Sue, All,
Sadly, I too contributed to some internet problems when I published the the Carpenters’
Encyclopedia of Carpenters CD set back in 2001. I showed what was out there, a little
naïve that people would read the notes and understand that a lot of the information,
especially on the later generations, was speculative.
Far too many ignored and even removed the notes when they posted the information on line.
I have spent a lot of time and effort to help fix those lines. But, many copies pop up
with the old info almost every day.
Back in the 1870s and 1880s, there was a Carpenter Family Association that believed that
there was a fortune to be claimed for the correct and proper Carpenter American heir of an
English fortune. That Carpenter heir in their minds had to be a true blue, loyal to the
USA, and willing to share the fortune with the Carpenter Family Association!
Such ‘looking for’ notices were not uncommon in the newspapers of the day. Many were
legitimate, but many were not. Think Nigerian scam where the goal was to get your money
in promise of something larger in return. Yes, human nature has not changed very much!
If you were a descendant of a Carpenter Loyalist then the Carpenter Family Association
changed your genealogy. Something like a Zimmerman went to England and settled in Wales
changing his name to Carpenter. This (of Cotleb or Caleb Zimmerman-12522) German-Welsh
descendants came to New England where they were loyal to the King during the American
Revolutionary War then fled into Canada.
And even after the American Civil War of 1861-1865, many southern Carpenters who supported
the Confederate States of America – rebels (aka Johnny Rebs) against the true blue Union
(aka Yankees) of the USA – had their genealogies changed also.
James Usher in his 1883 Carpenter book promoted this mythos, this fabrication, this fake
genealogy for the purpose of greed. He cited W. C. Barker, a well known genealogist back
then, who was later found to give clients what they wanted – a noble European line – IF
THEY paid enough.
Amos Bugbee Carpenter in his 1898 ‘A GENEALOGICAL HISTORY OF THE REHOBOTH BRANCH OF THE
CARPENTER FAMILY IN AMERICA’ (aka the Carpenter Memorial due to its 900 pages!) book on
the Carpenter Family had an entire section devoted to the fake fortune. He did not use the
word fake or that a fraud had been committed. He said no proof could be found on the
claim. Maybe was that most of his research and publishing support came from members of the
Carpenter Family Association.
Today it is not uncommon to see people so committed to their views that they place
replacement grave markers with false information supporting their thinking. Some have
published and promoted what they believe – right or wrong.
And even last week, I had someone arguing with me that a Carpenter Expert said in 2001 ...
Yep, trying to use what I published then – less the critical notes – against me. I
supplied him the more correct data and the documentation and I seriously doubt that he
will change his web site that takes his ancestry all the way back to Adam and Eve.
I want to thanks the hundreds of Carpenter Cousins who submitted their Y-DNA since 2002 to
help sort out the confused genealogical and too often deliberately forged lines.
And the thousands of people who submitted their genealogies and who were (mostly!) willing
to adjust their ancestry based on the results of the Carpenter Cousins Y-DNA Project.
I have been blessed to have so many Carpenter Cousins who have shared their time and
effort to compile a Carpenter Family database, the DNA Projects and friendship of kin with
me.
Now it is time for me to also to get off my stump!
John R. Carpenter
La Mesa, CA USA
Carpenter Cousins Project - Our main support page!
https://carpentercousins.com
From: Sue Downhill
Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2019 5:38 AM
To: carpentercousins(a)googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [Carpenter Cousins Google Groups] Thomas Pasmere (aka Pashmere, Passmore),
carpenter - Not a Carpenter by surname
On Mon, Oct 28, 2019 at 3:20 PM
John R. Carpenter <jrcrin001(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Hello Carpenter Cousins, Sometimes I get similar requests during a short period of time.
Lately it was about a Thomas Pasmere Carpenter (b. 1607) who came from England and who
married a Cherokee Princess named Pride. For those for have any understanding of Native
American tribes, they would see the big problem with that last line. And the great
majority of people in the early 1600s did not have middle names – that is the second clue
of warning.
If it is on the internet – it must be true!? NOT. Genealogy without proper documentation
is worthless.
--------
John, we had a similar situation for another surname in my ancestry. The progenitor's
parentage was unknown until this past summer when hands on research in England revealed
documents proving it. Prior to that multiple trees all over the internet were copying
erroneous parentage created by - one - person who had incorrectly copied the second page
of a SAR (Sons of the American Revolution) form by taking the last line on page two as the
great-great-grandfathers' father!! Many folks did not verify the information and
simply duplicated it. Here's the shameful part - the person they were adding as the
progenitor's parent was born after him!!
Now, unless some miracle has happened my children were not born after I was!! So, to
reinforce your statement, verification is necessary every step of the way, otherwise
it's just rumor, and an unverified tree is hearsay, and may be copied by others.
Folks, verify, verify, verify! Have a tree that will stand the test of time and be able to
be verified by someone a hundred years from now!
- - Getting off my stump now... good hunting,
Sue