Gloucester County NJ Archives Biographies.....John CARPENTER, 1805 - 1891 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nj/njfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 November 10, 2008, 12:55 am Author: Mary Depue Ogden, Editor (1917) CARPENTER, John, Journalist, Public Official. The noble family of Carpenter from which the Irish Earls of Tyrconnel have descended, is of great antiquity in County Hereford and other parts of England. John Carpenter, the earliest known member of the family, appears there as early as 1303. In 1323 he was a member of parliament for the borough of Leskard, in Cornwall, as two years afterwards was Stephen Carpenter for Crediton, County Devon. John Carpenter's son Richard, born about 1335, had a son John who became town clerk of London, and in turn had a son John, born about 1410, whose son William is the founder of the branch of the family at present under consideration. This William Carpenter, son of John, Jr., commonly known as William Carpenter, of Homme, lived in the parish of Dihvyne, County Hereford, England, was born about 1440, and died in 1520. Among his children was a son James, who died in 1537, leaving a son John, who died three years later, in 1540, whose son William, named for his great-grandfather, was the most prominent ancestor of the Tyrconnel Carpenters, and the founder of the Rehoboth branch of the Carpenter family at present under consideration. (I) William Carpenter, founder of the American branch of the Tyrconnel Carpenters, was born about 1540, and had several children: 1. James, who inherited the estate of his father. 2. Alexander, born about 1560, a dissenter, who removed to Leyden, Holland, and whose youngest son, William Carpenter, of Codham, was one to whom was granted the "Greyhound" arms. 3. William, referred to below. 4. Richard, removed to Amesburg; his son William came to America in 1636, settled in Providence with Roger Williams, and became the progenitor of the Providence branch of the Carpenter family. (II) William (2), son of William (1) Carpenter, born in 1576, was a carpenter by trade, and lived in the city of London. He rented a tenement in Houndsditch in 1625 on a lease for forty-one years. In 1638, however, with his son William and his daughter-in-law he came to America in the ship "Bevis." He was registered in Southampton, Long Island, but returned home in the same vessel in which he came over, leaving a son William in this country to become the founder of this branch of the family. (III) William (3), son of William (2) Carpenter, was born in England, 1605, and died February 7, 1659, in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. He was admitted free man of Weymouth, May 13, 1640, and was representative of that town in 1641 and 1643. In 1641 he was constable, and was admitted an inhabitant of Rehoboth, Massachusetts, March 18, 1645, and was representative for Rehoboth in the same year. Governor Bradford, who married his cousin Alice, manifested for him great friendship, favoring him in all his measures in the criminal court, in fact, from all their dealings and transactions, public and private, which have been recorded and come down to us, it is evident that these two men were the closest of friends. The legal business of the town or colony seems to have been principally in the hands of William Carpenter. He was one of the committee who laid out the first lot from Rehoboth, Dedham, and with others was chosen to look after the interest of the town, to hear and decide on the grievances with regard to the division of land by lots, and to represent the town in the Criminal Court of Cambridge. In 1647 and again in 1655 he was one of the selectmen of the town. His will was dated April 21, 1659, and proved February 7, 1669. By his wife Abigail, who died February 22, 1687, he had seven children: 1. John, is referred to below. 2. William, born about 1631, died January 26, 1703; married (first) Priscilla Bennett, (second) Miriam Searles. 3. Joseph, born probably about 1633; married Margaret Sutton, died May, 1675. 4- Hannah, born April 3, 1640; married her cousin, Joseph Carpenter, of Providence, Rhode Island. 5. Abiah, born April 9, 1643. 6. Abigail, twin with Abiah, married John Titus, Jr. 7. Samuel, born probably 1644; died 1682; married Sarah Readaway. (IV) John, son of William (3) and Abigail Carpenter, was born about 1628, and died May 23, 1695. He came from England with his father, and when young went to Connecticut, and was there previous to 1746, when he must have been about seventeen years old. For several years he traveled about in Connecticut working at the carpenter trade. In 1660 he bought land at Hempstead, Long Island. He is mentioned in his father's will as is also his son. In May, 1664, he was made freeman of Connecticut, and in 1663 was chosen townsman of Hempstead. He was generally known as Captain John Carpenter, in virtue of his office as commander of the Jamaica fusileers, which in 1673 was ordered to defend Fort James, New York, against the fleet of the Prince of Orange. John Carpenter was one of the patentees of the town of Jamaica, Long Island, under the Dongan patent of 1680, with Nehemiah Smith. He was one of the committee to settle the Rev. John Pruden over the church of Jamaica in 1676. His will, November 10, 1694, begins: "I, John Carpenter now ancient crazy in body and sound of mind." He leaves his carpenter's tools to his sons. He was a man of superior judgment, who did much to assist in the building up of the community. By his wife who was probably Hannah Hope, he had seven children: 1. John, who is referred to below. 