<< Even if [William Carpenter] had been able to write, he was but one of three men who took Thomas Wiseman's estate inventory. Either of the other two or someone else entirely could just as easily have prepared the inventory's final draft. >> Sorry, the last sentence is a misstatement. I had momentarily forgotten that William Peerson, one of three men who took Thomas Wiseman's estate inventory and the only witness to his will, appears to be the one who wrote the latter document; its handwriting differs significantly from that of the former. This, however, scarcely improves the odds that the inventory was prepared by William Carpenter "ye elder," let alone William Jr., who, as Rehoboth town and proprietors' clerk from 1643 to 1649, wrote in a discernibly different hand. Gene Z. ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour