William2 Carpenter (William1) was born in England about 1605 and died at Rehoboth, Plymouth Colony, on 7 February 1658[/9]. He married in the Berkshire part of Shalbourne Parish on 28 April 1625, Abigail Briant, baptized there on 27 May 1604 and buried at Rehoboth on 22 February 1686/7, daughter of John and Alice (______) Briant of Shalbourne. Both are buried in Old Rehoboth (Newman) Cemetery, in present-day Rumford, East Providence, Rhode Island.

Marriages

William and Abigail’s marriage record (only Bishops’ Transcripts of Shalbourne parish records survive for this period) has her surname as Briante.^[4] The five remaining Shalbourne church records mentioning Abigail’s family (including her baptismal record) spell the name Briant (Shalbourne ParR). Her father’s will, however (including his signature), has it as Bryan.^[5] St. Michael and All Angels, the parish church where the couple married, is situated in what was then the Berkshire part of Shalbourne. The church was nevertheless under the jurisdiction of the dean and chapter of the cathedral church at New Sarum (Salisbury), Wiltshire.^[6]

Disproved Information

Some sources give wife Abigail’s maiden name as Bennett or Searles. The first instance, however (prompted by the maiden name of her son William3 Carpenter’s first wife, Priscilla Bennett), represents unwarranted linkage to a Bennett family of Sway, Hampshire. The second reflects apparent confusion with the maiden name of William3's wife.^[7]

Another (much older) source states (in error) that William married Abigail Bennett, born ABT 1611, of, Wiltshire, England, married ABT 1630, Hampshire, England, died 22 Feb 1687, W.P., Rehoboth, Bristol, Ma.

Per THE SECOND BOAT research notes dated May 1980 (vol.1 No. 1) page 15 by Harry Rogers suggests that Abigail was the daughter of William Bennett of Sway, whose will made in 1630 and proven in 1638 (he was buried 20 Aug 1638) names sons-in-law Ralph Carpenter and William Carpenter, but only Ralph served as an executor, making some researchers believe the missing Carpenter was the William who sailed on the Bevis in 1638.

CARPENTER MEMORIAL, NEHGS, P 38, #16

Further Reading

Carpenters' Encyclopedia of Carpenters http://members.cox.net/jrcrin001/carplink.htm includes an article on William Carpenter by Eugene Cole Zubrinsky at http://members.cox.net/jrcrin001/Wm2-Rehoboth.pdf, which the reader is referred to for more extensive information, as well as source citations. Zubrinsky periodically updates the article, and the reader is encouraged to check it for his latest research.

1. ↑ The American Genealogist (TAG). (Donald Lines Jacobus, et.al.)
   69:193-204.

   Includes Bishop's Transcripts of Shalbourne Parish, Wiltshire.

2. ↑ William2 Carpenter (William1) of Rehoboth, Massachusetts, in Zubrinsky, Eugene Cole. Carpenter Sketches: Links to Sketches And Articles Representing the Most Current and Reliable Scholarship Concerning Early Generations of the Carpenter Families of Rehoboth, Massachusetts, and Providence, Rhode Island and Their Ancestors. (Carpenters' Encyclopedia of Carpenters, 2008).
3. ↑ Arnold, James N. Vital Record of Rehoboth, 1642-1896. (Providence, RI: Narragansett Historical Publishing Co., 1897)
   page 808.

   'CARPENTER ...
   Abigail, widow, buried Feb. 22, 1686-7'

4. ↑ Zubrinsky,(Shalbourne ParR; TAG 70:194)
5. ↑ Zubrinsky, (PCC)
6. ↑ Zubrinsky,(TAG 70:194, 194n5)
7. ↑ Zubrinsky