I finally received from the NYS Archives a photocopy of John Carpenter's 1732 will (Jamaica LI NY). [This is John #24 in Carpenter Memorial, 1658-1732.] The copy quality of the will is very bad--so bad that the state declined to cash my check--and a number of words are undecipherable. This will was abstracted in the NY Gen & Biog Record, Vol 65 p.38, transcript of which abstract I have from "The Ancestry & Descendant of Col. Solomon Carpenter of Goshen NY" of 1974. I'm sure the abstract has appeared elsewhere as well. Overall, the abstract is a pretty good representation of the will (although it omits all the introductory pieties). My interest in seeing the actual will was to clarify a confusion over the number and sequence of John's sons. The abstract refers to sons Nehemiah, John of Goshen, Solomon of Goshen, Joseph, Increase, Nehemiah (again). The abstract THEN paraphrases the will's reference to "my three sons." HUH? Is it three sons (reference), five (name count), or conceiveably six (if there were two Nehemiahs)? The will makes it all pretty clear. One item bequeaths to wife (Mary) and son Nehemiah. Another item bequeaths to son "John Carpenter belonging to Goshen." Another item bequeaths to "Solomon Carpenter belonging to Goshen." Then an item bequeaths "...unto three sons Joseph Increase & Nehemiah Carpenter after the end of my Wifes Widdowhood all my meadow lying on Nether East Neck and my lot of land lying down(?) the Neck joining to the land of Jeremiah Denton to be equally divided between them to them and their heirs and assigns forever." (The will literally says "Item" initiating each bequeathal statement separately.) Later reference is made to "...equal charge with my three sons Joseph Increase & Nehemiah in sharing(?) my building as long as my Wife & I shall live." Finally, after the homestead is (later) to be sold, there is reference to "...my three sons and four daughters Joseph Increase & Nehemiah & Mary Hannah Susanna & Phebe..." to split the proceeds equally. Very clearly there are five sons. Almost as clearly, John and Solomon are eldest and gone off on their own. Finally, the sequence of the three youngest sons is pretty surely Joseph-Increase-Nehemiah. (The sequence in ABC's Carpenter Memorial has Nehemiah first--which I would guess is because he is named first in John's Item #1, as described above, but which sequence I conclude is plainly wrong.) Genealogist Raymond George Carpenter says that John #24 was married twice, 1st to Abigail Rhodes and 2nd to Mary who is named in the will. John is 74 yrs old at his death, with one daughter (Hannah) who is unmarried although there are two younger sisters, and with three sons living at home. Presumably they are all young adults. It adds up, in my view, to wife Mary likely being the mother of these offspring, and Abigail Rhodes the mother of John & Solomon of Goshen. Does anyone wish to concur with me in this? Robin C.