Page:Robert Carter- his life and work. 1807-1889 (IA robertcarterhis00coch).pdf/59

Rh of Scotch Irish descent, his ancestors coming from the North of Ireland to America in 1754. His father, Hugh Thomson, his grandfather, and his great-grandfather were buried in the Piney Creek Presbyterian Church graveyard, Taneytown, Md. He married, in 1807, Ann, daughter of Archibald Strean, who had come from Belfast, Ireland, in 1798. Of this noble and excellent couple it may be said, “None knew them but to love them; none named them but to praise.” The family were thoroughly identified with the Scotch Church. As Mr. Thomson’s children married and settled in life, the connection was continued, and at one time thirteen pews in that church were occupied by his descendants. Miss Thomson’s parents and grandfather being members of that church, she was from infancy a baptized member, entered into full communion there, as did her children after her, and in all her seventy-six years she never had any other church home. She would not have hesitated to say of it, “If I forget thee, let my right hand forget its cunning, and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.” Those who knew Miss Thomson in her youth loved to speak of her great beauty, and her sweet and winning ways. Those who only knew her when her benevolent face was framed by soft silvery curls can hardly believe that the beauty of youth exceeded that of age. And surely the youthful character, however lovely, could not have rivalled the charm that was brought down to a mellow old age by a life of self-forgetful love for others.

Mr. Carter’s love for his young bride was strong and ardent, and it never waned. Strangers who saw his active busy life, and heard his ready, outspoken utterance, may have thought that the quiet, retiring woman