George H. Carleton

Early Life & Career

Born on November 29th 1831 in Methuen, Massachusetts, George Humphrey Carleton was a gifted entrepreneur, businessman and benefactor to the towns north of Boston, MA. Having come to Georgetown, MA to work hard in the shoe manufacturing industry, George quickly found himself elected town treasurer of Methuen at the early age of 33. He was an integral member of his community and was affiliated with many committees including the Fire Police Force (25 years) and the Protection Lodge of the International Order for odd Fellows.

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George worked his way into the banking industry and served at Georgetown National Bank as its first cashier alongside H. Prescott Chaplin (President) and Stephen Osgood (Vice President).  In 1891, George H. Carleton founded the Pentucket Savings Bank and served as the bank’s President alongside John A. Gale (Vice President), E.O. Bullock, Dennis T. Kennedy, Charles H Hayes, Augustin Bourneuf and W. Monroe Nichols.

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His Legacy

George Carleton and his wife, Marinda Burke, spent their later years living at 58 West Main Street in Georgetown, MA, now a part of the town’s Historical Society Tour. Both were lifelong advocates of the importance of community, demonstrated by George’s $30,000 contribution towards the establishment of a home for “respectable people of both sexes who shall have reached the age of seventy years and unable to support themselves in comfort”, left in his will after his death in March of 1900.

The first Carleton home was established at 19 North Street in Georgetown, MA with four residents. Its staff offered light housekeeping and communal meals which generated a camaraderie amongst the residents and staff. The original trustees consisted of nine members, of which five were women.

George Carleton and his wife’s tombstones can be found at the center of Harmony Cemetery in Georgetown, MA.