Person:William Carpenter (136)

Notes

William Carpenter was born in England about 1575 and was still living a few days before 2 May 1638, when he was listed as a passenger on the Bevis. Eugene Cole "Gene" Zubrinsky speculates that he died in Weymouth, Massachusetts Bay Colony by 1640, when his son William was made a freeman in Weymouth and he was not.^[7]).

William was of Newtown, Shalbourne Parish, Wiltshire, England by 1608, when he became a copyholder (semipermanent leaseholder) at Westcourt Manor^[8]. At that time, Shalbourne straddled the Wiltshire/Berkshire border, and Hampshire was about 4 miles away. It is likely that William was born in one of these three counties^[9]. Zubrinsky calculates William's birth year as about 1575 (see references). A William Carpenter, son of Henry Carpenter, was baptized in the parish of Great Coxwell, Berkshire (now in Oxfordshire), on 5 May 1576^[10]. Zubrinsky indicates that there is no evidence that this is the William Carpenter of Newtown, Shalbourne, but that, since Great Coxwell is only twenty miles due north of Shalbourne, further research in the vicinity of Great Coxwell is warranted.

In March of 2023 - Gene Zubrinsky found evidence of William1 of Shalbourne being alive about Jan 1640/1641 in Weymouth. This should now put an end to undocumented stories of him returning to England or dying enroute to America in 1638. For details please see the updates to the Carpenter Sketches for him (William1) and his son William2 of Rehoboth. See: https://carpentercousins.com/carplink.htm

Further Reading

Carpenter Sketches includes an article on William Carpenter 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.   William1 Carpenter of Newtown, Shalbourne, Wiltshire (Bevis, 1638), 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).

   'Despite claims to the contrary, the identity of William1's wife (or wives) is unknown. His having emigrated only three months after the death of Alice Carpenter, who was buried at Shalbourne on 25 January 1637[/8], suggests that she had been his wife (though not necessarily William2's mother); it is possible, however, that she was an unmarried sister or daughter (TAG 70:194-95).'
   
   'The only known child of William1 Carpenter is the son named with him in his record of tenancy at Shalbourne Westcourt and with whom he emigrated: the eventual William2 Carpenter of Rehoboth (Westcourt Recs 7; NEHGR 14:336;'
   
   'The ancestry of William1 Carpenter, including his parentage, is unknown ...'

2. ↑ William1 Carpenter of Newtown, Shalbourne, Wiltshire (Bevis, 1638), 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)
   page 1.

   'The record of William's renewal of his Westcourt tenancy on 22 June 1614 gives his age as 40 (Westcourt Recs 7). The passenger list of the Bevis, the ship on which he left England, is dated 2 May 1638 and states William's age as 62 (NEHGR 14:336; TAG 70:193, 203; see also IMMIGRATION, below). From these facts is calculated a birth year of about 1575.'

3. ↑ William1 Carpenter of Newtown, Shalbourne, Wiltshire (Bevis, 1638), 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)
   pages 1, 2.

   'William1 was of Newtown, Shalbourne Parish, Wiltshire, England, by 1608, when he became a copyholder (semipermanent leaseholder) at Westcourt Manor (Westcourt Recs 7).'
   'He was living at Newtown by 1 June 1608 and until at least about 18 September 13 Charles [1637]; on the latter date a new family assumed tenancy of the parcels previously leased by the Carpenters (Westcourt Recs 7).'

4. ↑ ^4.0 4.1 William1 Carpenter of Newtown, Shalbourne, Wiltshire (Bevis, 1638), 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)
   pages 1-2.

   '... he died probably at Weymouth, Massachusetts Bay Colony, or Rehoboth, Plymouth Colony ...'
   'The passenger list of the Bevis, the ship on which he left England, is dated 2 May 1638 ...The latest known record of William1 is the aforementioned Bevis passenger-list entry of 2 May 1638. His namesake son, William2 Carpenter, settled at Weymouth probably in 1638 and certainly before 13 May 1640, when he was admitted a freeman there. That William1 was not made a freeman at the same time was perhaps because he had died. It might, on the other hand, have been due to his modest station, when considered apart from that of his son (see TAG 14:336, 70:193, 195n13; EDUCATION/OFFICES, below).'
   'The preamble to the ship's passenger list indicates that by 2 May 1638 "they [had been] some Dayes gone to sea" (NEHGR 14:336).'

5. ↑ William1 Carpenter of Newtown, Shalbourne, Wiltshire (Bevis, 1638), 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)
   page 3.

   'The Bevis passenger list describes William1 as a carpenter (NEHGR 14:336). That his copyhold included not only a messuage (house and adjoining land) with a garden but also a small number of acres in nearby common fields indicates that he was also a husbandman (subsistence farmer) (see Westcourt 7; “Recommended Reading,” GMN 16, no. 3).'

6.   Carpenter, Amos B. (Amos Bugbee). A genealogical history of the Rehoboth branch of the Carpenter family in America: brought down from their English ancestor, John Carpenter, 1303 : with many biographical notes of descendants and allied families - aka: Carpenter Memorial. (Reprint: Salt Lake City, Utah - Original: Amherst, MA: Reprint: Genealogical Society of Utah - Originial printing: Press of Carpenter & Morehouse, Reprint: 1963 - Original: 1898)
   pages 35-36.

   'The Bevis sailed in May, 1638, with sixty-one passengers, among whom were "one Willam Carpenter, of Wherwell, aged 62 years; William, his son, aged 33 years; son's wife Abigail aged 32 years, and four grandchildren of 10 years or less, names not mentioned in the Clearance; and a servant, Thomas Bansholt, aged 14 years." '

7. ↑ Zubrinsky
8. ↑ Zubrinsky
9. ↑ Zubrinsky
10. ↑ Zubrinsky cited as (GCPaR)