Dear George, I am so sorry for your loss. It must be very difficult to lose a brother so soon. My roots are connected to a Reuben Carpenter circa 1780 of SC through children ending up in Alabama. Even though there is not much discussion of Reubens on this list, there were several Reubens. Early ones were in the MA area and later SC, NC, OH, MS, AL, TX, AR, IA. Just a simple search pulls up the following: 1790 Census: Reuben in MA, Reuben in CT, Reuben in VT 1800 Census: this census lists the first 3 plus 1 in NC. If you search a little harder, you can find Reubens in Territorial lists and land records , etc. all over the US. Also, some Reuben Zimmermans changed their surname to Carpenter. I can easily find 36 Reubens in the 1880 census. There was a Reuben in the 1895 (Blue Earth County) Minnesota Territorial census which was maybe your ancestor? I always liked the name Reuben. It's a good strong name being associated with the founder of one of God's tribes. Thank you for replying to my post and sharing the information about your brother. It sounds like Marion is lucky to have you for an Uncle. Donna Carpenter-Cuzze