Person:William Carpenter (5)

Notes

William Carpenter, progenitor of the Rehoboth Carpenter family, was born in England about 1605, lived in Newtown, Shalbourne parish, at Westcourt Manor, and married Abigail Briant, whose family were residents of the village from the 1500s. He came to America on the ship Bevis in 1638, with his father, his wife and 4 children. In 1644, he was one of 58 founders of Rehoboth, Massachusetts^[5]. The Rehoboth Carpenter Family descendants number in the tens of thousands, among them two US presidents and a Project Mercury astronaut.

He was literate, as evidenced by the number of books he owned, including 'Latin classics, Greek and Hebrew grammars, biblical concordances [and] some legal works.'^[6]

Will

The last will and testament of William Carpenter, Senior. of Rehoboth, late deceased, exhibited before Captain Thomas Willett, Major Josiah Winslow, and Mr.. William Bradford, the 21st of April. 1659. Dated the 10th month, the 10th day of the month.

"IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN, I William Carpenter, Sr. of Rehoboth. being in perfect memory at present, blessed be God, do make my last will and Testament

(1)-I give to my son John Carpenter one mare, being the old white mare, and my best dublet. and my hors[e]mans (handsomest) coat, and new cloth to make him a pair of breeches,

(2)-I give unto his son beside twenty shillings to buy him a calf.

(3)-I give to him Mr. Ainsworth upon the five books of Moses[,] Canticles and Psalms and Mr. Brightman on revelation, and my concordance.

(4~I give to my son William the young grey mare. or two yearling colts, and five pounds. in sugar or wampum, and my (russett) coate, and one suit of apparel and Mr. Mahew on the four Evangelists upon the 14 Epistles of Paule.

(5)-I give unto him my Latin books, my Greek grammer, and Hebrew grammer, and my Greek Lexicon, and I give him 10 pounds of cotton wool: and to his son John, twenty shillings to be paid within a year after my decease.

(6)-I give unto my son Joseph, two of the younger steers of the four that was brought to work this year; and to his son Joseph, twenty shillings, and to Joseph I give one of Perkins' works and of Burrows upon private Contentions called harts divisions.

(7)-I give to Joseph a suit of le[a]ther clothes, to be given at his mother's discretion, and I give him a green serge coat, and ten pounds of cotton wool, and a matchlock gun.^[7]

NOTE: The items above constitute only a fraction of William2 Carpenter's will. The entire document is most accurately transcribed by George Ernest Bowman in "Plymouth Colony Wills and Inventories," The Mayflower Descendant 14(1912):231–33.

Grave

William2's (aka Jr.) grave marker is an ordinary field stone inscribed with the initials "WC" and "1658" chiseled below it; nearby are wife Abigail's headstone ("AC") and footstone ("1686") (Early Rehoboth 4:32, 34-35).^[8]

The Old Rehoboth Cemetery, Rehoboth, Bristol, MA is now located and known as Newman Cemetery, East Providence, Providence, RI. The cemetery did not move but the state boundaries did change. The cemetery is often referred to by both names.

Find A Grave, Memorial # 13522767 has several excellent pictures of his Grave and related images.

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.

Amos B. Carpenter's book 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 also referred to as Carpenter Memorial presents an English ancestry that has since been debunked, as well as much other misinformation, and should be used only in consultation with the work of Zubrinsky.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5} 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).
2.   Rehoboth Carpenter Family, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
3.   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).
4.   Arnold, James N. Vital Record of Rehoboth, 1642-1896. (Providence, RI: Narragansett Historical Publishing Co., 1897)
   page 808, Deaths.

   DEATHS:
   CARPENTER William, Sr., Feb. 7, 1658

5. ↑ Zubrinsky page 3
6. ↑ Zubrinsky page 3
7. ↑ Carpenter Memorial page 40
8. ↑ Zubrinsky page 1