I am curious about this pedigree... > 1 William CARPENTER-662: b Abt 1608/1611 Amesbury,Wiltshire,England; d > 7 Sep 1685 Pawtuxet,Providence,RI > > 2 Richard CARPENTER-669: b Abt 1575/1578 Nettlecomb,Somerset,England; > m 1 Sep 1606 Dwelly Wells,Parish,Nettlecombe,England; d 7 Aug 1625 > Ilchester,Somerset,England > 3 Susanna TRIVILIAN-1432: b 1592 Nettlecomb,Somerset,England Given the apparent uncertainty over the date of William's birth, and the commonness of the name, what evidence is there that (A) he was born at Amesbury or (B) his parents were named Richard and Susanna, much less that (C) they were originally from a different county? It seems to me that we would find it more profitable to focus efforts on the weak links closer at hand than medieval times. For myself, I'd really like to focus on an even more recent weak link. It seems that D.H. Carpenter's book assigns my line to the Rehoboth branch, but the evidence is wholly lacking, and I'd be interested in finding some confirmation or refutation... Here is the weak link: a certain Thomas Carpenter died in 1815 at Exeter, RI, intestate, and his estate was administered by his son Benjamin of South Kingstown. That would appear to be the same Benjamin who died in S.K. in 1840, aged 76 (contrary to what the book says, which is that he lived from 1756 to 1829). Be that as it may, can anybody show me some evidence to link this Thomas Carpenter to the birth record of a Thomas Carpenter in East Greenwich, RI back in 1738 (father named Thomas but mother not named)? The age fits fine, but I would really like to see something more than pure intuition here. John Chandler