CARTER, SCOTT P., a well known and successful contractor of Jacksonville, Morgan County, Ill., was born at Exeter, Ill., July 4, 1860, the son of Cyrus C. and Julia A. (Otis) Carter, natives of Canada - the former born in Montreal, August 12, 1823, and the latter, in Compton, May 10, 1832. In 1844 Cyrus C. Carter settled at Exeter, Ill., and still resides on a farm in the vicinity of that place. By occupation he has been a maker of the early style of carriages and wagons, in which he became quite prominent. He has patented seven different devices, and is the inventor of the runner wheat drill. In politics, he is a strong Republican, and was an ardent supporter of Lincoln and the elder Yates. On account of defective sight, he was disqualified as a soldier, but at home supported the Union cause to the best of his ability. He was married April 10, 1855, to Julia A. Otis, whose ancestors came to this country on the "Mayflower". She is also still living. They are the parents of the following named children: Charles C., born June 17, 1857; Scott P., born July 4, 1860; Curtis C., born August 26, 1867; and Jesse B., born September 10, 1869.
Mr. Carter attended the public schools in his youth, and at the age of twenty-one years went to Idaho, Montana and Minnesota, in the employ of the Northern Pacific Railway Company, with which he remained for two years. At the end of that period he worked as a carpenter in Kansas City, St. Paul, Chicago and other places, and was afterward employed in the building department of the Wabash Railroad. In the fall of 1890, he located in Jacksonville and entered into business as a building contractor, in which line he has become widely and favorably known.
On January 3, 1893, Mr. Carter, was joined in wedlock with Minnie A. Van Winkle, a daughter of Atherton and Tabitha Ellen (Luttrell) Van Winkle. She is a graduate of Brown's Business College, Jacksonville, and was for many years a stenographer for the old Jacksonville Southeastern Railroad Company. Subsequently she was employed in the same capacity by the Mercantile Law Company of St. Louis. In 1824, before his marriage, John R. Luttrell, her grandfather, journeyed to Morgan County, from Todd County, Ky. Mrs. Carter's parents were born in Morgan County, where her father carried on farming all his life. He served during the Civil War in Company A, thirty-second Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and died March 2, 1871, on his farm near Franklin, Morgan County. Three children resulted from the union of Mr. and Mrs. Carter, namely: Curtis Atherton, born November 25, 1893; Lillian Hazel, born November 19, 1895; and Lloyd Aubrey, born March 29, 1898.
In politics, Mr. Carter is a supporter of the Republican party. Fraternally, he is affiliated with Jacksonville Lodge, No. 4, I.O.O.F., which he joined in 1893, having first become a member of the order in 1882. He is also identified with the Athens Court, No. 30, Court of Honor, and Lincoln Council, No. 455, Mutual Protective League. He is a very energetic and progressive man, and his business operations have been attended by well merited success.