Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter’s four children, TWENTY TWO grandchildren and great grandchildren

Jimmy Carter, the longest-living president in US history, has tragically passed away, leaving behind an enormous family, including four children, 11 grandkids, and 14 great-grandchildren.

The 100-year-old 39th President of the United States married his wife, Rosalynn Smith, who died in November 2023 at 96, nearly eight decades ago – in 1946 – and they went on to welcome three sons and one daughter together.

Each of Jimmy’s kids have had numerous kids of their own, who have also had numerous kids of their own – resulting in him having a total of 29 descendants. 

While some of some of the former President’s kids and grandkids have followed in Jimmy’s footsteps and launched their own successful careers in politics, others tried and failed. 

His first-born son, Jack – who was kicked out of the Navy after he was caught smoking weed with his friends when he was younger – ran for the Senate in Nevada in 2006, but ultimately lost.

Jimmy’s second-eldest son, Chip, worked for the Democratic National Committee and now serves as the president of a nonprofit organization founded by his parents, while his third-born, Jeff, started a computer mapping company.

As for Jimmy’s fourth child, his only daughter, Amy – who practically stole everyone’s hearts when her dad was elected President when she was just nine years old – she grew up to be a fierce activist who has attended many protests against the US’s foreign policy, which even resulted in her being arrested on one occasion.

Some of them have also received attention for scandalous behavior – like Chip, who once admitted to ‘lighting up’ with singer Willie Nelson on the roof of the White House. 

Jeff also came into the spotlight when his son tragically died of a heart attack at age 28 back in 2015 – a loss that left the entire family devastated. 

The politician’s organization confirmed via Twitter in February that Carter had decided, after a series of hospital stays, to receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention.

He spent his remaining months at home with his devoted wife of 77 years – until she passed on November 19 – and loving family by his side.

As the world grapples with the loss of the beloved former president, FEMAIL has rounded up everything you need to know about the 29 family members he will be remembered by.

From his Senator and award-winning lawyer grandson to his researcher grandson who helped uncover controversial videos of Mitt Romney during the 2012 Presidential race, here’s everything you need to know about Jimmy’s kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids.

Jimmy and Rosalynn’s first son, John ‘Jack’ Carter, was kicked out of the Navy for smoking weed and unsuccessfully ran for the United States’ Senate in Nevada

Jimmy and Rosalynn welcomed their first child together, a baby boy whom they named John ‘Jack’ William Carter, on July 3, 1947.

The couple moved around a lot during the early years of Jack’s life – thanks to Jimmy’s work in the Navy – but they eventually settled in a small town in Georgia, called Plains, where they ran a peanut farm.

It’s been said that Jack, now 77, helped tend to the farm as a kid, and that his dad would pay him 10 cents per hour for his hard work. 

Soon after they moved to Georgia, Jimmy began his political career – he was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1953, became a Georgia state Senator in 1963, followed by the Georgia governor in 1971, and the President of the United States in 1977.

But as his father’s career flourished, Jack began to struggle. He switched from college to college, attending Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory University, and Georgia Southwestern State University, before he ultimately left school altogether to join the Navy in April 1968.

But in 1970, Jimmy’s first-born was kicked out with a ‘less than honorable’ discharge after he and some friends were caught smoking marijuana at a Naval Reactors Facility in Idaho.

But the then-23-year-old quickly turned things around. He decided to return to school, and received his bachelor’s degree in Nuclear Physics from Georgia Tech, followed by a law degree from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1975. 

After leaving the Navy, he also found love, marrying a woman named Juliette ‘Judy’ Langford – the daughter of Georgia state Senator James Beverly Langford.

Together, they welcomed two children – a son named Jason James Carter, born in 1975, and a daughter named Sarah Rosemary Carter, born in 1978.

After finishing his schooling, Jack starting practicing law for his wife’s father, and helped his own dad during his Presidential campaign in 1976. 

He and Judy then decided to relocate to Chicago, where they lived together with their two kids for many years while he worked various jobs – including for the Chicago Board of Trade and for Citibank.

The pair ultimately opted to go their separate ways, and the details of their divorce are not known. He then got re-married to a woman named Elizabeth Brasfield in 1992. 

She had two children from a previous marriage – a son named John Chuldenko and a daughter named Sarah Reynolds – who became Jack’s step-kids.

