"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. "
I don't understand Gene's lack of suspicion that these are two individuals.
If the "8 July" is a "typo"
as Gene suggests then it is a gross one. I cannot understand the other half
of the Providence Deeds Records quoted by Murphy, that his real estate was
auctioned on 17 June 1778. If Benajah was married to Sarah at death, then
why was his property on public auction in 1778, a year before she remarried?
Actually Carpenter was a Captain-lieutenant, a rank equivalent to a first
lieutenant today, one rank below captain. Amo Carpenter's reference to him
as a "captain" may have refereed to him as a ships captain.
The senior-junior problem could be easily solved by someone with access to
Rehoboth records.
I wouldn't like Captain-lieutenant Carpenter made into a chairmaker, if he
really wasn't. I certainly have nothing against chairs, with the exception
of certain department chairs.
Bruce Carpenter