Thomas Carter was born in Lexington, Mississippi, in 1855. He and two children Robert
  and Lucy, came to Barber County about 1882. He worked for the Sugar Mill for awhile,
  and for Shaw and Dobbs feed lot. He had a love and talent for growing garden produce,
  which he passed on to his son, Harold, and started gardening.
     He bought a team from Shaw and Dobbs and started peddling produce in Medicine Lodge
  and towns as far as Alva, Oklahoma. Those trips took two days. He later bought a Dodge
  panel truck which made deliveries easier.
     He met Mary E. Bunch at Nashville, where she and her children, Ed, George, Evelyn
  (Johnson), Jesse, and Ursilla Bunch were living with her parents, Sarah and Fenton
  Wilfley. Elder David Nation married Mary and Thomas in 1894. Together they reared both
  families and 7 children of their own, namely Arthur C., Roy, Clarence T., Harold (Jack),
  Clara (Manning), Virgil, and Margaret (Baskin). The children were educatied in the
  Medicine Lodge Schools.
     Thomas bought his land in three plots, one at a time, from Dobbs and Shaw Feed Lot.
  There was lots of brush to be cleared away, so the family all worked on the truck farm.
     In the winter Thomas and Charley Talliaferro hunted with hounds along the river,
  so he did take time for recreation. The hides were sold to help a little with income.
     The Wilfleys moved to Medicine Lodge and bought the land where the sugar mill had
  been, and built the present Tom Carter House.
     Mary E. Carter died very suddenly in October, 1910, leaving 12 children, her parents,
  one brother, and 3 sisters. She was a devoted worker in the Second Baptist Church.
     In 1913 Thomas married Mary T. Coleman who was working at Fredonia, Ks. Mary T. was
  born in Dec., 1875, at Oswego, Ks., the daughter of Ossia and Rebeccah Coleman, and
  came to Medicine Lodge and helped make a home for Thomas' children. A grandchild, Amanda
  Evalee, daughter of Harold, whose mother died at childbirth was also raised in the home.
  Amanda completed school in the Medicine Lodge Schools, graduating in 1946.
     After the closing of the Second Baptist Church, the Carter family were welcome members
  of the First Baptist Church. They were some of the first of their race to settle in 
  Medicine Lodge and were reverent participants in the worship service. They were hard-
  working and conscientiously honest people. Thomas passed on January 10, 1945. Mary T. 
  continued living in the home until shortly before her death, January 1, 1964.
     These people contributed much to the Medicine Lodge Community. One son, Harold (Jack),
  is the only member still residing here.
                
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas,  pg. 123