Descendants of Joseph CARPENTER
Generation No. 1
1. JOSEPH7 CARPENTER (JAMES6, THOMAS5, THOMAS4, ABIAH3, SAMUEL2,
WILLIAM1)1 was born 08 Sep 1789 in Rehoboth, Bristol, MA, and died Aft. 1864
in Attleboro, Bristol, MA. He married NANCY M. BULLOCK 21 Feb 1813 in
Bristol, MA, daughter of ABEL BULLOCK. She was born 10 Dec 1793 in MA, and
died 04 May 1880 in Bristol, MA.
Notes for JOSEPH CARPENTER:
The 1842 Aplin/Carpenter Correspondence
by John D. Tew
WHILE RESEARCHING MY CARPENTER ANCESTRY,
I discovered two remarkable letters among the
papers of Anna Carpenter (Garlin) Spencer!" in the
Swarthmore College Peace Collection.Fl The first letter,
written November 2, 1842, was an eviction notice
to my ancestor, Joseph Carpenter of Providence,
Rhode Island, by his landlady, Emily Aplin. A spirited
reply was penned by Joseph's daughter, Nancy Mason
Carpenter, two days later. This intriguing correspondence
prompted me to research the principal characters
in this drama and the context of the times. Emily
Aplin's major grievance was that joseph Carpenter
held an opposing view in the contentious "Dorr War,"
which occurred earlier that year.
In late 1842,joseph Carpenter was renting a house
in Providence from Emily Aplin and her siblings, "Mr.
Viall" and "Mrs. Vickery'T" (The address of the home
is unknown.) At some point after the Carpenters
moved there, Emily Aplin wrote to Joseph Carpenter
and asked him to vacate the premises by "the end of
the quarter." Since the letter was posted in November,
I believe the lease was for a calendar year and the Carpenter family was
asked to vacate and find a new
home during the 1842 holiday season.
Joseph Carpenter and his wife, Nancy Mason
(Bullock) Carpenter, were natives of Rehoboth,
Massachusetts. In 1842 he was 53 years old and she
was just shy of her 49th birthday!"(4)
Nancy had given birth to fourteen children. (5) Four had died, leaving ten
children living in November 1842:
• James Mason Carpenter - 28 years old. Married.
• George Moulton Carpenter - 27 years old.
• Nancy Mason Carpenter - 24 years old.
• Sarah Martin Carpenter - 22 years old.
• Jonathan Bliss Carpenter - 20 years old.
• Lucy Bliss Carpenter - 18 years old,
• William Wallace Carpenter - 16 years old.
• Samuel Carpenter - 13 years old.
• Newton Francis Carpenter -11 years old.
• Edward Everett Carpenter - 2 years old.
Miss Aplin wrote that the "the age and number" of
the Carpenter children contributed to her decision
to issue the eviction notice. (Neither letter states how
many Carpenter children were living at the house.)
But Miss Aplin was motivated by an issue of even
greater significance than "three boys of the most undesirable
ages"; she believed Joseph Carpenter was a
Dorrite. "My whole soul shrinks from the man, who
to gratify his own selfishness would sacrifice the welfare
of a community. So having my feelings I proceed
without any further ceremony to request you to vacate
the tenement as soon as possible."
Miss Aplin's hostility toward Dorrites offers interestmg
Insight into the Dorr Rebellion, a crisis that
shook Rhode Island in the early 1840s. According
to historian Marvin E. Gettleman , "The most dramattic
and bitter battle of the antebellum period took
place In Rhode Island, where the movement for political
refeform took a radical and even revolutionary
character.(6)Under the Charter of 1663, then still
in force, less than fifty percent of White men - men
who owned landed property worth at least $134 and
their oldest sons - were eligible to vote. With the advent
of the Industrial Revolution, Rhode Island had
become less agrarian and many people moved from farms into cities. Large
numbers of men owned no
land and so had no right to the franchise. From an
estimated high of perhaps 75% of white men eligible
to vote in the eighteenth century, the number of voters
in Rhode Island declined through the early nineteenth
century!" (Women and non-white men were not eligible
to vote.)
