My Carpenters were farmers and did many other things as well, but in the 1800s several of them built many large timber bridges in NY and MI, at least. Throwing around those huge timbers required great strength, for which they had the reputation. My grandfather's generation included barbers and merchants. My father's generation included many college graduates, including my father, who earned a Ph.D. in mathematical statistics and was an important person in the development of research statistics. My generation of Carpenters includes virtually no members without a college degree, and most of us hold more than one. Almost all of us earn our livings as professionals in many different areas. My children's generation is the same. We are mostly pretty big people who would no doubt be farming and building bridges and doing other hard physical work, had we not been fortunate enough to have been born in the USA during such a time as ours has been. I suspect that, had I been raised during the Crusades to hate the "Saracens" and other "infidels" to the point at which killing them made me feel I was doing God's will, I probably would have been a big, strong killer, and proud of it. Maybe not, but what would have prevented it? The goal of most historians is to find out the story of what actually happened in the past. There is a genetic component to our behavior, of course. However, let's not forget the effect of the environment on our ancestors. What I really want to know is who my ancestors were, and what they were like, including what they did. I hope they weren't all wonderful. George R. Carpenter