Carlton: A Goodly Heritage

 By Spessard Stone

The Carltons, in diverse fields from the cattle ranges to the governor's chair, have exerted a prominent influence in Florida for over 150 years. Herewith follows a summary of the family from early origins to several prominent Tampa citizens.

When Alderman Carlton settled in Florida in January 1843, Florida was a frontier territory. He and his contemporaries would be astonished at how Florida has evolved in the interval into a modern state with its accompanying infrastructure, technology, and tourism. Probably only on the cattle ranches would they readily be at home.(1)

Alderman Carlton was the scion of a colonial family. Thomas Carleton, his grandfather, was born May 10, 1747 in Chester County, Pennsylvania. He and his wife, Martha (1751-1797), moved to North Carolina prior to the Revolutionary War, in which, while living in Duplin County, he rendered service as a private. Thomas died October 3, 1795 in Duplin County. In his will Thomas made mention of prior modest bequests to his daughters, Rachel, Anna, Elizabeth, Lydia, and son, John, with his "dearly beloved wife, Martha, all the rest of any property both and stocks of all kinds ... for her lifetime," except after her death, his sons, Stephen and Thomas, to inherit separate lands. (2)

John Carlton, the third of seven children of Thomas and Martha, was born April 20, 1775 in Duplin County, North Carolina. John, as others of the family, changed the spelling of his surname to Carlton. In Duplin County on November 17, 1797, John married Nancy Ann Alderman, born November 17, 1775 in Duplin County, daughter of David Alderman, a Revolutionary War soldier, and Jemima (Hall) Alderman. John and Nancy Ann lived in Duplin County until about 1800 when they moved to Sampson County, North Carolina. In the early 1820s, the family migrated to Bulloch County, Georgia and then, about 1825, to Thomas County, Georgia. They lived on the Ochlockonee River, where John owned and operated a sawmill and gristmill and farmed. In 1852 John sold his property and relocated to Madison County, Florida. There Nancy Ann Carlton died June 4, 1867 and John Carlton died February 26, 1868. Sales from Carlton's estate, which included: 120 acres of land and 40 head of stock cattle, realized a modest $1,011.30.(3)

George W. Hendry remembered his grandfather for his spiritual, not material, walk in life: "John Carlton resembled greatly old Abraham. I never read of old Abraham, but in my mind's eye I behold my grandfather. He had his family worship mornings and evenings as regularly as the days came and went. I can recall vividly the verbage of many of his prayers, and can sing many of the songs that I learned when but eight years old at my grandfather's hearthstone as though it was but yesterday...The whole family, from grandfather down, were exemplary Christians, their piety proverbial..."(4)

John and Nancy Ann Carlton had nine children, (1) Rev. Thomas (1799-1841), of which a branch settled in Plant City; (2) Mary "Polly" (1801-90, Mrs. John Chastain of Thomasville, Georgia); (3) Alderman (1803-56); (4) Stephen (1805-86, who eventually settled in Polk County); (5) William Carlton (1807-75, of Fort Green); (6) Elizabeth (1808-62, Mrs. John Simmons of Taylor County); (7) Lydia (1812-98, who married James Edward Hendry and Benjamin Moody of Riverview and Homeland); (8) Rev. John Wright Carlton (1818-94, of Polk County); (9) Martha Ann (1820-1900, Mrs. Robert M. Hendry of Taylor County).(5)