Robert Carter was born at Corotoman Plantation in Lancaster County, Virginia, to John Carter (1613–1669) of London, England, and Sarah Ludlow (1635–1668) of Maiden Bradley, Wiltshire.
In 1688, he married Judith Armistead of Hesse in Gloucester County, an area which was included in the formation of Mathews County in 1691.
After her death in 1699, he married Elizabeth Landon in 1701.

At age 28, Robert Carter entered the General Assembly of Virginia as a Burgess from Lancaster County, serving five consecutive years.
In 1726, as President of the Governor's Council, he served as acting Governor of Virginia after the death of Governor Hugh Drysdale.

As an agent of Thomas Fairfax, 5th Lord Fairfax of Cameron – known simply as Lord Fairfax – he served two terms as agent for the Fairfax Proprietary of the Northern Neck of Virginia.
During his first term, 1702–1711, he began to acquire large tracts of land for himself in the Rappahannock River region of Virginia.
Carter acquired some 20,000 acres (81 km²), a large part of which was the 6,000-acre (24 km²) Nomini Hall Plantation, also spelled "Nomoni" or "Nominy," which he purchased in 1709 from the heirs of Col.
Nicholas Spencer, cousin of the Lords Culpeper, from whom the Fairfaxes had inherited their Virginia holdings.

When he became representative of Fairfax's interests again in 1722, serving from 1722–32, he secured for his children and grandchildren about 110,000 acres (450 km²) in the Northern Neck, as well as additional land in Virginia west of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Carter died on 4 August 1732, in Lancaster County, Virginia, and was buried there at Christ Church.
He left his family 300,000 acres (1,200 km²) of land, 3,000 enslaved humans and £10,000 in cash, as stated in the academic genealogical study, A Genealogy of the Known Descendants of Robert Carter of Corotoman, authored by Florence Tyler Carlton in 1982.
Robert Carter was born at Corotoman Plantation in Lancaster County, Virginia, to John Carter (1613–1669) of London, England, and Sarah Ludlow (1635–1668) of Maiden Bradley, Wiltshire. In 1688, he married Judith Armistead of Hesse in Gloucester County, an area which was included in the formation of Mathews County in 1691. After her death in 1699, he married Elizabeth Landon in 1701.
At age 28, Robert Carter entered the General Assembly of Virginia as a Burgess from Lancaster County, serving five consecutive years. In 1726, as President of the Governor's Council, he served as acting Governor of Virginia after the death of Governor Hugh Drysdale.
As an agent of Thomas Fairfax, 5th Lord Fairfax of Cameron – known simply as Lord Fairfax – he served two terms as agent for the Fairfax Proprietary of the Northern Neck of Virginia. During his first term, 1702–1711, he began to acquire large tracts of land for himself in the Rappahannock River region of Virginia. Carter acquired some 20,000 acres (81 km²), a large part of which was the 6,000-acre (24 km²) Nomini Hall Plantation, also spelled "Nomoni" or "Nominy," which he purchased in 1709 from the heirs of Col. Nicholas Spencer, cousin of the Lords Culpeper, from whom the Fairfaxes had inherited their Virginia holdings.
When he became representative of Fairfax's interests again in 1722, serving from 1722–32, he secured for his children and grandchildren about 110,000 acres (450 km²) in the Northern Neck, as well as additional land in Virginia west of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Carter died on 4 August 1732, in Lancaster County, Virginia, and was buried there at Christ Church. He left his family 300,000 acres (1,200 km²) of land, 3,000 enslaved humans and £10,000 in cash, as stated in the academic genealogical study, A Genealogy of the Known Descendants of Robert Carter of Corotoman, authored by Florence Tyler Carlton in 1982.
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