Providence native Thomas Wilson Dorr set out to
change the basis for the vote in Rhode Island. In the
fall of 1841, Dorr and his followers called a "People's
Convention" and drafted a "People's Constitution" for
Rhode Island that granted the vote to all white men
who had resided in the state for a year. (Originally
Dorr supported granting voting rights to blacks as
well as whites, but under pressure from conservatives
in his group he sought only greatly liberalized suffrage
for white men.)(8) The General Assembly responded
with a rival convention and drafted the so-called
"Landholders' Constitution," which made some concessions
but not enough for the Dorrites.ln December
1841, the People's Constitution was overwhelmingly
successful - but the referendum was largely ignored
by its opponents who did not participate in the election.
In March 1842, the Landholders' Constitution
was narrowly defeated by an electorate which included
non-landholders and, therefore, many Dorrites.
In 1842 both camps organized elections, and two
governors were elected - Thomas Dorr and incumbent
governor Samuel Ward King. Governor King
ordered Dorr arrested, and Dorr temporarily left
the state. On May 17, Dorr and about 200 supporters
attacked the Providence arsenal. Charter supporters
defended it, and the attack on the arsenal failed.
Dorr fled to Connecticut but returned in late June to
Chepachet, where he gathered his followers and intended
to march on Providence. Governor King called
out more than 3,500 militia men against Dorr, who
disbanded his supporters and went to New Hampshire.
Martial law was declared, and the state was on high
alert, expecting an attack from Dorr. When Dorr did
not act by mid-July, the situation quieted down, and
martial law was suspended in September 1842.(9)
Charter supporters, who had established the Law and
Order Parry, came to recognize the validiry of the suffrage
cause and in September 1842 the Rhode Island
Assembly met at Newport to draft a new constitution,
which offered additional concessions and took effect
in May 1843. Under this new constitution, any nativeborn
male (regardless of race) could vote if he paid a
$1.00 poll tax. ("This constitution specifically gave native-
born citizens more liberal voting rights than naturalized
citizens ... [Naturalized citizens] could not vote in statewide or federal
elections ... Not until 1928 did
naturalized citizens get full political equality (10)
"The ideological debate .. , was not simply an interchange
between radical lawyers .. .and conservative jurists.
It raged through every level of Rhode Island sociery,
and it took the form of fiery newspaper editorials,
bitter personal disputes, and even religious quarrels.(11)
And in November 1842, Emily Aplin could not abide
a Dorrite living in her house. Unfortunately, I have
not found definitive information about her or her
siblings. An Emily Aplin who lived from 1810 to 16
July 1886 is buried in North Burial Ground Cemetery
in Providence. If she wrote the letter, she would have
then been thirty-two. The Providence Directory, for
the years 1838-39, 1844, 1847-48, 1850, 1852-53,
1853-54,1854-55 (12), lists an Emily Aplin employed at
"Children's Friend Instit," at 88 Pawtuxet, For several
years she was listed as an "assistant teacher.(13)
Joseph Carpenter's entry in A Genealogical History of
the Rehoboth Branch of the Carpenter Family in America
noted "he was a pensioner in the war of 1812, also
a member of the Bunker Hill Monument association
and much interested in public affairs; a man of strict
integriry and much respected."(14) Joseph and Nancy
Carpenter celebrated their golden wedding anniversary
in 1863. Both died in Attleborough, Massachusetts,
in 1880, Nancy, at 86, on May 4, and Joseph, at 91, on
November 12. (15)
The Aplin/Carpenter Correspondence
Transcriptions of Emily Aplin's letter seeking to terminate
the Carpenter tenancy and the reply by Nancy
Mason Carpenter,Joseph's daughter, are presented here
in their enrireryl"! I do not have any additional information
about relations between Miss Aplin and the
Carpenters, or when or where the Carpenters moved.
Providence Nov. 2d 1842
Mr. Carpenter Sir:
My sister & myself have both felt ever since you moved
your family into our house that we had been grossly
deceived in respect to the age and number of your childrcri.
