Charlotte Louise (Chassie) King had a weird experience. She once saw a totally unknown man approaching her front door and instantly knew that he would soon be her husband.
Chassie was a daughter of Cyrus and Cynthie Hardin King and a granddaughter of the noted Rev. James King.
Her father died when she was 6 years old, and her mother died when she was only 11. She was then taken into the home of her grandfather King.
His wife, Mourning Micajah Watkins King (Chassie’s grandmother), died in 1866. The Rev. King followed in July 1867. This left Chassie and one brother alone in the old King home she had inherited. The home stood on the northeast corner of Moore and Main (now State) in downtown Bristol. It was a lovely home, probably the finest in Bristol at the time, and was surrounded by a large, well- landscaped yard. The name of this "in-town estate" was Roselawn.
In those immediate post-war years, the economy was in a very sad condition. Though she had inherited much property from her grandfather, it was producing very little income. In late 1867, the financial plight of she and her brother had become so severe that she turned the King home into a rooming and boarding house.
To have more room to rent, she and her brother moved into a building in the backyard that housed the kitchen and former slave quarters. Near Christmas 1868, Chassie was in the reception room of her home when she saw a handsome young man coming up the front walk.
As she told it later, something within her made her know without doubt that he would become her husband. He rented two rooms of the home, one for an office and one for a bedroom.
The man that walked into her home and into her life that day was Dr. Alfred Moore Carter. He too was of royal blood.
He was born in Carter County, Tenn., on May 18, 1842, a son of David Wendel and Eliza Jane Hale Carter. He was a great-grandson of the man for whom Carter County was named and Elizabethton was named for his great-grandmother. On his mother’s side, he was a great-great-grandson of John Sevier, the first governor of Tennessee.
There was no traditional courtship between Chassie King and her renter. The feeling just grew between them that they should marry, and in a businesslike manner, they made plans to do so.
They were married at the home of L. F. and Harriett Moorman Johnson on Nov. 29, 1868 at 7 p.m. An invitation to this wedding still remains here at Pleasant Hill.
Three children were born to them – one daughter and two sons. Tragedy struck the family in 1877 when the oldest son, Cyrus King Carter, age 3 1/2 years died on July 11. He was followed three days later by his brother, Claude, age about 1 year. Then on Oct. 29 that same year Chassie died. All three are buried in the Carter/Zimmerman lot in Section 3 in East Hill Cemetery.
Dr. Carter remained a widower for a few years. He then married Nancy (Nannie) Zimmerman, a daughter of Dr. B. F. Zimmerman who was the first physician in Bristol. They soon bought the former Arch Pickens house on 5th Street. There, they raised the former Carter daughter to adulthood. No children were born to them. This daughter, Maude Carter, married E. K. Crymble and lived at 225 Solar St. in Bristol, Va.
Dr. Carter died in Winter Garden, Fla., in 1915. Though Chassie King Carter has been gone some 133 years, her favorite "special occasion dress" still remains. It was given to the Bristol Historical Society several years ago. Dr. Carter’s walking cane is now in the front hall here at Pleasant Hill.
BUD PHILLIPS is a local historian and author. He can be reached at (276) 466-6435. For more about Bristol’s history, visit www.bristolhistoricalassociation.com.
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