Descendants of William Carpenter of Providence (Pawtuxet section, now in Cranston), Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, now part of Providence County, RI

Notes


1. William Carpenter

NOTE: Eugene Cole Zubrinsky has written twelve fully formatted sketches of the early Carpenters who were part of the Plymouth Colony and Providence Plantation. These sketches contain the most-authoritative information available as of January 2013. The sketches may be viewed online at the Carpenter Sketches main page and the specific sketch of William2 Carpenter.
(The online version will be updated when appropriate; check the revision date.) **Where other information herein conflicts with Zubrinsky's information, his writings take precedence.**


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Providence Early Town Records
Early Town Records of the Town of Providence: Volume 3
[p.34] A Copie Whereof is as ffolloweth.
page 170171

Bee it knowne unto all people by these, that I William Carpenter ofpautuxett within the Towneshipp of providence in the Colloney of RoadeJsland & providence plantations in New England: upon good Consideration,have freely given granted, made over and confirmed; And by these presentsdoe ffreely give, grant, make ouer & confirme unto my sonne EphraimCarpenter that house hee now dwelleth in standing upon my farme at Rockeyhill as also two thirds of the field which is now inclosed lieing neerethe sayd howse; As also two thirds both for quantety and quallety of allthe land which | doeth | belong unto [p.170] mee within the fence whichnow is an inclosure at & about the place Comonly called by the name ofRockey hill: saveing only the swampe which lieth at the south End of thesayd Rockey hill, of which swampe: the one halfe shall belong unto mysayd sonne: As also I doe freely give unto my aforsd sonn all that swampelieing betwene the howse he now dwelleth in and pauchasett Riuer; I doealso give unto my sayd sonn Ephraim Carpenter all my Right of meadow andlow land lieing upon both sides of pauchasett Riuer; As also I doe giveunto my sayd sonn Ephraim halfe that neck of Land or meadow which liethon the north side of pautuxett Riuer; & westward of pauchasett River;where the sayd pauchasett River falleth into pautuxett River. Also I doegive unto my sayd sonn one Right of Comoning within the libertye of theTowne of providence both on the East & west side of the seaven mile line,The which Right of Comoning formerly belonged unto mr John Greene Senr:formerly Jnhabetant of the Towne of providence, and was by me purchasedof mr John Greene his sonn, The which howse, with all the aformentionedLands, meadows, & Comoning in manner as is afore Exprest; I say I have, &by this Jnstrument doe ffreely give grant make ouer and passe away, bothfrom myselfe; & all others unto my aforsayd sonn Ephraim Carpenter; withall the apurtanances; Both for him selfe, his heirs, Exsecutors,Administrators & Assignes to Have & to Hold as his or Either of theiretrue, proper & lawfull Right & Jnheretance for ever: at all times quietpeacebly to Enjoy use & possess the same & euery: part & percell therof,without the hindrance Lett or Trouble of or by me the sayd WilliamCarpenter, or of any other person Either for By Through or under me, And| that |s sonnim Carpenter; [p.171] doth at this present dayof the signeing and sealling hereof stand truly & lawfully seized &possessed with the aforsd howse & Lands of a good, sure, Lawfull,Absolute & undefezable Estate of Jnheretance in fee simple with out anyConditions, Limmetations, use, or any other thing to pass alter or changethe same, as his owne proper to possess, vse, Bargaine, sell, Giue,Mortgagge Rent out or any wayes to desposse of the same, according as heehimselfe shall see cause; Jn Wittnese wherof I doe hereunto sett my handand seale; This Eight day of December in this present yeare, one ThousandSixe hundred and Seaventy

