Missouri’s counties are named for national or religious heroes, presidents, geographic features, and politicians, among others. Several memorialize local pioneers, including Zimri Allen Carter, an early settler in the area that became Carter County.
Much of what we know about Carter’s early life is from a family Bible. He was born in Laurens District, South Carolina March 30, 1794. Sometime between 1800 and 1810 Zimri’s father, Benjamin Carter, and his family left South Carolina for Missouri. Family stories state that the family settled first in the portion of old St. Charles County that is Warren County today, although no records place them there. One story is that Zimri worked flatboats on the Mississippi when he was old enough. The stories further state the family headed to the Current River country sometime between 1812 and 1821. However, surviving tax lists for the area prior to 1819 show neither Benjamin nor Zimri Carter in the area that became Wayne County in 1818. In 1819, the new Wayne County included much of Missouri Territory west of the St. Francis River. The Carters settled on Current River six miles southeast of the present-day location of Van Buren near the current Chilton settlement. The area became Ripley County in 1833, and because Wayne County records burned in 1893, little is known of the Carters prior to then.
A profile of Zimri A. Carter from a brief biography, possibly apocryphal, states, “He delighted in hunting, and as the forests abounded in game of nearly all kinds much of his time in youth was spent in seeking the haunts of the bear, panther, etc., and he was a well-known Nimrod.” (Nimrod was a king and noted hunter in Genesis in the Bible, and an archaic term for an expert hunter.)
Zimri married Clementine Chilton, a daughter of Col. Thomas Chilton, March 1, 1821. The Chiltons were another pioneer family of Carter County and were neighbors of the Carters. The couple became parents of 15 children, eight of whom died before their 28th birthdays. Carter valued education and ensured his children received education privately by bringing an eastern schoolteacher to the area to tutor them.
Zimri set about farming, stock raising, and acquiring land. In all, over a 40-year period, Zimri Carter bought nearly 1000 acres, much of it was Current River bottomland. He became a prosperous farmer. For example, the 1850 agricultural products census shows his farm producing high value of livestock, wool, corn, and other crops. The valuation of his home was also among the highest in the area. Much of his wealth was in enslaved African Americans, though. By 1850 he enslaved 13 individuals and retained 6 in 1860.
Carter actively participated in the civic life of the area, serving as a leader in many respects. When Carter County formed March 10, 1859, county leaders named it in recognition of Zimri Carter, who by then was a notable and well-respected citizen. Additionally, Zimri and Clementine Carter sold fifty-nine acres to the county and expanded the town in 1859. In 1867, the county occupied a new courthouse and abandoned the old log building built in 1833. The old building had served as the courthouse for Ripley County and later the new Carter County.
Zimri’s descendants continued his legacy of service. Alexander served as County and Circuit Clerk of Carter County, Benjamin F. as Circuit Clerk, and his grandson W. T. as County Assessor. One son, William, became Judge of the 20th Circuit of Missouri.
