On 2 July 2011, Thomas Keiper inquired of John R. Carpenter:
<< As you may know, there are many many John Carpenters within the family (starting
with John ca. 1303 London ). As you most likely also know there is the Rehoboth, Mass.
(ours), Philadelphia, Pa., and the Rhode Island branch. Which may I ask are you a
descendant? >>
John replied the same date by identifying himself as being of the Rehoboth Carpenter line
and indicating his Y-DNA project and CE 2009 reference numbers.
What John neglected to mention is that it is inappropriate to speak of the John Carpenter
born about 1303 (not of London but Dilwyne, Hertfordshire) as being "within the
family." Most of the ancient ancestry attributed to William1 Carpenter of Shalbourne
(b. ca. 1575, father of William2 of Rehoboth) and Richard Carpenter of Amesbury (father of
William1 of Providence) has been definitively refuted, and the remainder has not been
substantiated. It is virtually certain, moreover, that the two men did not have the same
parents. For details, see
http://members.cox.net/jrcrin001/Abiah3Carpenter(NEHGR159%5bJan2005%5d).pdf (pp. 65–66; of
the footnotes, pay particular attention to no. 53). See also
http://members.cox.net/jrcrin001/Wm1_Shalbourne.pdf (COMMENTS, pp. 3-4);
http://members.cox.net/jrcrin001/RichardA-Amesbury.pdf (COMMENTS, pp. 3-4).
Gene Z.