History of Fulton County, Illinois; together with
Sketches of its Cities, Villages and Townships, Educational, Religious,
Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons
and Biographies of Representative Citizens. Chas. C. Chapman & Co.,
Peoria, Illinois, 1879, page 423-424, Astoria Township
Dilworth Carter, merchant. Mr. Carter ranks among the
leading merchants of Fulton county. He was born in Delaware Co.,
Pa., in 1836, and is the eldest of a family of 21 children. By
occupation his father, Amos Carter, was a farmer in Penn., where he
married Miss Ann Mershon. Among the rugged hills of the Keystone
State Dilworth Carter passed the morning of life, and became
apprenticed to learn the trades of the stone and brick-mason, and
became an adept at these callings. In 1857 he concluded he would
try a new field of labor and selected Vermont, this county, as the
place. There he became employed as a clerk by Joab Mershon, the
prominent banker and merchant of that place. He soon returned to
his trade, and in 1859 located at Beardstown and erected the well-know
Park House, an extensive grain ware-house and other buildings. He
then proceeded to Mason Co. and began his mercantile career, although
this particular venture proved proved unsuccessful. He then went
to Bluff City, Schuyler Co., and erected a store-house and opened a
stock of goods, and met with unusual success in handling cooper's
stock. During the autumn of 1865 he came to Astoria and formed a
partnership with J. C. Lutz in the hardware trade, and the following
year purchased his interest. Since then he has succeeded well as
a business man. In 1876 he added to the attractiveness of Astoria
by the erection of a fine store building and public hall. This is
a model building and contains two of the finest store-rooms in Central
Illinois. In one department he has a large stock of dry goods,
and a fine line of hardware in the other. In 1869 he built his
fine residence. In 1861, Oct. 31, he was united in married with
Miss E. Branson of Pleasant township, this county. Five children
have been born to them, three of whom are living, - Nany D., Estella
and Irving.