The family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2002, and in 2006, Jack ran for a seat in the United States Senate – however, he ultimately lost to Republican John Ensign. Since then, he’s lived a relatively quiet life out of the spotlight.

Jack and Judy’s son is an award-winning lawyer and former Georgia Senator, while their daughter has lived a much quieter life

Jack and Judy’s son, Jason, now 49, has also followed in his grandfather’s footsteps by becoming a politician.

After graduating from Duke University with a double major in philosophy and political science, he served in the Peace Corps in South Africa.

He then got a law degree from University of Georgia School of Law in 2004, before he became a partner at the law firm Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore.

Jason made many strides during his time as a lawyer, earning the Stuart Eizenstat Young Lawyer Award for his work defending voters’ rights, and even representing the National Football League Players Association.

He is also a successful author, releasing a book entitled Power Lines: Two Years on South Africa’s Borders in 2002 – which was derived from diaries he wrote during his time in the Peace Corps. 

In 2010, he was elected into Georgia’s State Senate, which he served on for five years, and in 2014, he became the Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia – however, he ultimately lost the election to Nathan Deal.

As for his love life, he married a former journalist and high school teacher named Kate, and together, they have welcomed two sons, named Henry, in 2006, and Thomas, in 2008.

Jack and Judy’s daughter, Sarah, now 46, has lived a much quieter life, and has done her best to stay out of the public eye.

She graduated from Duke University in 2000, and went on to receive her Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of California, San Francisco in 2007, but it’s unclear what she does for work.

She is married to a man named Brendan Keith Murphy, and their daughter, Josephine Beverly, was born in 2009.

Jack’s step-daughter with wife Elizabeth is a famous painter who illustrated her grandfather Jimmy’s poetry book and his step-son is a successful Hollywood writer and director

Jack’s step-children – Elizabeth’s kids from her previous relationship – have both found success in their own careers over the years.

Sarah, now 46, is a professional painter who was born in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, but currently lives in Los Angeles, California. 

According to her website, she graduated with an MFA in Painting from The New York Academy of Art in New York City, and a BFA in Painting from The Cleveland Institute of Art, in Ohio.

Her paintings have been featured in exhibitions across New York City, Los Angeles, Cleveland, and Melbourne, Australia, and she also previously worked for Sotheby’s Auction House.

In 1995, she teamed up with her grandfather to illustrate his book of poems, entitled Always a Reckoning and Other Poems.

She is married to a fellow artist named Stephen Reynolds, and together, they have welcomed two daughters, whose names are not known. 

As for her brother, John – Jack’s step-son – he works as a writer, director, and producer in Los Angeles. He too is a graduate from Cleveland Institute of Art, and majored in graphic design. 

He is best known for directing and writing the movie Nesting, and he also helped pen multiple episodes for the shows Playtime! and Backseat Drivers.

‘John has been coming up with big ideas and bringing them to life for over thirty years,’ his bio reads.

‘He creates television shows and directs feature films. He writes for magazines and speaks at universities. 

‘He’s created content for military weapons platforms and pizza restaurants. And he also writes and directs award-winning commercials, promos, and the occasional music video.’

He announced last year that he had started a project focused on updating the White House’s secret record collection.

He told NPR that he discovered the collection thanks to his uncle Jeff Carter, who told him a story that involved him ‘sneaking off’ to listen to the records with some friends after a ‘fancy’ dinner party at the White House. 

After getting approval from then-First Lady Michelle Obama, John flew to Washington, D.C. to view the records in 2010, and soon realized that there was nothing in the collection from later than the 1980s.

As of May 2022 when the article was published, he was in the midst of working with the Recording Industry Association of America to update the collection.

John currently lives in LA and has two daughters, who haven’t been shown to the public, and his relationship status is unknown. 

Jimmy and Rosalynn’s second son, James ‘Chip’ Carter III, famously smoked pot on the roof of the White House with singer Willie Nelson during his father’s Presidency

Jimmy and Rosalynn welcomed their second child, a son named James ‘Chip’ Earl Carter III, now 73, on April 12, 1950. 

Like his brother, he too worked in his parents peanut factory as a kid. After graduating from high school, he was elected onto the Plains city council, before he went on to work for the Democratic National Committee.

