A Sampson County native reportedly has ties to a former U.S. president. Jay Kim Carter of Clinton says he is related to the nation’s 39th president, Jimmy Carter, who died at the age of 100 on Dec. 29, 2024.
Jay Carter, born and raised in Clinton, where he now resides, said he remembers learning that he was related to the soon-to-be-president in 1972. “My grandfather lived behind the old tobacco warehouse,” Jay Carter shared. “I remember him bringing us all together at a birthday party. He told us, ‘I want to share with all of you, you’re related to the governor of Georgia.’ At that time, a lot of us didn’t care or know anything about the governor of Georgia.”
However, in 1976, when Jimmy Carter was elected president of the United States, Jay said he remembered his grandfather telling him they were related, and he wanted to learn all he could about the peanut farmer turned president. In doing some research, he discovered that they shared an ancestor, Kindred Carter, whose family came to Virginia, then North Carolina from the Isle of Wight in England in the 1700s.
Years later, after Jimmy Carter returned to his hometown of Plains, Georgia, Jay wrote him a couple of letters. “I have two letters that he wrote back to me,” Jay recalled. “Instead of writing his name in the return address, he wrote ‘Plains Peanuts,’ the name of his farm.”
Jay said that the former president wrote to him about seven ancestors they shared, all of whom were laid to rest in North Carolina, in Bertie, Iredell and Johnston counties.
That was in 1998. In 2001, Jay and his then-wife Deborah decided to visit their famous relative in Plains, Georgia. They attended Jimmy and Rosalynn’s church for a Sunday service, and that’s when Jay met his long-lost cousin. “The first thing he said to me was, ‘We’re family, long time no see!’” Jay recalled.
He remembers the experience well, recounting that the president lived not far from the church. In fact, the modest brick home can be seen in the background of a photo Jay and Deborah had taken by the church’s sign. “He built that house in 1968 and they continued to live there until they died,” Jay stated. “There was a two-story white house across the road from it, and that’s where the Secret Service lived.”
In fact, when they met at the church, the former president and first lady were surrounded by Secret Service agents, according to Jay. He had a two-page letter he wanted to give President Carter, but had to give it to an agent instead instead of hand-delivering it.
“He saw me after the service and said, ‘I remember you: Jay Carter from North Carolina,’” Jay said, adding that the president gave him a signed copy of his book, “An Hour Before Daylight,” about growing up on the farm in Georgia.
Jay remembers Jimmy Carter as a very down-to-earth, humble individual, and said he will always treasure the memories of meeting and corresponding with the former president.
“I had someone tell me the other day, when I told her when I was related to Jimmy Carter, that at my age, I kind of resemble him,” Jay said proudly. “I hope that’s true.”