1571

GEORGE B. CARTER,
president of the Randolph Milling Company, of Baldwin, Illinois, has been a resident of that vicinity since his boyhood, coming with his parents to Illinois from Sullivan county, New York, in 1864, when he was but six years of age. He lived on a farm until twenty-one years old, and since he entered the business world he has been connected with the milling industry in one capacity or another, save for but one exception, and since the inception of the Randolph Milling Company in 1904 he has been active as president of that concern winning to himself an enviable record in that section for progressiveness and general business ability.

Born at De Bruce, Sullivan county, New York, June 7, 1858, George E. Carter is the son of Thomas Carter, an Englishman, born in Lincoln-shire, England, and coming to the United States in the fifties after his marriage with Rebecca Dickinson. He spent practically ten years in and near De Bruce as a farmer, and in 1864 brought his little family to Illinois. Here, as in New York, he engaged quietly in agricultural pursuits, and spent his life in the vicinity of Baldwin, dying there in 1894. His widow still survives him. They were the parents of the following named sons and daughters: John, who died near Baldwin, leaving a family: Mary A., who is the wife of Adolphus Miles and resides at Rosmond, Illinois; Chris, who passed away at Russell, Kansas, also leaving a family; George E., of Baldwin; Joseph, who is connected with the Randolph Milling Company in Baldwin; Hepsey, who married E. C. Douglass and lives in St. Louis, and Sarah F., who is now Mrs. W. R. Preston, of Baldwin, Illinois.

George E. Carter was educated in the public schools of Baldwin, and following his graduation therefrom he completed a course of study in the Southern Illinois Normal. He later was graduated from the Bryant & Stratton Commercial College in St. Louis, and began his business life as a clerk in the store of George Wehrhcim with whom he was associated for seven years and during which time he acquired valuable business experience. Upon severing his connection with that line of business he became associated with a Mr. Campbell, and they subsequently formed a partnership in Baldwin to buy and ship grain, which business they conducted for a period of seven years. Disposing of that business, Mr. Carter established a small elevator in Baldwin, and bought wheat for the Camp Spring Milling Company for a year and a half, and a similar period of time he spent in buying wheat for the Conrad Becker Milling

1572

Company, of Red Bud. Mr. Carter and Mr. Becker both saw favorable possibilities in the consolidation of the mutual interests, and they consequently bought a small grist mill in Baldwin from Heim and Peters, and during the time that Mr. Becker was connected with the business the firm went by the name of Becker and Carter. In 1904 Mr. Becker retired, and the new proprietor continued the plant as the Randolph Milling Company, of which George E. Carter is the president, E. Linder is vice president and Clyde A. Carter is secretary and treasurer.

The mill, as now operated, represents practically a new industry as compared with the original plant, so wide has been the scope of the constant improvements which have been effected. Its building has undergone many important changes; its power has been modernized and multiplied; its general equipment has been added to, and many other important changes inaugurated, until today the plant ranks among the most up-to-date and efficient mills in the country, with a capacity of two hundred barrels of flour daily. When Mr. Carter came into the concern the plant was little more than a custom mill. His progressive ideas were immediately made manifest in the business by the successive changes that were wrought, and by the many additions for the enlargement and improvement of the mill, equipment. Its final overhauling and revolutionizing took place when the Becker interest came into the hands of the present owners. The output of the mill is marketed in a few of the Southern states, Mississippi taking the bulk of it, while Tennessee and Alabama absorb a small portion of it. The plant furnishes a splendid market for home grown wheat and is an important factor in making Baldwin a trading center for the country interests.

On August 23, 1883, Mr. Carter married Miss Belle Holden, daughter of James and Sarah (Johnson) Holden, settlers from New Jersey. Mr. Holden has been identified with saw mill interests the greater part of his life. They have four daughters and three sons, Mrs. Carter being their second daughter. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Carter are as follows: Clyde, a partner with his father in the Randolph Milling Company, born May 4, 1884. He is a graduate of Barnes Business College at St. Louis, and was married November 29, 1907, having two children, Melba and Arlin. Eula is the second child of George and Belle Carter, and their third and youngest child, Fleda, is deceased.

Mr. Carter is not connected with any fraternal order excepting the Modern Woodmen of America, in which order he has passed all the chairs in the local camp. He is a Republican, and has served as central committeeman for his precinct these many years.