http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/becomingamer/economies/text5/landoncarterdiary.pdf Born in August 1710 into one of the wealthiest planter families of Virginia, Landon Carter was landed gentry. Educated in London with his brothers, Carter returned at age sixteen and learned plantation management from his father, Robert “King” Carter. At age twenty-two, events propelled Carter into his adulthood: his father died, leaving him eight plantations, and he married the first of his three wives (all of whom died before 1758). As was the norm for Virginia gentry, Carter became involved in public affairs, as a justice of the peace, member of the county court, and later, commander of the militia. In 1752 he was elected to the Virginia legislature, the House of Burgesses.