Walter O. Carter.—To this prominent and progressive hardware merchant of Garden City, Kansas is the state of all states, for here he was born and here he has found success; and it is furthermore endeared to him because his parents and grandparents were among its earliest settlers and gave largely of their energy and ability towards its upbuilding. Guilford county, North Carolina, was in earlier days largely settled by Friends, many of whom, being decidedly opposed to the institution of slavery and to war, immigrated to different ones of the Northern States prior to the Civil war, especially to Indiana and Ohio, where they were closely identified with the work of the "Underground Railroad." One of them, John Carter, was a later emigrant and came to the West instead of the North, settling on government land in Lyon county, Kansas Territory, in 1858. Three years later he brought his family. In 1867 he was made superintendent of the Indian schools at Shawnee Mission and also opened a country store at Plymouth, near Emporia, but retired from active business life in 1870 and twenty-one years later, in 1891, passed away at the advanced age of ninety-one. His son, Jacob V. Carter, born June 14, 1833, in Guilford county, North Carolina, was reared on a farm and was educated in a Quaker school. He accompanied his father to Kansas and became a photographer and a dentist at Emporia in 1860. On March 17, 1861, he wedded Eunice Hadley, who shared with him the experiences of pioneer life and traveled life's journey with him to within a few months of a half century. These were the parents of Walter O. Carter. Jacob V. Carter later taught school in the winter and farmed in the summers, and in the latter '60s was township officer in Pike township, Lyon county. In 1882 he was appointed United States agent for the Sac and Fox Indians in the Old Indian Territory, but in 1884 he resigned his position and removed to Garden City, Kan., where, with a brother, N. M. Carter, he opened a hardware store. In 1900 he retired from business and was succeeded by his sons—Walter O. and Ira J.—the present proprietors. He is still living and resides at Garden City, retired. Eunice Hadley Carter, the mother of Walter O., was born at Monrovia, Ind., Aug 7, 1834, her parents being natives of North Carolina. She was a member of the Friends society by birthright and remained actively identified with that faith throughout life. She was made postmistress at Plymouth, in 1862, and served in a similar capacity, from 1882 to 1884, at the Sac and Fox Indian agency in the Indian Territory. This beloved mother passed away Aug. 21, 1910, at Garden City, Kan. The four children of Jacob V. and Eunice (Hadley) Carter are: Walter O., the eldest; Miriam A., born Jan. 11, 1864, who is now the wife of Rev. E. N. Gause, a brick manufacturer at Caney, Kan.; Ira J., born Sept. 29, 1865, who is the business partner of Walter O., and is prominent in the public life of Garden City, being a member of the city council at the present time and having formerly been president of the city board of education; and William J., born Dec. 31, 1868, a graduate of the Garden City High School and formerly a teacher in the government Indian schools, who is now in the active ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church and is stationed at Susanville, Cal.

Walter O. Carter was born May 10, 1862, on a farm in Lyon county, Kansas. His education, received in the public schools of Lyon county, was supplemented by a course in the Kansas State Normal School at Emporia, and later by another course at Penn College, Oskaloosa, Iowa, a well known Friends' school. Following his student days he farmed for a few years in Lyon county, but in 1884 became an assistant in his father's store at Garden City and in 1900, together with his brother, Ira J., succeeded to the business with which he has since been identified. The firm is now Carter Bros., and both members are known as business men of more than usual ability. Genial and courteous to their patrons, and known as men of the strictest integrity in their business dealings, they command a large trade and have made their store a distinct business success.

In 1882 Mr. Carter was united in marriage to Miss Flora, daughter of Benjamin Moon, a pioneer farmer of Lyon county, who with his wife came to Kansas from Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Carter have three children: Ralph I., born in 1883, a merchant at Garden City, is married and has one son; Josephine, born in 1887, is a graduate of the Garden City High School and resides at the parental home; Chester Arthur, born in 1894, graduated in the Garden City High School with the class of 1911, and is now taking a course in mechanical engineering in the Manhattan College. In business affairs Mr. Carter has prospered and is a large property owner. Fraternally he is a Knight Templar Mason and as a citizen is one held in the highest esteem. He is devotedly interested in the upbuilding of his city, having served as its mayor at different times, and is now president of the Garden City Industrial Club.