Ir is true we understood that you had fourteen but
the decided impression you gave my brother Mr.Viall &
Mrs. Vickery was, that they were all grown up and out
of the way - instead of that you have three boys of the
most undesirable ages because they are always reckless
then if ever, & a little one beside. We had repeatedly
refused the house to otherwise good tenants on account
of their children and when we repaired the house, we
decided in our own minds, to have no children in it -
because we had been exceedingly troubled with them
in the family who had previously occupied it, and it was
only on account of the smallness of your family that we
consented to let it you. [H] ad we have known the circumstances
we should have decidedly preferred having
it empty until the day of our deaths. I repeat it, we do
feel that we have been deceived & we never can consent
to have our own homestead, the legacy of a beloved
Father, occupied by a family the head of whom would
deceive in regard to the children God has given him.
My Father's integrity was unimpeachable & we mean
that his former home shall be retained to his memory
pure. I have another serious objection. ~ because
my sister has never named it to me. I say it upon my own
responsibility. When the question was asked me if you
could have the tenement, I asked at once if you were
a Dorrite! My brother thought not for you appeared
respectable, but I have learned a different story - now
I have no possible objection to an honest suffrage man,
but I say without hesitation that were the privilege
granted me of choosing a tenant who must be
either a Sabbath breaker or Licentious or
a gambler or Intemperate or an understanding
Dorrite, though I despise
them all, still there would be a decided
preference for one of the
former named. My whole soul
shrinks from the man, who
to gratify his own selfishness
would sacrifice the welfare
of a community. So having
my feelings I proceed without
any further ceremony
to request you to vacate the
tenement as soon as possible,
at all events at the end of the
quarter. Sooner would be very
agreeable if you can obtain
a house, but I repeat, certainly
then. I am decided. I know nothing
in the world against your family
& I sincerely wish you well.
Emily Aplin
Providence Nov. 4th 1842
Miss Aplin
Your letter of Nov. 2d was received by my father the
3d instant, at his request I reply to it. In the first place
you say,"we find we have been grossly deceived in respect
to the age & number of your children." I cannot
understand how you can with truth term it deception
as respects the number when in the same line you add
"we understood you had fourteen" - there you was
not misinformed he is the father of fourteen children
four of them however sleep quietly undisturbed in the
silent grave. So to the impression he gave you in regard
to the remaining children, I think there must be some
misunderstanding for he mentioned to your brother (of
whom he hired the house) that he had three sons for
whom he wished to procure admittance into one of the
Public schools. You certainly might have infered from
that that they were not very far advanced in years, &
that they would be at home. I suppose it will be unnecessary
for me to give you any particulars in regard
to their ages, for you have already classed them among
the "undesirables" which you certainly would not have
done had you been ignorant of their respective ages.
You again repeat "we do feel we have been deceived
& we never can consent to have our homestead the
legacy of our beloved father occupied by a family the
head of whom would deceive in regard to the children
God has given him." I think I have made it plain to you
that it was not my father's intent to deceive you in any
form & most assuredly not respecting the age & number
of his children. You next say "my father's integrity
was unimpeachable & we mean that his former home
shall be retained to his memory pure."The correctness
of this statement I have no reason to doubt, & had I it
would afford me no gratification to injure the
feelings of a long departed parent - and
though you are a stranger to me I respect
you for the love you seem to
bear to the memory of your father,
I am a daughter & shall strive
to the last moments of my existence to sustain from unjust
reproach, false accusations,or slander the character of
my parents - but however
highly I may esteem them
it will not be becoming me
here to add more than the
wish that they may receive
from the world their just due.
It has always been a rule with
my father when occupying a house not his own to use it with care & pay the
sum
required for rent. It has never been binding upon him
to hold in uncommon estimation its former occupants
or owners - and as he when making the contract with
your brother for the house did not hear him allude to
the sacredness of the spot we had never supposed that
we were desecrating it. But Iguess on to "another serious
objection," you speak of the conversation with your
brother in regard to the political principles of my father
as it respects what your brother may have thought of
the respectability of his appearance or your own subsequently
formed opinion, Ihave only to say, I consider it
beneath my dignity to reply to such insulting language.
