First-generation Ancestors
(Harold's Parents)

Orvil William Carter: October 8, 1894 in Dannebrog, Nebraska - November, 1969 in Coffeyville, Kansas

Mabel Elizabeth Riggs: March 30, 1896 in Coffeyville, Kansas - March 5, 1968 in Tucson, Arizona, buried in Coffeyville, Kansas

Orvil was born in Dannebrog, Nebraska (near Grand Island, Nebraska) in 1894 to Frank Carter and Ida Jane Rice when his father was 33 and his mother was 26. He was the oldest of five children. He spent most of his younger years in Topeka, Kansas near his maternal grandparents, moving to Dearing, Kansas (near Coffeyville) when he was 12. He moved to Coffeyville after he and Mabel were married, and lived there the rest of his life.

Orvil at around age 23

Mabel was born March 30, 1896, in Coffeyville, Kansas to David and Lucinda Riggs when her father was 41 and mother was 39. She was the youngest of five children, all of whom were born in Coffeyville.


Mable as a little girl and a young woman

Wedding picture for Orvil Carter and Mabel Elizabeth Riggs, May 12th, 1917

Orvil and Mabel met after his family moved to a farm near Dearing, Kansas. They were married on May 12, 1917. They had three children: Harold (born 1918 in Dearing, died 2001 in Coffeyville); Charles Myrl (born 1919; died while serving in the Navy in 1945); and Maxine Frances (born 1924 in Coffeyville, died 2002 in California).

Mabel and Orvil with Charlie, Maxine and Harold

Orvil was a businessman, starting with a repair shop in a garage he built behind their house in Coffeyville during the 1920's. Although he was able to fix almost anything, he soon set his focus on repairing automobiles. He opened an auto parts and repairs shop in downtown Coffeyville during the 1930's. When the shop, uninsured at the time, was totally destroyed by a fire in the late 1940's, he started a new shop by forming a cooperatively-owned business with his former employees. He was elected president of the corporation and the new store was named after him. His son, Harold, was president after his retirement, and his grandson, Terry (Terrance William) was the sole owner until his death in 2007.

Orvil and Mabel's interests included church activities (he served as an elder and spearheaded the church's major rennovation project), traveling (particularly to Mexico and to the Southwest to visit their daughter) and entertaining friends and family at a cabin they purchased at Roaring River State Park in southern Missouri and where he enjoyed trout fishing. She died of leukemia at age 72, he of cancer at 75. They are both buried in Coffeyville.

1) Carter Genealogy Index
2) Harold William Carter
3) Harold's Parents
4) Harold's Grandparents
5) Harold's Great-grandparents
6) Harold's GreatX2-grandparents
7) Harold's GreatX3-grandparents
8) Harold's GreatX4-grandparents
9) Harold's GreatX5-grandparents
10) Carter Surname Heritage