Re: Carpenter Family/ Warren and Morris County New Jersey Connections
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In reply to:
Re: Carpenter Family/ Warren and Morris County New Jersey Connections
John E Carlson 2/11/07
Dear John,
Thank you for the details on your branch of the family.I have seen references to your ancestors in my research, but I never appreciated how they all fit together until now.
The copy of the “History of the Carpenter Family as Related by the Late Joseph James Carpenter, Sr.” in my possession consists of a cover page, a page of single-spaced narrative summary and a three-page basic genealogy.There is no indication from these five pages that there are any additional materials.The transcription of the narrative portion of the document reads (somewhat ungrammatically) in part as follows: “brother Ashman who has a large family and is living in Beatystown [sic], New Jersey” and “[b]rother George N. living in Michigan has a large family.”The genealogical portion for Ashman’s children is consistent with other sources.The genealogical portion for George mentions two unnamed wives and lists the children by those marriages (You wrote that “George survived his first two wives and then remarried Jane Cline.”Does this mean that Jane was his third spouse?).Please let me know if you would like a copy of this document.
By way of background, I received my photocopy from another Carpenter family researcher, who has been trying to locate the original source document.I have examined the “collected papers” of Ford Ashman Carpenter in the Library of Congress, but those materials deal primarily with his professional endeavors (meteorology and aeronautics).As I recall, UCSD is also a repository for his papers, but I have not checked to see if they might hold an earlier copy of the manuscript and/or additional genealogical materials.
Despite the provenance of the extant copy of this document, it certainly appears to be an authentic version of an earlier narrative.Of course, that is a separate question from its accuracy.It is not a verbatim transcript of the original oral narrative, and there is always the risk of transcription errors in the multiple iterations.As I mentioned to Millie, there are inaccuracies with regard to generations a century or more earlier than its dictation, but that would not be unusual for such a personal narrative.Given the limited genealogical purposes for which we require this document, the narrative should be a reliable source insofar as it concerns direct family relationships contemporaneous with the lifespan of the principal narrator.
As a general matter, I am a skeptical researcher who is deeply suspicious of secondary sources that do not include primary source citations that I can check for myself.In the case of the relationship between Joseph James Carpenter (circa 1769 – 1851) and Ashman Carpenter (circa 1804 - 1869), the available primary source documents provide circumstantial support for the proposition that this is indeed the father-son relationship described in various U.S. and Canadian biographies/genealogies.Like you, I am always willing to revisit and revise earlier conclusions based on new evidence.Moreover, I am still searching for primary source evidence to confirm a certain link further up the ancestral tree.In any event, the occurrence of the family name “Ashman” is a type of marker that obviously points toward a descent from William Carpenter (b. 1605), whatever the specific lineage may be.In this instance, we also have the benefit of genetic evidence from the Carpenter Cousins Y-DNA Project, which suggests that this Ashman falls in the line descended from William of Rehoboth.In essence, the genetic data is consistent with the presumed genealogy derived from conventional sources.
Best Regards,
Bill
More Replies:
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George N. Carpenter (1810-1891) (Philadelphia/Ontario/Michigan)
John E Carlson 2/12/07
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Re: Carpenter Family/ Warren and Morris County New Jersey Connections
John E Carlson 2/12/07
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Re: Carpenter Family/ Warren and Morris County New Jersey Connections
William Carpenter 2/19/07
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Re: Carpenter Family/ Warren and Morris County New Jersey Connections
Jo Ann Pfaff 2/04/11
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Re: Carpenter Family/ Warren and Morris County New Jersey Connections
Jo Ann Pfaff 2/05/11
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Re: Carpenter Family/ Warren and Morris County New Jersey Connections
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Re: Carpenter Family/ Warren and Morris County New Jersey Connections