You say you have no "possible objection to an honest
suffrage man" such is my father & I presume he has
never failed to honestly declare his principles whenever
asked concerning them.You say in choosing a tenant
you should prefer a "Sabbath breaker a licentious
a gambler or an intemperate man to an understanding
Dorrite." I cannot agree with you in this preference for
I have ever been thought to reverence the Sabbath, to
look with detestation upon the crimes of licentiousness
& gambling, and I am happy to say the name of
every member of our family stands enrolled on the total
abstinence pledge. I am acquainted with many whom
you probably would term Dorrites whose character I
doubt not stands as high as any of those who have opposed
them in their struggle to secure for themselves
the right of citizenship, therefore I cannot with any
candour join you in placing them beneath the lowest
& most infamous of mankind. You finally conclude by
saying, "I know nothing in the world against your family
& sincerely wish you well." In return for this accept
my wish that your feelings may, never be wounded as
mine have been by hearing a beloved relative unjustly
& falsely accused.
N.M. Carpenter
Children of JOSEPH CARPENTER and NANCY BULLOCK are:
i. JAMES MASON8 CARPENTER, b. 11 Nov 1813, Rehoboth, Bristol, MA; d. 23
Mar 1892, Pittston, ME.
2. ii. GEORGE MOULTON CARPENTER, b. 06 Aug 1815, Rehoboth,
Bristol, MA; d. 07 Jun 1883, MA.
iii. NANCY MASON CARPENTER, b. 14 Jun 1818, Rehoboth, Bristol, MA; d.
Providence, Providence, RI.
iv. SARAH MARTIN CARPENTER, b. 21 Feb 1820, Rehoboth, Bristol, MA; d.
26 Feb 1846, Rehoboth, Bristol, MA.
v. JONATHAN BLISS CARPENTER, b. 25 Apr 1822, Rehoboth, Bristol, MA; d.
01 Dec 1857, Attleboro, Bristol, MA.
vi. LUCY BLISS CARPENTER, b. 01 Aug 1824, Rehoboth, Bristol, MA; d.
Aft. 1868, Attleboro, Bristol, MA.
vii. WILLIAM WALLACE CARPENTER, b. 26 Feb 1826, Rehoboth, Bristol, MA;
d. 18 May 1877.
viii. SAMUEL CARPENTER, b. 26 Feb 1829, Rehoboth, Bristol, MA; d. 1904,
Cumberland, R.I..
ix. JANE BUFFUM CARPENTER, b. 26 Feb 1829, Rehoboth, Bristol, MA; d. 04
Dec 1830, Rehoboth, Bristol, MA.
3. x. NEWTON FRANCIS CARPENTER, b. 27 Apr 1831, Rehoboth,
Bristol, MA; d. 07 Dec 1851, Menomonie, WI.
xi. JANE BUFFUM CARPENTER, b. 23 May 1834, Rehoboth, Bristol, MA; d. 17
Mar 1836, Smithfield, RI.
xii. JOSEPH CARPENTER, b. 22 Dec 1835, Rehoboth, Bristol, MA; d. 14 Nov
1836, Rehoboth, Bristol, MA.
xiii. ALBERT NORTON CARPENTER, b. 14 Aug 1837, Rehoboth, Bristol, MA;
d. 02 Aug 1838, Smithfield, RI.
xiv. EDWARD EVERETT CARPENTER, b. 02 Oct 1840, Rehoboth, Bristol, MA.
