Person:Richard Carpenter (2)

Facts and Probabilities

Very little is known for sure about Richard Carpenter, father of William Carpenter of Providence, Rhode Island. We know for sure that his name was Richard, and that he owned property in Amesbury, Wiltshire, England, which his son William inherited. We know that he also had a daughter Frideswide (Carpenter) Vincent, since William deeded the Amesbury property to her in 1671.^[3]

Beyond that, everything else is conjecture, only some of which is well-founded. The following information may be true of this Richard Carpenter:

• He was "[p]robably the man of that name buried at Amesbury on 21 September 1625 [who] died intestate."^[4]
• He was likely related to (but not the son of) Robert Carpenter of Newton Tony, Wiltshire, who died in 1599, and who named Richard Carpenter of Amesbury in his will.
• He may have been the son of William Carpenter, and grandson of Richard Carpenter (d. 1591) of Newton Toney (making him the great-nephew of the Robert Carpenter who named him in his will).
• He may have been the Richard Carpenter who married Alice Knight 7 Aug 1603 in Newton Toney.^[5]

See Zubrinsky's article for the evidence and a discussion of each of these suggestions, as well as a chart showing the Carpenters of Newton Toney (the article includes a link to the chart).

Misinformation

Misinformation about this Richard Carpenter abounds. His parentage and birth/baptism date are unknown. Any suggestion of an actual birth/baptism date or father other than William of Newton Toney should be treated with suspicion, unless based on (solid) research done after 2010.

He was not the Richard Carpenter who attended Oxford, received a Doctor of Divinity degree and married Susanna Trevelyan, as is sometimes stated. He did not leave a will (the will of another Richard Carpenter has been attributed to him). He was not from Marden, nor was he born nor died in Ilchester, Somerset. There is no evidence that Dorothy Carpenter (married at Salisbury, Wiltshire) was his daughter.^[1]

See Zubrinsky's article^[1] for a discussion of each of the above points of misinformation, as well as others.

Further Reading

Carpenter Sketches includes an article on Richard Carpenter of Amesbury by Eugene Cole Zubrinsky, 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. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Richard^A Carpenter of Amesbury, Wiltshire, 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).
2. ↑ Birth year estimated as 30 years prior to estimated birth year of William, his son and heir (oldest surviving son).
3. ↑ Zubrinsky summarized from information in the article
4. ↑ Zubrinsky page 1
5. ↑ Zubrinsky all these points taken from this article