Dear Shaunee,
I do not believe that purchasing my book would be of benefit to you at this
time. I can give you the pertinent information out of it. There is so
little in it about the Bastian/Boston Carpenter.
Chester does not at all sound German but more like English. Yet we do not
know whether Boston's wife was German or English. That could make a
difference. The original German Zimmermans were from Switzerland and were
sectarians -- Mennonites, Amish, and others. It is possible that they could
have converted to the Baptist faith as the closest to their beliefs. Yet,
the major factor in following these earliest settlers and their religions had
to do with language -- could they understand English in an English Baptist
Church; and others in the community. When my Germans went into English
settlements especially into the third and fourth American generations, they
tended to assimilate into Methodist or Baptist congregations, one reason
being because there were no German speaking congregations.
Our goal is to find out as much about Boston Carpenter as possible. We must
try to locate a will or estate papers for him or deed references for him.
This would go far in determining whether he fathered Chester or not.
You probably should write me at my other e-mail address: RCCarpen(a)juno.com.
I check it almost everyday. I only check my aol mail about once or twice a
week.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Robert Carpenter