Notes for EDWARD EVERETT CARPENTER:
Edward Everett (CM6224) Carpenter son of Joseph (3952) Carpenter, Husband
of Emma Brown Wilbur and Mariah N. Hamlin. Enlisted under Capt John Pitman
in Company G of the Rhode Island 1st Reg. He enlisted on may 2 1861, Was
born in Newport, Rhode Island, At time of Enlistment was 20 years of age, 5
ft 10 1/2 inches tall, Dark Complexion and hazel eyes and brown hair, Was a
jeweler he has taken sick on 18 june on the march south and was left behind
with others, He caught up to his unin in Camp Sprauge, Washington DC and
was discharges on july 2 1861 with a certificate of Disability for Discharge
From: "Marque Carpenter" <carpenterm(a)comcast.net>
Generation No. 2
2. GEORGE MOULTON8 CARPENTER (JOSEPH7, JAMES6, THOMAS5, THOMAS4,
ABIAH3, SAMUEL2, WILLIAM1) was born 06 Aug 1815 in Rehoboth, Bristol, MA, and
died 07 Jun 1883 in MA. He married (1) SARAH LEWIS WALCOTT 10 Jul 1843 in
Bristol, MA, daughter of JOHN FOSTER WALCOTT. She was born 27 Jan 1821 in
RI, and died 06 Mar 1869 in MA. He married (2) HARRIET JOHNSON WHEATON 02
Aug 1874 in Rehoboth, Bristol, MA, daughter of JONATHAN WHEATON. She was
born Abt. 1835 in Bristol, MA, and died 05 Mar 1893 in Bristol, MA.
Children of GEORGE CARPENTER and SARAH WALCOTT are:
i. GEORGE MOULTON9 CARPENTER, b. 22 Apr 1844, Portsmouth, Newport, RI;
d. 30 Sep 1896, Katwyk, Holland.
4. ii. EDMUND JAMES CARPENTER, b. 16 Oct 1845, Portsmouth,
Newport, RI; d. 21 Feb 1924, Milton, Suffolk, MA.
3. NEWTON FRANCIS8 CARPENTER (JOSEPH7, JAMES6, THOMAS5, THOMAS4,
ABIAH3, SAMUEL2, WILLIAM1) was born 27 Apr 1831 in Rehoboth, Bristol, MA, and
died 07 Dec 1851 in Menomonie, WI. He married (1) ESTHER ROWE, daughter of
JOHN ROWE. He married (2) HELEN M. BROWN 07 Dec 1851, daughter of
WILLIAM KIRK BROWN. She was born Abt. 1827, and died 16 Dec 1895.
More About NEWTON FRANCIS CARPENTER:
Occupation: Lawyer & Justice of the Peace
Children of NEWTON CARPENTER and HELEN BROWN are:
i. EDWARD FRANCIS9 CARPENTER.
ii. HELEN MARIA CARPENTER.
iii. GEORGE MOULTON CARPENTER.
5. iv. WILLIAM FRANCES CARPENTER, b. 15 Apr 1852; d. 03 Jul
1889, ? Pittstown, ME..
v. NANCY MASON CARPENTER, b. 02 Jan 1858.
6. vi. FRED EDSON CARPENTER, b. 25 Jun 1862, De sota,
Wisconson; d. Waterville , Douglas, WA.
vii. CHARLES BLISS CARPENTER, b. 23 Jul 1869.
viii. MARY ELIZA OR ELIZABETH CARPENTER, b. 08 Sep 1885.
Generation No. 3
4. EDMUND JAMES9 CARPENTER (GEORGE MOULTON8, JOSEPH7, JAMES6,
THOMAS5, THOMAS4, ABIAH3, SAMUEL2, WILLIAM1) was born 16 Oct 1845 in
Portsmouth, Newport, RI, and died 21 Feb 1924 in Milton, Suffolk, MA. He married
LYDIA ETTA SNOW 12 Nov 1873 in MA, daughter of ALPHEUS J. SNOW. She was born
21 Nov 1851 in Providence, Providence, RI.
Children of EDMUND CARPENTER and LYDIA SNOW are:
i. SARAH WALCOTT10 CARPENTER, b. 02 Sep 1874, Providence, Providence,
RI.
ii. PAUL CARPENTER, b. 15 Mar 1876, Providence, Providence, RI.
iii. FLETCHER HAWTHORNE CARPENTER, b. 27 Jun 1878, Providence,
Providence, RI.
iv. GRACE MIRIAM CARPENTER, b. 09 Jun 1880, Lincoln, RI.
v. RALPH SNOW CARPENTER, b. 05 Nov 1885, Dedham, Norfolk, MA.
vi. RUTH WEEDEN CARPENTER, b. 10 Jun 1887, Dedham, Norfolk, MA.
