I am a Carpentr descended from William of Rehoboth. My Carpenter men, at least the ones I know the professions of, worked with their hands, but they were also educated. As an example, my grandfather and great-grandfather were, I guess you could say, carpenters by trade and name. They owned their own construction company and built octagonal-shaped barns in western Dane County, Wisconsin. My great-great-grandfather was a stone mason. My great-great-great grandfather was a farmer, but had a brother who was a merchant. I am proud to say my Carpenters were and are noted for their brains and brawn. By the way, the Carpenter women came in all shapes and sizes! So much for judging someone on those credentials! A Carpenter from Wisconsin via Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York C.A.Carpenter ( Chuck's Wood-Knots) wrote: > > At 09:04 PM 9/1/1999 -0700, Bruce E. Carpenter wrote: > >Dearest Carpenters: > >As I mentioned previously, the vast, vast majority > >of present English Carpenters are dscendants of timber tossing carpenters of > >trade. > >They surely must be well built. However the Rehoboth > >and Providence Carpenters are descendants of landowners > >and merchants. These were people who used their brains and > >not their brawn. My Carpenters are all tall, thin boned with > >fine chisled facial features. They (including myself) were never in > >love with physical work, even on the farm. In the Carpenter Memorial, > >on p. 376, is a picture of Philo Carpenter. He seems to me to be > >the classic Carpenter. Take a look at the two on p. 163. > >A classic Carpenter is Frank Carpenter, whose fine photo can > >be found at www.geocities.com/fbc.htm. A much more interesting > >question would have been, "Were the Carpenter ladies well built"? > > > >For the record, the reason I don't accept a DeMelun > >origin for the Herefordshire Carpenters is not > >that I dislike the DeMeluns, but rather the evidence that > >supports the connection is a sham. It is the nature > >of my profession to assign an "F" for lousy homework and > >an "A" for well done homework. Simple as that. > > > >Sincerely, > >Bruce Carpenter > > > > The URL posted above does not work for me but the one below does. > > http://www.geocities.com/~newgeneration/fbc.htm > > From a personal observation. > > I am descended from the Rehoboth clan. I grew up in Barrington, RI which > was once part of Rehoboth. > > I am more closely related to Bruce Carpenter than any other Carpenter on > the list. We follow the same path from William down to Stephen Carpenter > and Martha Hunt. > > The observation is: > I am small boned and 5'8" tall but have the 29.5 inseam as Tony mentions.. > maybe it's 30". > ALL the Carpenters I have ever met were small boned with the exception of > my son who is large boned, 6' and 265 lbs. The biggest Carpenter I know :) > Frank Carpenter( The Painter ) bears a strong resemblance to my family and > a lot of other Carpenters I have known. > All of them were very intelligent and worked hard, but not "heavy" laborers. > They were all "artistic" in some way and yes a little eccentric :) > > And they all loved women, "well built" or not :) > > Chuck > > Please visit my web site "Chuck's Wood-Knots" at: > http://www.evcom.net/~chuck2/index.html > > Carpenter Genealogy at: > http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/6712/index.html