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Early Town Records of the Town of Providence: Volume 3
[p.34] A Copie Whereof is as ffolloweth.
page 173174
Bee it knowne vnto all peole by these presents, that I William Carpenterof: pautuxett within the Towneshipp of providence; in the Colloney ofRoade Jsland and providence plantations, in new England, vpon goodConsideration Have ffreely Granted given made over & Confirmed, & bythese presents doe ffreely Give, Grant make over and Confirme unto myDaughter prescilla vinsent one Third part of the ffield which isinclossed within my farme, which is at & about the place Comonly calledRockey hill the sayd ffield also lieing about the howse which my sonnEphraim Carpenter now dwelleth in my sayd Daughters husband, WilliamVinsent also haueing Built a howse upon the sayd ffield; I doe also giveunto my sayd Daughter one third part both for quantety, & quallety of allthe Land which is within the fence which at this time is an inclossureabout certaine of my Lands about the place Comonly called Rockey Hill(aforenamed) A third part of the sayd Lands, I say; saueing only theswampe which lieth betwene the dwelling howse of my sonn EphraimCarpenter & pauchassett River, The which swampe shall no part of itbelong unto my sayd Daughter. I doe also Give unto my sayd Daughter theone halfe of the | swampe | lieing at the south End of Rockey Hill thatis to say tenn acres of the best of the sayd swampe; I doe also give untomy sayd Daughter prescilla halfe of that neck of Land; or Meadow thatlieth on the north side of pautuxett River, and West a little frompauchassett River. I doe also give unto my sayd Daughter one purchaseRight on the west side of the seaven mile line sett by the Towne of[p.173] providence; the which purChase Right I bought of Amos Westcott;the which purchasse Right formerly belonged to his ffather StukleyWestcott, formerly inhabetant of the Towne of providence; A third part ofthe sayd land I say within the feence aforsayd I Give unto my | sayd |Daughter saveing only the swampe afornamed lieing betwene the dwellingHowse of my sonn Ephraim, & pauchassett River, and also twenty acres ofLand which before I named not the Exception of the which I Reserve to myselfe; Jt lieing on the west side.


Elizabeth Arnold

NOTE: See spouse's notes for Gene Zubrinsky's data on this individual.

AFN 8TGK-PD and 30ZB-45 and 2J7H-WL (with corrected death date) are the same person.
BIRTH: Born at Ilchester, Somersetshire per "An Account of the English Homes of Three Early Proprietors" by Fred A. Arnold, in the Rhode Island Historical Society Collections, Vol. 15, No. 3 (Apr. 1921), pp. 33-49, and No. 4 (July 1921), pp. 168-186).   Born at Cheselbourne in Dorset per the AF and The Carpenter Family in America by Daniel H. Carpenter, 1901, page 8.
SEE: See also J. Hatton Carpenter. "The Carpenter Family of England and the United States" in the Utah Genealogical Magazine, Vol. 16, pp. 60-70.

Her father, William Arnold was born on June 24, 1587 at Ilchester and died at Providence, Rhode Island about 1676.  He was a descendant of the Royal Family of Wales, whose castles were at Galmorgan and Abergavenny; William the Conqueror, King of England, Duke of Normandy; Henry I, King of France; Charlaemagne, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, King of the Franks; and reportedly of Joseph of Arimathea, an uncle of the mother of Jesus. The Rev. C. C. Dobson's "Did Our Lord Visit Britian?" (London, No date) states that Joseph of Arimathea was a younger brother of the father of Mary, and that when Mary's husband Joseph died young, Joseph of Arimathea was made guardian of the young Jesus.
William Arnold was also a descendant of Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk and Suffolk, Baronial Order of Runnemede, Order of the Magna Charta.
Sources: Records of Charles Carpenter of Alpine, AZ; David Starr Jordan and Sarah L. Kimball, Your Family Tree (Baltimore, MD 1928); and the Rev. William Warrington's The History of Wales in nine books, 2 Vols. (London, 1786).

NAME: Middle name sometimes referred to as "Peake" in error. This was done often as a poor habit some of assigning as a middle name the mother’s maiden name. Virtually no one had middle names at this time.


9. William Carpenter

Notes below by Eugene Cole Zubrinsky
Ojai, California, 2009

[These notes contain the most-authoritative information available as of January 2009. They appear in fully formatted form in the "Gene Zubrinsky" folder of the CE 2009 and also online at . (The online version will be updated when appropriate; check the revision date.)  **Where other information herein conflicts with Zubrinsky's notes, his notes take precedence.**]

WILLIAM2 CARPENTER (William1 of Providence), b. Pawtuxet (Providence) probably by 2 Sept. 1653 (father 1st calls himself Wm. Sr. on 2 Sept. 1674), d. probably Pawtuxet (Providence) between 27 April 1676 (last rec. of father as Wm. Sr.) and 10 February 1679/80 (father's will calls him deceased); unmarried (PrTR 4:21-22, 6:143, 145, 8:11; RILE 51).

