Hi Don: I have some information about Henry and
George that might be helpful, and appreciate the
information you have shared because it seems to
tie together some loose ends. George and Henry
lived near each other in 1920 when Jane (Killin)
Carpenter lived with Henry, so I thought they
must be brothers or related in some way. George
was in Ashe Co. NC in 1880, when Henry was with
his mother in Grayson Co. VA. George went by the
surname Carpenter from the earliest I've been
able to find him, 1880, and Henry by 1900, so I
wondered if they could be sons of Phillip
Carpenter and Jane Killin.
Have you found John and Nancy Killin in 1850 or
1870?
In 1860, John and Nancy were in Surry Co. NC:
John Killian, 54, SC
Nancy Killian, 40, NC
Jane Killian, 13, NC
McDaneld Killian, 9, NC
John Killian, 7, NC
Giving a son the forename McDaneld (McDaniel,
McDonald?) could have some sort of family
significance - perhaps Nancy was a McDaniel or
McDonald?
George and Henry were in Ashe Co. NC by 1900,
married with families. George's wife was
Samantha, possibly nee Blevins, and Henry's wife
Esther had two Bennett children.
Some of this information is from fellow Carpenter
researcher David Greenwood, who knows a lot more
about the western NC families than I do, but he
is spending Christmas in Iraq this year so his
wife is sharing his information with us.
Best wishes for the holiday season,
Terry Carpenter
--- Don Carpenter <dwc151(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Hi, this is my first post here but I am looking
for someone who may have
some information regarding a George Washington
Carpenter who was born in
1865 in North Carolina (we think it was most
likely Surry County.)
His mother was a Martha Jane Killen, whose
parents
were a John and Nancy
Killen. She had two sons: Henry (born 1864)
and George (1865). After this
she married a Phillip Carpenter (b. 27Aug1823)
on 3Apr1873 in Surry Co.,
NC. Phillip and Martha had 4 children: A.
Marion Carpenter (b 22 Oct 1874
d. 23 Dec 1964 in Ashe Co.); Mary Jane
Carpenter (b 05 Aug 1876 d. 30 Dec
1967 Sullivan Co. TN); Rhude B. Carpenter (12
Aug 1880, moved to VA sometime
after 2nd marriage); James Floyd Carpenter (b.
13 Oct 1882 d. 23 May 1977)
Phillip died on 13 Apr 1918 and Martha died 11
Oct 1930, they are both
buried in Lansing NC.
*This is what I am trying to find out:*
1. The name of George and Henry's father.
This is the point in my family
tree where I hit a dead end. We think it is
possible that Martha Jane may
have had these two sons out of wedlock and they
took on her husband's name,
as was common practice at the time. This is
only a theory though. My
grandmother seems to remember hearing from my
grandfather (George's son)
that his father's surname was gentry, but this
is also not proven. I don't
know about the out of wedlock theory though,
back in those days I find it
hard to believe that she would have had a
chance to have two children out of
wedlock. Perhaps the father went off to the
Army or something? Just a
thought.
2. If the father was a Gentry, I can find no
Killens that lived in Surry
Co. at the time of the 1850 census. I did find
several Gentrys that would
have been old enough to have children in
1864-65. However, there were no
Killens at all in Surry Co. in 1850. I don't
have access to the 1860
census.
Well thats all I have about this branch of the
family tree. Any help anyone
could provide would be GREATLY appreciated.
Thanks!
Don Carpenter