Carroll was born in
Davis County, Iowa, the second youngest of 13 to Willis and Christena Carroll. He graduated from the
Missouri State Normal School in 1884, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Education. He would spend the next 5 years teaching, first as a principal in
Jamesport, Missouri then as superintendent in
Rich Hill, Missouri. On June 15, 1886, he married his fellow Truman State student Jennie Dodson. They had a son, Paul, born in 1889, and daughter, Jean, born in 1900. On January 1, 1891, he bought half of the
Davis County Republican, co-owning it with A. H. Fortune, the postmaster of Bloomfield at the time. In 1893, he bought out the full interest of the newspaper. == Political career ==