He then became the president of the nonprofit organization founded by his parents, Friendship Force, which aims to ‘improve intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, friendship, and intercultural competence via home-stays,’ according to its website.

Chip has been married three times. His first wife was a woman named Caron Griffin, whom he wed in 1973.

She gave birth to their son, James Earl Carter IV, in February 1977. They divorced three years later, in 1980.

He then got re-married to a woman named Ginger Hodges, and together, they welcomed a daughter, named Margaret Alicia Carter, in September 1987.

He tied the knot with his third and final wife, Becky Payne, in 2001, whom he is still with now. They live together in Decatur, Georgia.

Chip is mostly known for famously smoking pot with on the roof of the White House with singer Willie Nelson. 

Willie first spoke about it in his 1988 autobiography, writing, ‘Sitting on the roof of the White House in Washington, D.C. late last night with a beer in one hand and a fat Austin Torpedo in the other.

‘My companion on the roof was pointing out to me the sights and layout of how the streets run in Washington.

‘I let the weed cover me with a pleasing cloud… I guess the roof of the White House is the safest place to smoke dope.’

While the musician didn’t reveal who his ‘companion’ was at the time, Chip later admitted in an interview that he was indeed the one who smoked with Willie.

‘We just kept going up ’til we got to the roof, where we leaned against the flagpole at the top of the place and lit one up,’ he said during the 2020 documentary Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President. 

‘If you know Washington, the White House is the hub of the spokes – the way it was designed.

‘Most of the avenues run into the White House. You could sit up and could see all the traffic coming right at you. It’s a nice place up there.’

Chip’s son with his first wife helped leak videos of Mitt Romney making controversial comments during his Presidential campaign against Barack Obama, while his daughter with his second wife stays out of the spotlight

Chip’s son with his first wife is an opposition researcher and started the company Carter Research, LLC.

Per his bio, now-46-year-old James ‘has worked on numerous US political campaigns and has participated in election observations with The Carter Center in countries like Nigeria and Indonesia, among others.’

He also previously served as an independent consultant for the government of Panama, writing grants for the Ministry of Social Development. 

Based in Atlanta, the Georgia State University graduate was reportedly the one to leak the now-viral video of Mitt Romney stating that 47 per cent of Americans ‘believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it’ during his Presidential campaign against Barack Obama in 2012.

‘I’ve been searching for clips on Republicans for a long time, almost every day,’ he told New York magazine at the time. ‘I just do it for fun.’

He is married to a woman named Sally, but it doesn’t appear that they have any children together. 

As for Chip’s daughter with his second wife, she does her best to stay out of the spotlight.

Margaret, 36, is reportedly married to a man named Harold Edward Carter, and they have one daughter together named Alicia Carter, who was born in September 2009. 

Jimmy and Rosalynn’s third son, Donnel ‘Jeff’ Carter, loved inviting his celebrity friends over to the White House and helped host the likes of Bob Dylan and Pope John Paul II 

The former president and his wife, Rosalynn, welcomed their third child, another boy named Donnel Jeffrey ‘Jeff’ Carter, on August 18, 1952.

Jeff, now 71, graduated from George Washington University in 1978 with a bachelor’s degree in geography, specializing in computer cartography.

During his time at the school, Time magazine reported that he grew close to a teacher – a former intelligence analyst for the Defense Intelligence Agency named Robert Mercready – and after he graduated, they went on to form the company Computer Mapping Consultants, Inc together, which became a consultant for World Bank.

He married a woman he met at college named Annette Davis in 1975, and together, they had three sons – Joshua Jeffrey Carter, born in 1984, Jeremy Davis Carter, born in 1987, and James Carlton Carter, born in 1991.

The couple lived with Jeff’s father, Jimmy, during much of his Presidency, and they were reportedly very social, racking up tons of celebrity friends, like Bob Dylan and Pope John Paul II, whom they’d host at the White House – before they eventually moved out and got their own place in Georgia.

The family faced tragedy in 2015, when their son Jeremy died of a heart attack suddenly at age 28. 

More heartbreak came in 2021, when Annette sadly passed away at age 68. Her family confirmed the news to People but did not specify the cause of death.

‘Annette was a homemaker, and she was devoted to raising her three boys,’ her son Josh wrote in the obituary.

‘She will be remembered by her friends and family for her easy smile, her fun-loving sense of humor, and her caring nature.

