In a message dated 2/25/2008, John Mac Carpenter writes:
<< My Joseph, son of Wm of Providence and son-in-law of Wm of Rehoboth was
born in RI 1635/38 and died in Muscetta Cove NY 1695. >>
Joseph2 Carpenter was born about 1638, probably at Providence Plantation
(not 1635, in England), and died at Musketa Cove (then a plantation in Oyster
Bay Township; now the town of Glen Cove, Nassau County), Long Island, Province
of New York, between 15 or 17 February 1682[/3] and 15 March 1683/4, son of
William1 and Elizabeth (Arnold) Carpenter of Providence (Pawtuxet section, now
in Cranston), Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
On 3 May 1656, Joseph2 Carpenter witnessed a deed of Pawtuxet (Providence)
land from his maternal uncle Stephen2 Arnold to Joseph’s father, William1
Carpenter (_The Early Records of the Town of Providence_, 21 vols. [Providence,
1892-1915], 1:44–45). It has been supposed that Joseph was then an adult and
thus was born about 1635, prior to his parents’ emigration from England (see,
for example, Carpenter [1901], 8–9, 30, 31; Arnold, _Arnold Memorial_
[1935], 9, 52; _RI Roots_ 13:75). It cannot be assumed, however, that Joseph was an
adult when he witnessed the deed. Witnesses as young as fourteen (the age of
discretion) are found in early New England records. When on 9 February 1657
Joseph, his brother Ephraim, and sister Lydia witnessed a deed of Pawtuxet
(Warwick) land from an Indian sachem to their father, at least two and
probably all three siblings were minors (see Bamberg and Fiske, eds., _More Early
Records of the Town of Warwick, Rhode Island_ [Boston, 2001], 80–81). The most
reliable approximation of Joseph’s birth date is based on a deposition that
he and Benjamin Smith gave on 16 October 1664 (_Harris Papers_, Collections of
the Rhode Island Historical Society, vol. 10 [Providence, 1902], 72–73). Its
description of Joseph as “Aged 26 yeeres” implies a birth year of about
1638 and Providence as his probable birthplace. For a detailed discussion of
this and related issues—the immigration of William1 Carpenter of Providence (ca.
1636, as a single man) and his marriage to Elizabeth Arnold (ca. 1637,
probably at Providence)—see _The New England Historical and Genealogical Register_
159:67–68.
Two Musketa Cove proprietors’ records, respectively dated 13 and 15 February
1682[/3], indicate that Joseph was still living at this time (_Oyster Bay
Town Records_, 8 vols. [N.Y., 1916-1940], 1:640–41). (Both follow on the same
page a record dated 28 December 1682.) Three others, apparently recorded at or
very near the same time as the foregoing ones, probably extend by two days
the 15 February date, the latest on which Joseph is known with certainty to
have been alive: all three are dated 17 February 1682 [probably 1682/3] (ibid.,
1:642–44). On 15 March 1683/4, William1 Carpenter of Providence added to his
will a codicil in which his son Joseph is described as deceased (PrTR 6:138–
48, at 147–48).
Joseph2's namesake son also died well before 1695: On 9 September 1687,
Joseph3 Carpenter made a quitrent payment to provincial authorities on behalf of
the Town of Oyster Bay (_Oyster Bay Town Records_, 2:337 [also 1:307–8]). But
he was “late deceased” when a “memorandum” of the birth, on 16 Oct. 1685,
of his “Eldest son and Heire,” Joseph4, was recorded at the top of a page
also containing a record dated 6 January 1691 [probably 1691/2] (ibid., 2:350–
51). Joseph4's birth was probably recorded soon after his father's death (by
1691) and almost certainly after the birth of the latter's only other known
child, Thomas, on "8 mo. [October (not August)], 16th day, 1687" (see Frost,
_The Haviland Genealogy_ [Jamaica, N.Y., 1914], 186, citing family record). The
record is worded so as to clarify that Joseph4--not his brother,
Thomas--was (in keeping with the law of primogeniture) entitled to inherit his
father's
estate.
Gene Z.
**************Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living.
(
http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-...
2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)