LORENZO E. CARTER, a prominent resident of this township, and the only surviving child of Mr. and Mrs. Davis Carter, early pioneers of Greene county, was born at the Wood river settlement, in Madison county, on Christmas day, 1817. Before he was three years of age, his parents removed to Greene county, into which but a short time before the first pioneers had gone. Here they settled permanently, and here Lorenzo was reared among the scenes attending the clearing up of the wilderness. He received his education in the log school house of the early days, and among others went to school to the father of Rowell Hunnicutt. He was reared to farm life, and remained with his parents until his marriage in May, 1843, to Sarah Silkwood, a native of Greene county, born June 11, 1827. Her parents were Obadiah and Sarah Silkwood, natives of Kentucky, who removed to St. Clair county, Ill., and from there to Greene county, in 1824, settling on Sec. 15, T. 11, R. 13, where her father died. Her mother died afterwards, while they were living under the bluff. Mr. and Mrs. Carter were the parents of seven children, of whom six are living - Eveline, wife of Henry Gollier, living in Patterson township; John, married Melanie Manger, lives in this township; Mary, wife of Joseph Dagly, living in this township; Sylvia J., wife of John Deeds, living in Pearl, Pike county; William and Marcus. George, deceased, was married to Mary Boyer, and died Nov. 22, 1879. Mr. Carter has about 1,500 acres of land in T. 11 and 12, R. 13. He was justice of the peace at one time, and has been connected with the schools at various times, and in different capacities. Mr. Carter enlisted in the Mexican war in June, 1847, and was assigned to Co. D, 2d Ill. Inf., under Captain Bristow and Colonel Collins, commanded by General Patterson. He returned in 1848, and was mustered out at Alton, where he had also been mustered in. He started from there as a sergeant of his company, and while in Mexico, was elected lieutenant of the same. A generation has passed away since Mr. Carter first came to this county, and he has witnessed almost the entire development of Greene county, in the course of his life of over three score years.