Isaac Carlton

Isaac Carlton

By Spessard Stone



Isaac Carlton, a pioneer settler of southern Hillsborough County, was a veteran of the Third Seminole War and a farmer and cattleman.

Isaac Carlton was born September 15, 1835, Thomas County, Georgia. In 1843, Isaac moved with his parents, Alderman and Martha Maria (Alderman) Carlton, to the Alafia Settlement in Hillsborough County, Florida.

In Hillsborough County, Fla. on April 2, 1857, Isaac married Eliza Ann Bryant, daughter of Timothy and Sarah (Franklin) Bryant. Rev. J. M. Hayman officiated. Eliza was born March 21, 1839 in Lowndes County, Georgia where she was listed with her parents Timothy, aged 49, and Sarah, aged 38, and eight siblings, along with 80-year-old Edward Franklin (probably Sarah's father) and two other children, in the 1850 census of Lowndes County.

During the Third Seminole War, Isaac served in 1856 in Capt. William B. Hooker's Company and, thereafter, enrolled as a private in Capt. Simeon L. Sparkman's Company on February 17, 1857 and was honorably discharged at Fort Brooke on August 16, 1857.

The family settled in the southern part of Hillsborough County, where in 1877 Isaac purchased 40 acres, on Boggy Branch, later renamed Carlton Branch and the nearby lake called Carlton Lake for Isaac Carlton. Isaac also in 1882 bought 39+ acres, located just southwest of Fellowship Primitive Baptist Church. In 1885 Isaac bought from his son Francis M. Carlton 60 acres on Carlton Branch. He was a farmer, raising corn, sugar cane for syrup, cotton for cloth and was a stockman with hogs and cattle, using the brand 35.

Isaac and Eliza were of the Baptist faith. He had been baptized by Rev. J. M. Hayman at Alafia on September 25, 1853. Mrs. Eliza Carlton was baptized by Rev. Hayman at Alafia on December 14, 1862. They had first been members of the Missionary Baptist Church but joined the Primitive Baptists when Fellowship Primitive Baptist Church was constituted in 1875.

On February 16, 1891 Isaac applied for an invalid pension based on while in the line of duty at Fort Brooke in Capt. S. L. Sparkman's Company "on or about the 1st day of May, 1857 he contracted asthma and rheumatism caused by swimming a lake in the night. It being a very cold night- I was taken sick and went home or sent home and was attend by Dr. Todd." His personal description was then as follows: age 55 years; height 5 feet 5 inches; complexion, sandy; hair, sandy; eyes, grey or sandy." His post office address was Peru (now Riverview), Florida.

Isaac died February 21, 1897 at Willow, Florida and was buried in Fellowship Cemetery, Hillsborough County, Florida.

On August 6, 1902, Eliza Ann Carlton of Ada, Hillsborough County, Florida applied for a widow's Indian War pension based upon Isaac's service in Capt. Sparkman's Company. She described her late husband as having been at the time of his entering service: "21 years of age, five feet 7 inches in height, with blue eyes, sandy hair, light complexion, by occupation a farmer, and that he was born in the County of Thomas, State of Georgia." Her claim was approved as certificate # 6051. Continuing her claim on April 23, 1916, she gave her address as Wimauma, Florida. Eliza died June 8, 1922 and was buried in Fellowship Cemetery.

Issue of Isaac and Eliza Ann (Bryant) Carlton:

1. Francis Marion Carlton, born April 20, 1858; died April 4, 1927; married on Jan. 29, 1879 Sarah Jane Saffold, daughter of Daniel O. and Nancy (Coulter) Saffold.

2. Georgia Ann Carlton, born July 10, 1859; died March 2, 1907; married Jan. 30, 1879 James Dalkins "Doc" Sweat.

3. James Washington Carlton, born Jan. 27, 1861; died Jan. 8, 1908; lived at Myakka City, Fla.; married Feb. 18, 1880 Mary Susan "Molly" Saffold, daughter of Daniel O. & Nancy (Coulter) Saffold.

4. Mary Ann Carlton, born Sept. 5, 1862; died Dec. 28, 1906; married Aug. 18, 1895 Benjamin B. Brown.

5. William Wright Carlton, born Jan. 9, 1865; died July 2, 1903; married in Polk Co., Fla. on Sept. 23, 1886 Louisa Virginia Durrance.

6. Sarah Jane "Sallie" Carlton, born Dec. 13, 1866; died May 6, 1958; married George Alderman Franklin, son of George and Lavenia (Alderman) Franklin.

7. Martha Elizabeth Carlton, born May 13, 1869; died in 1962; married July 11, 1886 Mitchell Ashberry Franklin, son of George and Lavenia (Alderman) Franklin.


This profile is adapted from the author's Lineage of John Carlton.

January 7, 2002