Samuel J. Carter was born around 1832 in Pennsylvania to William and Sarah Carter. His father earned a living as a farmer and carpenter. The family lived in Luzerne, Pennsylvania, until the 1840s, when they moved to Bloom, Ohio. By 1850, Carter was working as a farmer. He married Elizabeth Lake in Fairfield County, Ohio, on October 17, 1852, and they had at least four children: Sarah, born around 1854; Margaret, born around 1855; Emma, born around 1856; and Josephine, born around 1859.
They moved to Neosho in the Kansas Territory in the late 1850s, and by 1860, he owned $300 of real estate and $800 of personal property. His wife died on April 30, 1868, and he married Susan Alice Dunn around 1870. They had at least five children: William, born around 1870; Samuel, born around 1877; Harry, born around 1880; Maud, born around 1883; and May, born around 1887. By 1870, they were living in Burlington, Kansas, and he owned $8,400 of real estate and $2,500 of personal property. They returned to Neosho in the 1870s.
He supported the Democratic Party, and he served as a county commissioner, sheriff, and county treasurer. He also served on the State Board of Agriculture, and he was a director of the Burlington National Bank. He died in Lawton, Oklahoma, on August 7, 1903. According to one writer, his death "resulted from an accident the day before. When starting to descend the stairs of his residence he was seized with vertigo and fell headlong down the stairway."