John,
<< GENEALOGY: PER "GENEALOGICAL & FAMILY HISTORY OF WESTERN NEW YORK"
LEWIS,
1912: PAGE 1252, 53: [William Carpenter] was born in England in 1576. ... He
was a resident of London. PAGE 1318: ..., third son of William Carpenter,
born 1576, was a Carpenter by trade and resided in London. >>
Cutter (whose work, as John Chandler says, is not to be trusted) simply
repeats Amos B. Carpenter's claim, for which there is no evidence, of a
London origin for 1576 William Carpenter. I give it no credence.
<< If William Carpenter b. abt. 1576 was older could he have allowed a
transposition of the year? IE 1567? >>
It seems highly unlikely to me that a birth year was mentioned in connection
with the BEVIS passenger list. William Sr. was almost certainly asked his
age, and his answer of 62 was recorded. It is those of us with hopes of
learning more about him who have translated his age in 1638 into an
approximate birth year. When and under what conditions do you propose that a
transposition occurred?
<< William CARPENTER-1 was christened on 2 Aug 1567 in Birchington, Kent,
England. ... I know this is pushing the probability, but your efforts to find
the crca 1576 William so far has come to naught. >>
There are several possible reasons why the search for 1576 William has so far
been (and may forever remain) fruitless. One is that the needed records (of
his baptism and/or marriage and, in the same parish or one very near, of his
son [Rehoboth] William's baptism) may not be extant. While I did the best I
could in searching the records of parishes surrounding Shalbourne, several
didn't begin early enough, and most were fragmentary, sometimes skipping
critical years.
Another possible reason for the lack of success is that we haven't looked in
the right place. I didn't exhaust the parishes whose records should be
searched; I simply stopped searching so as to devote my time to other
projects. But since the Rehoboth Carpenters' earliest known residence was
Shalbourne, Wiltshire(/Berkshire), and after that Wherwell, Hampshire (not
far from Shalbourne), co. Kent would be near the bottom of my list of places
to look. But, hey, that's just me:-).
It's also POSSIBLE that we already have a relevant record and either don't
know it or can't prove it. For example, the St. Thomas the Martyr,
Salisbury, record of the 18 April 1605 marriage of William Carpenter and Mary
Batt MIGHT pertain to the parents of Rehoboth William. It requires a smaller
leap of faith than your 1567 William of Birchington, co. Kent, don't you
think? Salisbury is much nearer to Shalbourne and Wherwell than is
Birchington. And Rehoboth William's birth year would have to be revised by
only a year, from 1605 (which we infer from the age [33] recorded for him on
the BEVIS list) to 1606. Based on wife Abigail's baptismal date (27 May
1604), we know that the BEVIS list understates her age (given as 32) by a
year or two. Since the available evidence shows her to have been older than
William, perhaps she was enough so that he also fudged his age but in the
opposite direction. Of course, all this is purely speculative: as pertinent
as the Salisbury marriage record MAY be, we have nothing by which to connect
the William Carpenter named therein to the Shalbourne/Wherwell Carpenters.
The marriage record's relevance is therefore presently unknown and perhaps
unprovable. At least, though, it suggests another place to look.
Gene