Thomas Carter (Puritan)
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The Rev. Thomas Carter (1608-1683) was a Puritan minister in the Massachusetts Bay Colony who was the first minister ordained in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, in 1642.
Carter was born in Hinderclay, Suffolk, England. He studied at St John's College, Cambridge, receiving his B.A. in 1630 and his M.A. in 1633. Carter was a student at Cambridge at the same time as John Harvard, and the two probably knew each other there. Like Harvard and many other Puritans, Carter immigrated to New England as part of the Great Migration, becoming a freeman of Dedham, Massachusetts in 1637. Carter was active in the church, both at Dedham, and at Watertown, Massachusetts, where he served as an elder.
Having demonstrated spiritual gifts during his time as an elder, on November 22, 1642, Carter was ordained Woburn, Massachusetts and he became the pastor of the Woburn congregation.
Carter married Mary Parkhurst (1614-1687), daughter of George Parkhurst and Phebe Leets, in 1638.
A painting by Albert Thompson depicting the occasion of his ordination is currently displayed at the Woburn Public Library.