5. WILLIAM FRANCES9 CARPENTER (NEWTON FRANCIS8, JOSEPH7, JAMES6,
THOMAS5, THOMAS4, ABIAH3, SAMUEL2, WILLIAM1) was born 15 Apr 1852, and died
03 Jul 1889 in ? Pittstown, ME.. He married FLORENCE WEEKS. She was born
in of Jefferson Maine.
Children of WILLIAM CARPENTER and FLORENCE WEEKS are:
i. HAROLD WEEKS10 CARPENTER.
ii. HELEN CARPENTER.
6. FRED EDSON9 CARPENTER (NEWTON FRANCIS8, JOSEPH7, JAMES6, THOMAS5,
THOMAS4, ABIAH3, SAMUEL2, WILLIAM1) was born 25 Jun 1862 in De sota,
Wisconson, and died in Waterville , Douglas, WA. He married NELLIE BEEMAN,
daughter of JASON BEEMAN and LUCY TAYLOR.
Notes for NELLIE BEEMAN:
From: Paul Dale <pdale(a)sprynet.com>
Date: Sunday, July 09, 2000 1:44 PM
From the death certificate of Nellie Carpenter #10159 it states that her
parents
are Jason Beeman and Lucy Taylor.
Paul
Child of FRED CARPENTER and NELLIE BEEMAN is:
7. i. ROY WESLEY10 CARPENTER, b. 1904, Waterville,
Douglas, WA.; d. 04 Jun 1964, Buckley, Pierce, WA..
Generation No. 4
7. ROY WESLEY10 CARPENTER (FRED EDSON9, NEWTON FRANCIS8, JOSEPH7,
JAMES6, THOMAS5, THOMAS4, ABIAH3, SAMUEL2, WILLIAM1) was born 1904 in
Waterville, Douglas, WA., and died 04 Jun 1964 in Buckley, Pierce, WA.. He
married GOLDEY IRENE WILHELM Abt. 1932 in Waterville, Douglas, WA.. She was
born 13 Nov 1905 in Alstown, Washington, and died 28 Sep 1973 in Auburn,
Douglas, WA.
Notes for ROY WESLEY CARPENTER:
From: Paul Dale <pdale(a)sprynet.com>
7/8/2000
Husband: Roy Wesley CARPENTER (C615)
Born: 1904 at: Waterville, Douglas Co., WA
Married: ABT 1932 at: Waterville, Douglas Co., WA
Died: 04 JUN 1964 at: Buckley, Pierce Co., WA
Father:
Mother:
Other Spouses:
NOTES
Wife: Goldey Irene WILHELM (W445)
Born: 13 NOV 1905 at:
Died: 28 SEP 1973 at: Alburn, WA
Father:
Mother:
Other Spouses:
CHILDREN
Name: Phyllis J. CARPENTER
Born: 29 NOV 1934 at: Waterville, Douglas Co., WA
Married: 25 DEC 1949 at: Port Townsend, Jefferson Co., WA
Died: 29 SEP 1999 at: Lebanon, Laclede Co., MO
Spouses: John Edward DALE C. L. (Larry) LARIMORE
NOTES
Name: Gordon CARPENTER
Born: 1937 at: Waterville, Douglas Co., WA
Married: at:
Died: at:
Spouses: Hazel UNKNOWN
Name: Jesse CARPENTER
Born: at:
Married: at:
Died: at:
Spouses:
Name: Dorothy CARPENTER
Born: at:
Married: at:
Died: at:
Spouses: Rocky WISSINGER
Children of ROY CARPENTER and GOLDEY WILHELM are:
i. DOROTHY11 CARPENTER, m. ROSCOE WISSINGER.
ii. JESSE CARPENTER.
iii. PHYILLIS J. CARPENTER, b. 29 Nov 1934, Waterville, Douglas, WA; m.