2. Hope, whose will was proved March 23, 1712, whose wife's name was Mary, and who was commissioned ensign January 10, 1690, and with his brother Samuel was captain of militia in 1700. 3. William, born about 1662, died February 2 or 21, 1748 or 1749; married (first) probably Sarah ____; (second) Elizabeth ____. 4. Samuel, born about 1666. 5. Solomon, born about 1670. 6. Ruth, married a Ludlam. 7. A daughter, name unknown, who married a Rhodes. (V) John (2), son of John (1) and Hannah (Hope) Carpenter, was born in Connecticut, about 1658. His will was proved July 30, 1732. His residence was Jamaica, Long Island. After November 22, 1703, he took the oath as captain of troops at Jamaica. He was assessed in 1683 at £78. His wife's name was Mary. Children: i. Nehemiah, born about 1685, died April 25, 1821; married Elizabeth _____. 2. John, is referred to below. 3. Solomon, born about 1686, died 1772. 4. Joseph, born about 1687; married probably Phebe, daughter of Wait Smith. 5. Increase, born about 1688, died about 1776; married a Bergin. 6. Mary. 7. Hannah. 8. Susanna. 9. Phebe. (VI) John (3), son of John (2) and Mary Carpenter, was born about 1685. He was called "John the Sheriff," to distinguish him from other Carpenters bearing his own name. The title was given him because he served as sheriff of Orange county, New York. At one time he declined. Shortly after his marriage he removed from Long Island to Goshen, New York, where he died. His wife married for her second husband, Mr. Thurston. By his wife Ruth Coe he had nine children: 1. Ruth, born about 1720; married (first) Ephraim Marston; (second) Peter Stagg. 2. Daniel, born about 1720, died March 10, 1790; married Susan Thompson. 3. Increase. 4. Isaac, married (first) Susanna (Horton) Little; (second) Susanna (McKinney) Thompson. 5. Temperance, married Jeremiah Curtis. 6. John, referred to below. 7. Benjamin, born about 1750, died 1811; married Eunice, sister to J. Stewart. 8. Moses. 9. Susanna, died March 17, 1790; married a Howell. (VII) John (4), son of John (3) and Ruth (Coe) Carpenter, born June 3, 1730 (or February, 1745, according to another account), died February, 1800. He is said to have represented Orange county in the Colonial Assembly in 1778, also at one time to have been a judge of the same county. He is sometimes called "John the Distiller." He moved to Washington town, north of Albany, New York, and went into the distillery business, which in those days was considered highly honorable, and accumulated much property. He was a man of knowledge, held many important offices, and was at one time a member of the Assembly of New York. He was a successful and prominent business man. January 31, 1779, he married Abigail, born August 29, 1758, died April 21, 1841, daughter of Benjamin and Louise (Cory) Moore, who survived her husband and after his death married Hezekiah N. Woodruff. This was his second marriage. His first wife, name supposed to have been Frances, bore him three children. The remaining nine were the issue of the second marriage. These children were: 1. Margaret, born April 30, 1773. 2. Elinor, born October 27, 1775. 3. James, baptized September 21, 1777. 4. Cynthia, born May 23, 1782; married Philip C. Schuyler. 5. John Coe, referred to below. 6. Abigail, born August 21, 1787; married John Sherwood. 7. Susan, born 1795, married Truman Hart. 8. Benjamin, born April 4, 1783, married Charlotte B. Alden. 9. Mary, born July 28, 1789, married John C. Wynans. 10. Temperance, born June 25, 1791: died August 2, 1831; married Sands Higinbothan. 11. Isaac born September 19, 1793; married (first) Cynthia Samantha Goodwin; (second) Emeline Woodward. 12. Elizabeth, born July 19, 1798; married a Leonard. (VIII) John Coe, son of John and Abigail (Moore) Carpenter, was born May 4, 1784. He lived at first at Windham, Greene county, New York, and later in Fayettesville or Manlius, Onondaga county, New York. By his first wife _____ Mead, he had three children. In 1807 he married (second) Hannah Babcock, of Coventry, Connecticut, who bore him one more child. Children: 1. John, referred to below. 2. Eliza, born January 1, 1801, married Asahel Peck. 3. Cynthia, born September 21, 1803, married a Kenney. 