Freeland Ackley Carter was born April 18, 1856 in Darien, Wisconsin. His father, Edwin Buck Carter, was born 1835 in New York. His mother, Sarah Hastings, was born 1835 in New York. His parents married on December 23, 1854, and had five children, Freeland (b.1856), Melvin (b.1861), Luella (b.1865), and Ella (b.1867) and Le Grande (b.1870). The father was a prosperous mining engineer in Darien, Wisconsin. The family lived with the grandparents Ackley Carter (b.1807) and Melissa Hough Carter (b.1808).
In 1860 the family moved to Greenvale, Minnesota, where the father worked a second mine.
In 1866 the family moved to Sharon, Wisconsin, where the father owned a third mine.
In 1878 Freeland A. Crater, age twenty-two, began to attend the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, where he became interested in a career as an artist. He studied with Henry Vianden (1814-1899), a native of Bonn, Germany, and a graduate of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich.
By 1885 Freeland A. Carter, age twenty-nine, had completed his art training in Milwaukee. His art teacher advised him to seek master training in Europe, so in 1886 he traveled to Munich, Germany, to study at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. He remained in Europe for two years.
In 1888, at age thirty-two, he returned to American and settled in New York City to seek his fortune as a professional artist. He lived at 115 Hooper Street in Brooklyn.
On January 23, 1889 he married Ella Lucretia Jackson in New London, Connecticut. She was born on August 25, 1861 in Lafayette, Indiana.
During the 1890s Freeland A. Carter illustrated dozens of books, such as "Humbled Pride," "Independence," "Reunited," and "The Columbian Historical Novels." All of these books were written by John Roy Musick and published by Funk & Wagnalls Company at 30 Lafayette Place in Lower Manhattan.
On November 7, 1892 Freeland A. Carter's son, Leslie Fellows Carter, was born in NYC. Two years later his daughter Helene Carter was born on October 24, 1894.
In 1895 Freeland A. Carter, with his wife and two children, left NYC and moved to 187 Leonia Avenue in Leonia, New Jersey. This suburban area, beside Fort Lee, eventually became a popular artist community, which included Harvey Dunn, William H. Dunton, Arthur R. Mitchell, Dean Cornwell, and Robert A. Cameron. Leonia artists could work in a pastoral setting and commute by ferry boat across the Hudson River to busy Manhattan publishing companies.
At the turn of the century F. A. Carter continued to illustrate popular novels, such as "Archibald Malmaison" by Julian Hawthorne, "The Younger Mrs. Courtney" by Mrs. Frank Broaker, and "Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga" by W. B. Foster. At that same time he also began to illustrate stories in popular magazines, such as Pearson's, McClure's, Woman's Home Companion, The Strand, and Smith's Magazine.
In 1914 the artist's daughter attended Columbia University. After graduation, she married Harold J. Hughes. He was born in 1890 in England and worked as a credit manager for a British woolen company. She and her husband continued to live in Leonia, where they raised three children, Beverly Hughes (b.1919), Jean Hughes (b.1921), and Carol Hughes (b.1923).
In 1918 during the Great War Freeland A. Carter was age sixty-two, so he did not serve in the military.
On March 8, 1921 the artist's widowed father, Edwin Buck Carter, died at the age of eighty-six in Seattle, Washington.
In 1924 Freeland A. Carter began to illustrate Street & Smith's Sport Story Magazine. He continued to work as a cover artist and interior story illustrator for this pulp magazine for many years. His work was usually signed with only his initials, "F.A.C."
By 1925 his son, Leslie Carter, had graduated college and become an electrical engineer at Sperry Gyroscope Company. This is the same company where the artist Frederick Blakeslee worked in the design department after retiring from commercial illustration. Leslie Carter and his wife, Grace C. Carter (b.1900 in Kansas) moved to 133 Woodridge Place in Leonia, where they raised a son, Ackley G. Carter (b.1929). Their new home was only one block away from the artist's home at 187 Leonia Avenue.
In 1930 the artist and his wife shared their home at 187 Leonia Avenue with their daughter's family of five. The artist Howard McCormick (1875-1943) was a next-door neighbor.
On July 19, 1935 Freeland A. Carter's wife, Ella Carter, died at the age of seventy-three.
The last illustrations of "F.A.C." were published in Street & Smith's Sport Story in 1939.
The 1940 U.S. Census listed the widowed artist, age eighty-three, living at 187 Leonia Avenue in Leonia, NJ. His occupation was identified as "retired artist" who had worked at a "publishing house."
Freeland Ackley Carter died at the age of ninety-two in June of 1948.
© David Saunders 2017 |
