pioneers.

Thus John Carter has been a part of this county all these years, and has seen the varying changes brought about by its development. His father sold the farm which he entered as a homestead, and later purchased a farm north of Blair on the bench road, and here John lived until he moved to Blair in January, 1914.

Some years ago his health failed him, and he passed away in a hospital in Lincoln on last Friday, March 11 at 9 p.m. He leaves to survive him two sisters, Dora Carter of Hot Springs, S. D. and Mrs. Julie Lippincott of Red Cloud, Nebr.

The wife, Nettie Stilts Carter, was born in this county on March 27, 1864. Her parents came to the county in 1852 where they continued to reside until they passed away. On November 24, 1892 she and Mr. Carter were married, and for a number of years lived on the farm where they were both known for their hospitable spirit. They were both members of the local Baptist church and of the order of the Eastern Star, and Mr. Carter was well advanced in the Masonic circles.

Mrs. Carter has also been ailing for some time, and passed away Monday evening, March 14th, thus passing away before the husband’s funeral.

The funeral for this worthy couple is being held at the Baptist church this Thursday afternoon, and interment will be made for the two at the same time, laying them to rest side by side in the Blair cemetery. It comes to but few couples to close their lives as they have done, laying down their earthly duties at one time, and it seldom happens to a community to lose at one time a husband and wife both of pioneer stock.

Besides the immediate relatives of Mr. Carter, already mentioned, a number of nephews and nieces will mourn his death. Mrs. Carter has no brothers or sisters surviving her. She is the last of a pioneer family, and leaves only a nephew and two nieces to mourn her.

#2 Carter, John B., 76

Died 11 March 1932

Published in Pilot Tribune on 17 March 1932

DOUBLE FUNERAL IS HELD TODAY

MR. AND MRS. JOHN B. CARTER DIE FEW DAYS APART

A double funeral service for Mr. and Mrs. John B. Carter, who died during the past week, will be held at the First Baptist church this (Thursday) afternoon, with Rev. L. J. Moran, officiating. Interment will be in Blair cemetery.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Carter were pioneer Washington county residents and had spent practically their entire lives in this community. Mr. Carter had been ill approximately eight years, although his condition did not become critical until a few weeks ago. He passed away in Lincoln, where he had been taking treatments, last Friday evening. Funeral services for Mr. Carter had been planned for Monday but that day when it became apparent that Mrs. Carter, who was ill at the Blair hospital and did not know of the death of her husband, had but a short time to live, funeral arrangements were postponed. Mrs. Carter passed away Monday evening at 10:30.

A resident of Washington county for over three quarters of a century, Mr. Carter was one of the best known pioneer farmers in the vicinity of Blair. He was born in Ohio but came to Nebraska with his parents when he was six months of age. He farmed near Herman after his parents had retired and in 1914 he and his wife moved to Blair. They built a fine and spacious bungalow on west Front street and until his condition necessitated his removal to a sanitarium, they lived there. He was 76 years of age.

Mrs. Carter as Nettie Stilts was born at Fort Calhoun. She came from a pioneer family and both she and her husband were among the early settlers who endured the dangers and sacrificed comforts in helping transform this district from a wilderness into one of the most fertile regions of the state. Mrs. Carter was 68 year of age. Both Mr. and Mrs. Carter were active in affairs of the community. Mr. Carter held a membership in Washington Masonic lodge at Blair for many years while his wife was a member of the Order of Eastern Star and a member of the W.R.C. Mr. and Mrs. Carter had no children. their only direct relatives are two sisters of Mr. Carter, Mrs. Julia Lippincott of Belle Flower, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, and Miss Dora Carter of Hot Springs, South Dakota, who has been visiting in Blair for some time.

~~~Obituaries courtesy of the Nebraska Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair, Nebraska Public Library~~~

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