Carr was born in Laurens, Otsego County, New York. The son of George Carr and Mary Greene Carr, he was said to be descended from Rhode Island's colonial governor Caleb Carr. His early life is undocumented, but by 1833 he had married Hannah Burnside. They had three sons and three daughters. Carr moved his family to Virginia, where in April 1853 he purchased 380 acres of farmland near the village of San Marino in Dinwiddie County. Sometime after Hannah Carr died of cancer in January 1856, Carr returned to New York, where by 1858 he had married Susan Marlette Walker, a physician's widow. By 1860 the couple was living on the farm in Dinwiddie. They had at least one daughter.
In June 1869 military authorities announced Carr's appointment to the Dinwiddie County board of election registrars. Carr again ran for office and easily outdistanced his opponent to represent Dinwiddie, Greensville, and Sussex counties in the Senate of Virginia from October 1869 to March 1871. The Petersburg Index reported with displeasure the election of "Previous Question" Carr, maintained that his victory derived from his "most slavish and absolute control" of the black community, and unfairly grouped him with carpetbaggers who came to the state after the Civil War. Carr served on the Committees on Federal Relations, on Finance, on Public Institutions, and on Roads and Internal Navigation.
Time Line
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1809 - David Green Carr is born in Laurens, Otsego County, New York, to George Carr and Mary Green Carr.
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1833 - By this year, David Green Carr has married Hannah Burnside. They have three sons and three daughters.
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April 1853 - David Green Carr purchases 380 acres of farmland near the village of San Marino in Dinwiddie County. Soon after he moves his family from his native New York to Virginia.
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January 1856 - Hannah Burnside Carr dies of cancer. Sometime after her death her husband, David Green Carr, returns from Virginia to his native New York.
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1858 - By this year, David Green Carr has married Susan Marlette Walker in New York. Sometime before 1860 the couple returns to Carr's farm in Dinwiddie County. They have at least one daughter.
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April 17–18, 1867 - David Green Carr represents Dinwiddie County in the Republican Party's first state convention, held in Richmond.
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October 22, 1867 - David Green Carr is elected to represent Dinwiddie and Prince George counties at the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1867–1868.
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January 4, 1868 - At the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1867–1868, David Green Carr introduces a resolution calling for the Virginia Military Institute to be "obliterated" and stipulating that the value of the property fund public schools.
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April 17, 1868 - Delegates to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1867–1868 vote in favor of the new state constitution, which includes such reforms as universal manhood suffrage, the establishment of a public school system, and popular election in a greater number of local offices.
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June 1869 - David Green Carr's appointment to the Dinwiddie County board of election registrars is announced.
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July 6, 1869 - Virginians approve the state constitution but reject its controversial disabling clauses.
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April 21, 1870 - The U.S. Congress confirms President Ulysses S. Grant's appointment of David Green Carr as collector of customs at the U.S. Custom House in Petersburg.
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January 1872 - David Green Carr relinquishes his farm in Dinwiddie County to one of his sons and moves to Petersburg.
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1874 - David Green Carr leaves his position as customs collector in Petersburg.
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1877 - After Rutherford B. Hayes becomes U.S. president, David Green Carr returns to his position as collector of customs in Petersburg.
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July 22, 1882 - Susan Marlette Walker Carr, the wife of David Green Carr, dies.
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April 7, 1883 - David Green Carr dies of chronic gastric inflammation at his home in Petersburg. He is buried in Petersburg's Blandford Cemetery.
References
Further Reading
Cite This Entry
- APA Citation:
Gunter, D. W., & the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. David Green Carr (1809–1883). (2013, August 13). In Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved from http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org/Carr_David_Green_1809-1883.
- MLA Citation:
Gunter, Donald W. and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. "David Green Carr (1809–1883)." Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, 13 Aug. 2013. Web. READ_DATE.
First published: November 5, 2012 | Last modified: August 13, 2013