‘She loved to laugh at a particularly bad white elephant gift or a ridiculous pair of earrings. 

‘She always saved stories or comics that she thought would make her sons smile. Annette was a prolific storyteller and often had her listeners in gales of laughter by the end of one of her tales. 

‘She loved her family and her friends with all her heart, and they loved her back with all of theirs.’

Jeff and Annette’s middle son died of a heart attack at age 28, while their oldest is a podcaster and their youngest tries to avoid all media attention

Jeff and Annette’s first-born son, Joshua, now 39, is a graduate from Georgia Tech, podcaster, blogger, woodwork enthusiast, and devoted husband and father.

And it turns out, his love of furniture-making is something he shares with his grandfather, Jimmy.

The former President has been very open about his hobby, and would even auction off pieces that he made for charity during his time in the Oval Office. 

‘Every year when I was at his house for Christmas, I would always go into his shop from when I was eight until well through college,’ Joshua once recalled. 

‘I would work on the projects that he was working on. I think I worked on every single piece that he made for the auction.’

Joshua is married a woman named Sarah Carter – whom he started dating at just 11 years old – and they share two sons, named Charles and Jonathan. 

Jeff and Annette’s second son, Jeremy, led a relatively private life up until his tragic death in 2015.

‘I am so raw. I feel everything and nothing at once, at the same time,’ Joshua wrote on his blog the day after Jeremy’s passing.

‘My dad called me sometime around 10:10 last night and told me that something was wrong, that they were at the hospital with Jeremy and it was not good. 

‘I got in the car and got there as quick as I could. Jeremy was not responsive. His temperature was low. His organs were not working. He was bleeding. He was yellow.’

Joshua said the heart attack happened while he was home with their mother in the kitchen, and that his ‘dear mom’ had to ‘give him CPR until the paramedics came.’ 

He died later that night after suffering from a second heart attack at the hospital.

‘It’s still surreal. I am waiting to wake up or for somebody to tell me that it was a nightmare or a horrible case of mistaken identity or really for somebody that knows all the facts to just tell me that the facts are not true,’ Joshua added. 

‘Just this one time can the facts not be true. I want the universe to lie to me. Just this once. It’s hard to comprehend how much the world has changed.’

Jimmy later called Jeremy ‘a very special child’ and ‘a wonderful young man whom they all loved very much’ during a service.

Jeff and Annette’s third son, Jamie, 31, married his wife, Anna Carter, in October 2021. 

The two have stayed mostly out of the public eye, and they share one daughter, named Rayna Rose Carter, who was born in March 2019.

Jimmy and Rosalynn’s only daughter, Amy Lynn Carter, spent her childhood years living in the White House and became an avid activist as an adult

Jimmy and Rosalynn welcomed their fourth and final child – a daughter named Amy Lynn Carter – on October 19, 1967.

She was raised in Plains, Georgia, until her dad became Governor, when the family moved into the Georgia Governor’s Mansion in Atlanta.

She was just nine years old when Jimmy was elected President of the United States, and she spent four years living in the White House – where it’s been said that she would roller skate through the hallways and have slumber parties with friends in a treehouse built for her on the lawn.

She was the subject of much media attention during these years, with the public falling in love with her adorable smile and sweet personality.

After his Presidency ended, she moved with her parents back to Atlanta, where she finished high school.

She then attended Brown University but was academically dismissed in 1987 when she reportedly failed to keep up with her schoolwork.

However, she then switched to Memphis College of Art where she got her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, before going on to receive her masters in art history from Tulane University in New Orleans in 1996.

Amy, now 57, became known for her activism in her adult years, participating in numerous protests against the US’ foreign policy regarding the South African apartheid and Central America – and she was once even arrested alongside 13 other protestors in 1986 outside of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

She served as the illustrator for her dad’s children’s book, The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer, in 1995.

She married a computer consultant named James Gregory Wentzel in 1996, and she gave birth to their son, Hugo James Wentzel, in 1999.

They ultimately divorced and she got re-married to John ‘Jay’ Kelly in 2007. 

She welcomed her second child, another baby boy, named Errol Carter Kelly, in 2010.

She now serves on the board of counselors for her father’s organization, The Carter Center.

The family mostly stays out of the spotlight, and very little is known about both of her kids.