JOHN EDWARD C.L. LARIMORE, 29 Dec 1949, Port Townsend, Jefferson, WA.
iv. GORDON CARPENTER, b. 1937.
Endnotes
1. Notes 1 Anna Carpenter Garlin was the daughter of Nancy Mason
(Carpenter) Garlin and the granddaughter of Joseph and Nancy (Bullock)
Carpenter. Anna was the first ordained female minister in Rhode Island and in
1891 became the minister of the independent Bell Street Chapel in Providence.
She was an early leader of the Ethical Culture movement, a signer of the
NAACP founding document, an active member and officer of the Free
Religious Association, and a leader in the woman suffrage and peace movements.
Among the positions she held were Associate Director of the New York
Society for Ethical Culture (1904), Professor of Sociology and Ethics at the
Meadville Theological School (1913-18), lecturer at the University of Chicago
(1918), and, from 1920 until her death, a special lecturer at Teachers
College, Columbia University. See,
www.hds.harvard.edullibraryl
exhibilSlmorllhlyI20040J.html. AMERICAN ANCESTORS Fall 2011 2 Nov. 2,1842 letter from
Emily Aplin and Nov. 4,1842 letter from N.M. Carpenter, in the Anna
Garlin Spencer Papers (DG 034), Swarthmore College Peace Collection. 3 The
exact relationship between the three siblings is not clear. As Miss Aplin was
presumably unmarried, perhaps Mr.Viall was a half-brother or a
brother-in-law. 4 Joseph Carpenter was born September 8, 1789. Nancy Bullock was
born December 10, 1793. The couple married in Rehoboth on February 21,
1813.James N.Arnold, Vital Records of Rehoboth, 1642-1895 (providence, R.1.:
Narragansett Historical Publishing Company, 1897).582,567,89. ~Amos B.
Carpenter, A Ceneaiogico! History of the Rehoboth Bfanch of the Carpenter
Family in America (Amherst, Mass.: Press of Carpenter & Morehouse, 1898),
429-430, 618-620.The ages of the Carpenter children in 1842 were calculated
from the birthdates in this source. 6 Marvin E. Gettleman, The Dorr
Rebellion: A Study in America" Radicalism (New York: Random House, 1973),3. 7
Ibid., 7. 8 Erik J. Chaput and Russell J. DeSimone. "Strange Bedfellows:
The Politics of Race in Antebellum Rhode Island" Comlllon- Place
(
www.conmlC>tl-place.org) 10 (January 2010): 2. 9 Thomas Dorr was arrested in 1843
and the following year was tried, found guilty of treason, and given a
life sentence of solitary confinement at hard labor. Due to widespread
criticism, Dorr was released in 1845. In 1851 his civil rights were restored
and, in 1854, the court judgment against him was set aside. He died in 1854.
10 William G. McLoughlin, Rhode Island: A History (New York: WW Norton and
Co., 1986), 135-36. 11 Gettlernan, TI,e DOTT Rebellion [note 6], 77. 12
Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories [database online J (Provo, Utah:
Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010). 13 Children's Friend. founded in 1834,
still exists as Children's Friend & Service in Providence. Such employment
would be ironic if this Emily Aplin wrote the above letter, given her
complaint about "three boys of the most undesirable ages." Children's
Friend
has a long history as a provider of child welfare. farruly support, mental
health. and youth development." See
Wlvw·ifsri.org. 14 Carpenter, A
Genealogical History [note 5], 430. 15 Massachusetts Vital Records, 184/-1910.
(From original records held by the Massachusetts Archives. Online
database: Americall
Ancestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical
Society,2004.) 16 Whether Nancy Mason Carpenter's reply was actually sent is
unknown.
The letter in the Anna Carpenter Spencer papers might have - or have not
- been delivered. Emily Aplin's response is unknown. JOHN D. TEW was born
in Providence, Rhode Island. He is the great-great-great grandson
ifJoseph and Nancy Mason (Bullock) Carpenter