John L.,
I found your Sarah Carpenter. She was Sarah Taylor who married Capt. Benajah
Carpenter 18 Aug 1771. After he died 27 Aug 1776 she (As the widow Sarah
Carpenter) remarried to a Thomas Smart.
I caught this by doing a key word search. It was in an email from Gene
Zubrinsky dated 4 Jun 2006. See below.
John R. Carpenter
Carpenter Cousins Project
http://carpentercousins.com
E-MAIL: From: <GeneZub(a)aol.com>
To: <CARPENTER-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 04, 2006 8:45 PM
Subject: Re: Benajah Carpenter
In answer to Fred Murphy:
<< Am interested in Benajah Carpenter, born to Stephen Carpenter, Jr. and
Jane Thurston Carpenter on 30 October 1748 at Rumford, Rhode Island. >>
This Benajah Carpenter was born at Rehoboth, Mass., on 27 August 1748
(Arnold, _Vital Record of Rehoboth_); 30 October 1748 is his date of
baptism
(Arnold, _Vital Record of Rhode Island_), which also occurred at Rehoboth
(the
original Rehoboth settlement, site of its First Congregational [or
Newman]
Church, became Rumford, East Providence, Rhode Island). That Benajah's
baptismal
record shows him as the son of Stephen Carpenter _Jr._ should not be
construed
as indicating that his paternal grandfather was necessarily also named
Stephen but only that Benajah's father was the second-oldest Stephen
Carpenter
living in Rehoboth at the time. Online sources, probably repeating Amos
B.
Carpenter (1898)--whose work is not reliable--show Stephen Carpenter's
parents as
James and Grace (Palmer) Carpenter. Some of these say that Stephen is
mentioned in the will of his grandfather Jonah Palmer (whose second wife,
incidentally, was Abigail [Carpenter] Titus, dau. of William2 and Abigail
[Briant]
Carpenter of Rehoboth [formerly of Shalbourne, England].)
<< . . . on August 17. 1771 he married Sarah Taylor in Providence.
Familytreemaker lists him as a captain and mariner who died at the battle
of Long
Island 27 August 1776, but Providence deeds records from 1773 to 1775
describe
him as a chairmaker whose lathe and sundry tools were sold by
administrators
8 July 1776 and whose real estate was sold 17 June 1778 at public
auction.
In 1779 Sarah Carpenter married Thomas Smart at Providence. Can someone
reconcile these seemingly disparate sets of records? >>
There's nothing inherently contradictory here: The description of Benajah
as
a captain is consistent with his having been a captain of artillery when
he
was killed (coincidentally, on his birthday) (Arnold, _VR of RI_). His
description as a mariner could reflect a misinterpretation of his
captain's title.
On the other hand, there are many examples during this period of men who
were occasionally identified in the records as mariners but whose primary
occupation was something else. He could therefore easily have been both
a
chairmaker _and_ a mariner (perhaps a ship's carpenter). If, after
consulting all
the primary and secondary sources pertaining to Benajah, you find that
the
mariner label appears only in the secondary ones, you may properly
conclude that
if he was a mariner at all, it was not his main occupation.
From what I've been able to gather from online postings, the
administrators
of Benajah's estate were John Carpenter (Stephen and Jane [Thurston]
Carpenter's son John, 10 years older than their son Benajah, was the
latter's
youngest half-brother) and Mrs. Sarah Carpenter (Benajah's widow).
(Presumably 8
July 1776, the date on which you say his lathe and tools were sold by his
estate administrators, is a typo.) If administrator John Carpenter is
named in
the deed of sale of the late Benajah's lathe and tools, it encourages the
conclusion that Stephen and Jane (Thurston) Carpenter's son Benajah was a
chairmaker. (The Providence record giving Capt. Benajah Carpenter's date
and place
of death and the conditions surrounding it also indicates that he had a
daughter Jane [b. ca. 1773], presumably named after his mother, Jane
[Thurston]
Carpenter [see Arnold, _VR of RI_].)
If any of the Providence deeds you mention, in which Benajah is described
as
a chairmaker, involve him as a grantor (seller), check for wife Sarah's
signature or mention of her in the acknowledgement section (just below the
signature[s]). You may find either--as an indication of her having
relinquished
her dower rights--even if she's not named in the body of the deed as a
grantor
with her husband. This would provide additional circumstantial evidence
(as
does Sarah's remarriage, to Thomas Smart in 1779) that she was the wife
of
the Benajah Carpenter who died in 1776 AND was a chairmaker.
It seems fairly certain that Capt. Benajah and chairmaker Benajah were
the
same man. And leading to the same conclusion is that only one Benajah
Carpenter is found in the respective birth, marriage, and death records
of Rehoboth
and Providence until 1778, when a Benajah Carpenter, born at Rehoboth,
was
presumably named after the recently deceased man.
Your other questions shouldn't be difficult to answer if you're willing to
do a little primary research.
Gene Z.
Correction to my reply to Fred Murphy (6/4/06):
<< From what I've been able to gather from online postings, the
administrators of Benajah's estate were John Carpenter (Stephen and Jane
[Thurston]
Carpenter's son John, 10 years older than their son Benajah, was the
latter's
youngest half-brother) . . . >>
John Carpenter was the son of Stephen Carpenter and his first wife, Martha
Hunt (Arnold, _Vital Record of Rehoboth_).
Gene Z.
...
-----Original Message-----
From: Johnlsaywhat via
Sent: Monday, March 16, 2015 12:18 AM
To: CARPENTER-L(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: [CARPENTER] Rhode Island, Vital Extracts, 1636-1899
____________________________________
Looking for info on Sarah Carpenter who married Thomas Smart in R.I.
Rhode Island, Vital Extracts, 1636-1899
Name: Sarah Carpenter Father Name: Benajah Carpenter Marriage Date: 22
Aug 1779 Marriage Place: Rhode Island, USA Spouse Name: Thomas Smart Page
Number: 220