Meet Jimmy Carter's 4 children — everything you need to know
By Bryony Gooch,
6 hours ago
A portrait of President Jimmy Carter and his extended family. Left to right: Judy (Mrs. Jack Carter); Jason James Carter; Jack (John William Carter); Annette (Mrs. Jeff Carter); Jeff (Donnel Jeffrey Carter); First Lady Rosalynn Carter; daughter Amy Lynn Carter; President Carter; daughter-in law Caron Griffin Carter holding James Earl Carter IV; and son Chip (James Earl Carter III). 1977-1980. (Historical)
Jimmy Carter not only celebrated a major milestone in turning 100 in 2024, but he became the first ever president to do so. Yet in his long life , he's amassed a big family.
"We have a big family now. We have 22 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, 38 of us in all," he said on The Lead with Jake Tapper. "So, we try to hold our family together and just enjoy the family life."
The former president's children have all gone on to have big families of their own, and great grandchildren as well. Like their father, they've been blessed to lead long lives.
His son Josh, Jimmy's grandson, told People: "We're going into this with eyes wide open knowing that we're going to have more and more responsibilities going on, and it's just got to be a part of life."
Here's all you need to know about former President Jimmy Carter's huge family with his late wife Rosalynn Carter.
Rosalynn and Jimmy welcomed their eldest son on July 3, 1947, while the former President was serving in the Navy. He grew up in the Plains, Georgia, working on the family's peanut farm before heading off to college.
Jack struggled with college when he first entered, as he attended the Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory University, and then Georgia Southwestern University before his father suggested he join the Navy.
He was discharged in 1970, reportedly for smoking cannabis alongside 53 other classmates, and returned to Georgia Tech where he graduated with a degree in nuclear physics.
He would go on to get a law degree at the University of Georgia, and practice alongside the Georgia State Senator James Beverly Langford.
He married the Senator's daughter Juliette "Judy" Langford, welcoming son Jason James and daughter Sarah Rosemary together. The couple resided in Calhoun til 1981, before moving to Chicago where he worked for Citibank and the Chicago Board of Trade.
Judy and Jack divorced, and he would marry his second wife Elizabeth Brasfield, becoming stepfather to her children John Chuldenko and Sarah Reynolds.
In 2006, Jack won the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate in Nevada, losing to Republican incumbent Senator John Ensign, who resigned in 2011.
The couple would have their second son on April 12, 1950 in Honolulu, where Jimmy was stationed during his naval service. Like his brother, he worked in the family's peanut warehouse before being elected to the Plains city council and working on the Democratic National Committee.
While living with his parents in the White House during his father's presidency, Chip smoked cannabis with country star Willie Nelson — a close friend of the former president — on the White House roof.
The former president would break the news in his documentary Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President , saying: "When Willie Nelson wrote his autobiography, he confessed that he smoked pot in the White House one night when he was spending the night with me."
"And he says that his companion that shared the pot with him was one of the servants in the White House. That is not exactly true — it actually was one of my sons, which he didn't want to categorize as a pot-smoker like him."
Chip has married three times, first to Caron Griffin from 1973 to 1980 after they met during his father's campaign for governor in Georgia. They would go on to have a son, James Earl Carter IV, in February 1977.
Following his first marriage, Chip tied the knot with Ginger Hodges, welcoming daughter Margaret Alicia Carter in 1987 before they divorced. In 2001, he married his third wife, Becky Payne, who has been with ever since.
In 2000, he became the president of the Friendship Force, an international exchange program co-founded by his parents.
The Carters welcomed their third son, Jeff, on August 18, 1952, in New London, Connecticut. While attending Georgia Southwestern University, he met his wife Annette Davis on the first day of college. They would marry four years later in 1975 and have three sons, Joshua Jeffrey, Jeremy Davis, and James Carlton. Jeff and Annette remained married until his wife's death in 2021, aged 68.
In 1978, Jeff graduated with honors from George Washington University, where he studied geography and specialized in computer cartography. That same year, he and his former professor co-founded the company Computer Mapping Consultants.
Jeff's son Josh revealed that his father has been living with Parkinson's for "some time." While not much is known about when Jeff was diagnosed, his son revealed he moved into a new home a decade ago.
"We know that [Parkinson's] is a one-way street," Josh said. "My dad is currently living by himself, he's able to take care of himself, he's independent, but he built his house knowing that one day he's going to need more help."
15 years after welcoming their third, Jimmy and Rosalynn welcomed their only daughter, Amy Lynn Carter, on October 19, 1967.
Growing up in the White House, Amy grew up in the spotlight. At just nine years old she garnered attention when she read books during a state dinner hosting Canada's then-Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau.
Her nanny, Mary Prince, was part of the prisoner trusty system in Georgia, after she was wrongly convicted of murder and later pardoned. She became Amy's nanny when Jimmy asked to be her parole officer so she could work in the White House.
Amy would enrol in Brown University, but was dismissed for poor academic performance in July 1987. She would instead get a bachelor's degree from the Memphis College of Art in 1991, and gain a master's in art history from Tulane University in 1996.
That same year, she married computer consultent James Wentzel, and they had a son, Hugo James Wentzel. The couple divorced in 2005, and since 2007 she has been married to John Joseph "Jay" Kelly, with whom she shares Errol Carter Kelly.
Having been raised in a political environment, Amy made a name for herself as an activist, participating in sit-ins and protests throughout the 80s and 90s that were aimed at changing U.S. foreign policy towards South African apartheid and Central America. She has since kept a low profile, working as a member of the board of counselors of the Carter Center.
Jimmy's daughter received widespread attention as she spoke on her father's behalf at mom Rosalynn's funeral, showing the world just how much the former president loved his wife through a love note he sent during his naval service.
Barely able to hold her tears, Amy read the note aloud: "My darling, every time I have ever been away from you, I have been thrilled when I returned to discover just how wonderful you are."
"While I am away, I try to convince myself that you really are not, could not be as sweet and beautiful as I remember," she continued to read. "But when I see you, I fall in love with you all over again. Does that seem strange to you? It doesn’t to me. Goodbye, darling. Until tomorrow. Jimmy."
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