4. Sands Coe, born about 1815, married Mary Clark. (IX) John, eldest child of John Coe Carpenter by his first wife, was born at Windham, Greene county, New York, December 13, 1805, died in Woodbury, New Jersey, July 21, 1891. He took to the printing trade while yet a boy, securing an apprenticeship in the office of the "Herkimer Herald." He became its acting editor during his apprenticeship, and at the age of nineteen, differing with the opinion of the editor as to the presidential candidates, he bought the balance of his apprenticeship and the paper with it, and transferred his support from Adams to Jackson. The people of Herkimer county in the election of 1824 sustained the cause of the new editor. In 1826 Mr. Carpenter was induced to remove to Oswego, New York, where he helped to establish the Oswego "Palladium," which is yet prosperous and influential and one of the oldest Democratic papers in New York State. The greater part of John Carpenter's younger life was spent in Oswego, which he saw grow from a little village and become a city of considerable commercial importance to the country. It is interesting to note that Mr. Carpenter took the first iron printing press used in Oswego from Albany, New York, on a sleigh. After about twenty years labor on the "Palladium" (during which time it did good service for his party being the paper which in the 1840 campaign got from General Harrison and published a famous letter in which he confessed that he had a political committee of three to keep his political conscience and tell what his opinions were on public issue), Mr. Carpenter sold the printing office in order to accept the clerkship of the county, to which he had been elected, but he afterwards for many years contributed to the political columns of the paper. Throughout his life he was a strict adherent to the old party of Jefferson. His first vote for President was for Andrew Jackson, and his last for Grover Cleveland, and in his old age he expressed himself glad to know that for more than half a century he had never failed to discharge his duty as a citizen in voting at every election. He removed to New Jersey a few years before his death, as he was warned by a second attack of pneumonia that he could no longer stand the Lake Ontario winters, but he so timed his removal as to cast his vote in New York State and become a resident of New Jersey the same day. In 1876, when he had voted for the one-hundredth time, he was elected by acclamation to represent the Oswego district in the Democratic State convention of New York, with a very complimentary resolution by the county convention. He was as unselfish as he was devoted to the party of his preference. When he did not like its candidates he supported them for their cause. When his own views failed to prevail he promptly accepted those of the majority as distinct from the regular council of the party. In no other way he believed could a party and its principles be sustained and its policy carried to triumph for the good and glory of the country. From 1852 to 1856 he was a member of the New York Democratic committee. He was a staunch friend and adherent of President Van Buren. When in 1848 Mr. Van Buren started his own personal party, Mr. Carpenter stood almost alone in his section in support of the regular ticket of the New York convention. In fact, Mr. Nathan Robbins, then collector of the port of Oswego, was the only other person at the time in the Democratic county who with Mr. Carpenter supported the regular electoral ticket. Oswego after this used to be a Democratic county, and Mr. Carpenter was several times elected a member of its board of supervisors and took a prominent and noble part in the county management. He was as devoted to domestic duties and to his private affairs as he was to his duties as a citizen. He won warm and universal esteem as a neighbor. He was unselfishly and untiringly active as long as his eye and hand had strength to labor. Only a few weeks before his death he had helped effectively in the office of the "Gloucester County Democrat," the paper of his son James. The last eight years of his life were spent in comfort at his son's home in Woodbury, New Jersey. John Carpenter married (first) August 20, 1828, Sarah L., daughter of Andrew Ferrill, M. D., of Herkimer, New York, who died September 14, 1844. having borne him eight children. January 3, 1848, he married (second) Mary, daughter of Judge Edmund Hawkes, of Oswego, New York, born December 16. 1821, who bore him seven children. Additional Comments: Extracted from: MEMORIAL CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY UNDER THE EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF MARY DEPUE OGDEN VOLUME III MEMORIAL HISTORY COMPANY NEWARK, NEW JERSEY 1917 This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/njfiles/ File size: 14.8 Kb This file is located at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nj/gloucester/bios/carpenter-j.txt