The data showing a William b. 1576 in Coxwell, Berkshire and a William b. to
a William 1604 in Wroxton, Oxfordshire is yet unsatisfactory. However other
data has arrived to suggest these individuals are connected. First it was
shown that the father of William of Coxwell and the William of Wroxton were
new to their parishes. There were no other Carpenters in the greater Wantage
area as of 1523-3.
The other interesting data concerns the wife of Henry of Locking d. 1529.
The wife Alice can be found to have died in Crowmarsh, Oxfordshire in 1559.
She left her cash assets to her son John Carpenter. This is a good
indication than John was still alive in 1559.John was a problem because
although he appeared in his father's will, he did not in his brothers'
wills, Robert and Andrew (d 1571). Of interest is that Alice shows a
positive loyalty to the Catholic church in her will and resided in a parish
dominated by a Catholic family. Henry of Coxwell also lived in a Catholic
dominated parish. The original Henry Carpenter of Locking was a tenant of
the Abbot of Abingdon as of 1529. His descendants would have faced the
heartbreaking decision to either buy church land in the later decades or
move off. A family split of loyalties may have occurred. Robert Carpenter of
Locking showed loyalty to the new Church of Enland by his death in 1550.
Andrew choose the brewing profession and also joined the new church. What
happened to John?
John is I suspect the father of Henry of Coxwell. Henry's first son was a
John. William of Wroxton's first son was a John and William of Shalbourne's
first son was a John. This is a genealogical unhappy scenario which will
take much patience to unravel.
I received copies of most of the wills from around the city of Oxford. They
were a major Carpenter grouping from the 1540s. They were mostly wool
producers. The wealth of the original Carpenters, evidenced by Henry of
Locking, seems to disappear after him. It seems that this family group
suffered a major reversal of fortune at the time of the 'monastic
dissolution's of the mid 1500s.
Christmas day,
Bruce Carpenter
Nara, Japan