Hello,
I agree with Gene that the English Carpenter line has been nullified.
Efforts to confirm earlier reaserch in English wills found a significant
error in transcription. Please see the following web page.
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/a/r/John-R-Carpenter/FILE/00...
A copy of Richard Carpenter's 1503 will is located at:
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/a/r/John-R-Carpenter/PHOTO/0...
Regarding the Melun Family and William "the carpenter" De Melun. Please see:
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/a/r/John-R-Carpenter/FILE/00...
Remember that while William "the carpenter" De Melun was a historical person
and was one of the first to use "Carpenter" it was his son, also named
William that started to use "Carpenter" as a surname. The father was a
supporter of the French Crown and the son was a supporter of the English
King. When the French arrow that pierced the breast of William Carpenter
(the son) did its "noble deed", the Church Bells in Paris were rung in
celebration.
There is no documentation to prove that the William Carpenters (b. abt 1042
& abt 1067) of Melun, France were connected with the two William Carpenter
immigrants from England that came to America in the 1630s.
The Carpenter CD (CE CD 2001) had a speculated line of connection based on
previous researchers. Please read the notes!
All of this is part of the Carpenter CD project web page at:
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/a/r/John-R-Carpenter/index.html
If you have any questions, please let me know.
John R. Carpenter
La Mesa, CA
R.I.P. Chuck - We'll miss you.
----- Original Message -----
From: <GeneZub(a)aol.com>
To: <CARPENTER-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2006 1:22 PM
Subject: Re: Carpenters back to De Melun
It is (and will continue to be) necessary from time to time to repeat for
those still unaware of it (there are many) that the ancestry of William1
Carpenter of Providence is known only as far as his father, Richard
Carpenter of
Amesbury, Wiltshire (whose wife was _perhaps_ Alice Knight of neighboring
Newton Tony [certainly not Susanna Trevelian of Nettlecomb, Somerset]).
The
ancestry of William2 Carpenter of Rehoboth (b. ca. 1605)--whose wife was
Abigail
Briant (not Searles or Bennett)--is known only as far as his father,
William1
(b. ca. 1576), for whom there is no record subsequent to his listing on
the
passenger list of the _Bevis_ in 1638. (The wife of William1 was
_perhaps_
the Alice Carpenter buried 25 January 1637[/8] at Shalbourne,
Wiltshire/Berkshire, where William2 married Abigail (28 April 1625) and
lived thereafter until
at least 20 April 1637, when their then youngest son was buried there.)
The purported connection to Robert Carpenter of Marden, Wiltshire (d.
1607),
is unproved and unlikely; the claimed line back to Melun is absolutely
nullified at Rev. Richard Carpenter of Herefordshire and Wiltshire (d.
1503).
For details and primary-source citations, see _The American Genealogist_,
70(1995):193-204, and _The New England Historical and Genealogical
Register_,
159(2005):65-67.
Gene Z.