PIONEER DIED TUESDAY; RITES FOR DORA CARTER ARE FRIDAY

BLAIR WOMAN ALTHOUGH NEVER MARRIED, RAISED TWO GIRLS TO WOMANHOOD

WAS BORN IN LOG CABIN, DAUGHTER OF JACOB CARTER

Miss Dora Ann Carter, 86, one of the last surviving members of the pioneer Carter family which settled in Blair township in 1855, died at her home Tuesday evening. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 Friday morning at the First Baptist Church, with interment in Blair Cemetery. The Rev. D. D. Kennedy will conduct the rites.

The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Carter, she was born in a log cabin on March 12, 1859. In his journal, now in possession of Mrs. Odessa Jensen of Blair, pioneer Jacob Carter wrote, “On this day my daughter Dora is born. It is a beautiful day with snow on the ground, our corn is in the crib and we are selling it in DeSoto at 20 cents per bushel in store trade. This is what we call hard times, but for the sunshine and the Lord’s protection, Let Him receive our humble thanks for kind mercies”.

From the year 1859 to 1865 more than 14 families of Carter pioneers- half-brothers, step-brothers, married sisters - came from southern Ohio, Kentucky, South Indiana, and Virginia to take up homestead where Blair is now located (known at that time as Carterville).

In 1968, Jacob Carter and his family moved to the “table land”, later called Cuming City. Dora was then a child of 10, and she shared with her parents the life and hardships of those early years for nearly a quarter of a century. The family then moved to Blair, where Miss Carter continued to care for her aged parents for an additional 18 years.

While she never married, Miss Carter raised her orphan niece, Marian Carter, who later married Dr. Lloyd Cramer of Hot Springs, S. D. Upon Mrs. Cramer’s death in 1928, Miss Carter moved to Dr. Cramer’s home and took over the care of Marian Cramer, Jr., now Mrs. Arnold Barnste (SP?) of Hot Springs, S. D.

In later years she lived with her niece and nephew, Dr. and Mrs. Wm. Noyes of Ceresco, Neb and also with her niece, Mrs. Viola Brunton at Herman. Since Mrs. Brunton’s death she had lived at the Snyder apartments.

Miss Carter was baptized in 1880 at Herman by a pioneer missionary. In 1890 she became a member of the Blair church. She had been a member of the O. E. S.

Surviving are her sister, Mrs. Will Lippincott, of Red Cloud, Nebr. who had spent the past few months with Miss Carter; a sister-in-law, Mrs. Minerva Carter; and other kin folk numbering five generations in Blair and vicinity.

#2-Published in the Pilot-Tribune January 28, 2025 Times Gone By

Feb. 1, 1945 (80 years ago): Dora Ann Carter, daughter of Jacob and Frances Carter, the original pioneer settlers of Blair and Blair township, has died. The exact date of Dora Ann’s passing was not mentioned in the article, but services for her were held on Feb. 2. Dora Ann’s parents came to Blair in the month of May, 1855, and built a log cabin on the site of the present home of Mr. and Mrs. Gifford Dixon in west Blair, and on March 12, 1859, their daughter, Dora, was born in this cabin. From old journals and records kept by Jacob Carter, her father, and now in the care of her kinswoman, Odessa Carter Jensen, is the following entry: “On this day my daughter Dora is born, it is a beautiful day with snow on the ground, our corn is in the crib and we are selling it in DeSoto at 20 cents per bushel in store trade. This is what we call hard times, but for the sunshine and the Lord’s protection let Him receive our humble thanks and for His kind mercies.” Signed by Jacob Carter. This Christian faith is typical of the entire group of the Carter family pioneers. From the year 1859 to 1865 over 14 families, brothers, half brothers, step-brothers, married sisters and their families all came from southern Ohio, Kentucky, south Indiana, and old Virginia to pioneer with their three older brothers, Jacob, Marion and Nathan, and to take up homes and homesteads where Blair is now located and known at that time as Cartersville.

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

Find a Grave Memorial #76639789