NEW CARPENTER ARTICLES
Two articles pertaining both to the Carpenter family of Rehoboth,
Massachusetts, and that of Providence, Rhode Island, will appear in the January 2005
issue of ­_The New England Historical and Genealogical Register_ (it might
not be available until February). The highlights of each are listed below:
"Three John Carpenters: A Chain of Mistaken Identities"
* Identifies John Carpenter of East Greenwich, Rhode Island
(c.1667-1753), as the son of Joseph3 (William2 of Rehoboth) and Margaret (Sutton)
Carpenter--not of Joseph's brother Abiah3--and presents as much basic data about
him, his wives, and children (Martha, Mary, Sarah, Diadema, Prudence, Cornel,
Dinah, and Joseph, who are often misattributed to another John Carpenter, son
of Oliver4 [Abiah3]) as available records permit
* Corrects the commonly accepted year of Margaret (Sutton) Carpenter's
death (1676, not 1700)
* Identifies John Carpenter of Norwich, Windham, and Stafford,
Connecticut (c.1694-1766), as the son of Oliver4 Carpenter (Abiah3)--not of
Benjamin4 and Renew (Weeks) Carpenter--and presents as much basic data about him,
his wives ([1] Sarah ______ and [2] Martha [Gould] Hibbard), and children
(Sarah, Lois [not Louis], Mehitabel, Huldah, John [b. 30 April 1728], Sarah
[again], and Elizabeth) as available records permit
* Distinguishes John Carpenter of Swansea (and Rehoboth), Massachusetts
(1691-c.1754), son of Benjamin4 and Renew (Weeks) Carpenter, from the above
John Carpenter of Connecticut (the two have been treated as one, their wives
confused, and their children grouped together)
* Identifies the wives of John Carpenter of Swansea as (1) Sarah
Thurston (1691-c.1721), daughter of John and Hannah (Cary) Thurston, (2) Sarah
Hillard (1692-1744), daughter of William2 and Deborah (Warren) Hill(i)ard, and
(3) widow Hannah Martin
* Identifies the children of John Carpenter of Swansea as Hannah (w/
1st wf), Barnard, John (b. 4 Jan. 1728/9), and Warren (last three w/ 2nd wf)
and presents as much basic information about them and their mothers as
available records permit
"Abiah3 Carpenter of Warwick, Rhode Island, and His Family: With Additional
Material Concerning William1 Carpenter of Providence, Rhode Island, and
William2 Carpenter of Rehoboth, Massachusetts"
* Extensively corrects and augments what has appeared in the secondary
literature about Abiah3 Carpenter, son of William2 and Abigail (Briant)
Carpenter of Rehoboth, and his family
*
Limits Abiah's children to the three supported by the available
evidence--Oliver, Rebecca, and Joseph (the last perhaps not with wife Mary Redway)--and
explicitly excludes two others mentioned in the secondary literature (John,
son of Joseph3 and Margaret [Sutton] Carpenter [see previous article], and
Solomon, son of Samuel3 and Sarah [Redway] Carpenter) Distinguishes Abiah's
daughter Rebecca from another Rebecca, misidentified as a Carpenter by birth,
who married four times (to [1] Ephraim Hunt, [2] David Carpenter, [3] Samuel
Wilson, and [4] Lt. John Wilson) and died at Rehoboth in 1749, in her 85th
year (the latter woman's maiden name was probably Ward) Addresses the issue of
whether or not William2 Carpenter of Rehoboth and William1 Carpenter of
Providence were first cousins (as is so often said) Presents irrefutable
evidence invalidating from Rev. Richard Carpenter (d. 1503) backward the ancient
English and French ancestry often claimed for (1) William1 Carpenter of
Shalbourne, Wherwell, and the Bevis (c.1576-c.1638), father of William2 Carpenter
of Rehoboth, and (2) RichardA Carpenter of Amesbury (bur. there 1625?), father
of William1 Carpenter of Providence Argues that neither the respective
parents nor wives of William1 of Shalbourne, etc., or RichardA of Amesbury have
been established; presents evidence pointing away from Robert Carpenter of
Marden, Wiltshire, as the putative father of Richard of Amesbury; introduces
other evidence pointing toward the latter man's antecedents' being of Newton
Toney (adjacent to Amesbury) Presents extensive evidence that William1
Carpenter of Providence came to New England as a single man and did not marry
Elizabeth Arnold until about 1637, probably at Providence; evidence includes a
court record indicating that their son Joseph2 Carpenter of Warwick, Rhode
Island, and Musketa Cove, Long Island, was born about 1638 (not 1635, when the
Arnolds left England) Discusses from the perspectives of English common law
and the statutes of Plymouth Colony and early Bristol County, Massachusetts,
certain rights and responsibilities acquired by minors of specific ages: moral
accountability (age 7); "age of discretion" (14); and "legal age" (21
for
both sexes)
Note: Be sure to read the footnotes!