Considerable circumstantial evidence implies that William was the youngest of William1 and Elizabeth (Arnold) Carpenter's children. On 4 Dec. 1671, four of William1's sons witnessed the deed by which he gave his Amesbury messuage to his sister, Frideswide (PrTR 5:323-25). If true to custom, the sequence in which they signed the instrument--Timothy, Silas, Benjamin, and William "Junr:"--reflects their birth order. (William Jr. was then presumably a minor but old enough to witness a document, for which the legal minimum age was 14.) When on 2 Sept. 1674 Joseph Carpenter of Musketa Cove sold several Pawtuxet (Providence and Warwick) holdings to his uncle Stephen Arnold, the deed was witnessed by Joseph's brothers Silas (first) and William "junr" (RILE 50-51). Signing in "assent" were William Carpenter "Senr." and Joseph's second wife. This earliest self-identification by the elder Carpenter using a generational identifier suggests that his namesake son (the subject William) had reached adulthood. On 8 12 mo. 1674 [Feb. 1674/5], William Carpenter "Senr" gave to certain family members his rights to several shares of soon-to-be-divided common lands (PrTR 4:21-22). This declaration of title transfer names the recipients, in order, as sons Timothy, Silas, and Benjamin; grandsons Joseph Smith and "my sone Joseph sone William"; and (again last) "my sone William."

The will of Zachariah Rhodes Sr., dated in 1662, names William Carpenter "senior" as an overseer (PrTR 4:80, 82). This use of a generational identifier when William2 was unquestionably still a child is a departure from custom and a chronological outlier. All other instances in which _Sr._ or _Jr._ is used to distinguish these two Williams from one another are clustered between 1671 (when, as above, the latter was probably still a minor) and 27 April 1676 (see PrTR 4:21-22, 23 [6 April 1675], 5:323-25, 8:11; RILE 51).

Quoting from Hubbard's _Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians in New England_ (1677) and Austin's _Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island_ (1887), D. H. Carpenter claims that on 27 January 1675/6, during an Indian attack upon William1 Carpenter's house, his namesake son was killed (see Carpenter [1901] 18-19, 320). Hubbard's narrative says that "[t]wo that belonged to the said [Mr.] Carpenter were wounded, and one of the Enemies slain" (Hubbard 1:164). Austin, drawing from Hubbard and also from an unattributed account published in 1676--whose only mention of casualties is the death of "a Negro Servant" of "young Mr. [Toleration] Harris"--distorts both by relating that "two of [William Carpenter's] household were killed" (see Chronicle 58; Hubbard 58n259; HP 162n; Austin 37; see also Carpenter [1901] 18). The eminent antiquarian Samuel Gardner Drake regarded the anonymous version, which he felt was written from personal knowledge, as more reliable than Hubbard's (see Hubbard 58n260). The most personally knowledgeable source, however, is William Harris, who wrote the following to Sir Joseph Williamson on 12 Aug. 1676: "I haue lost a deer son : a dillegent engenious Just man : temperate in all things, whom ye Indeans lay in waite for by ye way syd & killd him, and a negro man, and burnt our houses . . . " (HP 162-63). A record of William Carpenter's election as Providence deputy to the Rhode Island General Assembly, dated 27 April 1676, refers to him as "Senr" (PrTR 8:11). This implies that, three months after the aforementioned Indian attack, William Jr. was still living. He had died by 10 Feb. 1679/80, the date of his father's will, which refers to "my son William deceased" (PrTR 6:143, 145).

William is not named on any of the Providence tax lists (the only ones recorded between 1650 and 1680 are dated in 1671 and 1679) or lists of the township's householders who swore allegiance (the last is dated in late May 1671). This, together with the lack of a probate record for him or of any evidence that he married, suggests that he lived his entire life in his father's household.

[Gene Zubrinsky's notes end here.]

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Number 6 in the book "The Carpenter Family in America" by Daniel H.
Carpenter, 1901.  Page 320.

DEATH: Carpenter Familiy and Related family Journal (P. 207) indicates he
died 20 Jan 1676/1677 in an Indian attack during King Phillip's War on his father's block house at Pawtuxet and that he was unmarried.