So far as I'm aware, the only document naming Richard Carpenter of Amesbury as the father of William1 of Providence is not a will but the latter man's deed of gift, dated 4 December 1671, of Amesbury property (formerly his father's) to his sister Fridgswett/Fridgsweete (see Third Book of the Town of Providence, 477 [FHL 915084]; the oft-repeated "Fridgswith" does not appear [the name is properly Frideswide, who was/is the patron saint of Oxford). While the will of Robert Carpenter of Marden (d. 1607) names a son Richard and another William, there is absolutely no independent evidence that either of these men was the father of William1 of Providence or William2 of Rehoboth, respectively. Richard of Marden, moreover, is the implied recipient of his father's real estate there: with his father's widow Elinor, he is to receive "[a]ll the reste of [Robert's] goods moveable and unmoveable unbequeathed" (all specific bequests are of money, animals, and/or barley) (Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 109 Huddleston, fol. 42 [FHL 92029]). As his father's principal legatee, Richard had good reason to remain in Marden. (Although spotty and inconclusive, Marden parish records [Bishop's Transcripts, beginning in 1623] mention several Richard and William Carpenters over the next several decades.) On Amesbury's eastern border is the parish of Newton Toney, where on 7 August 1603 a Richard Carpenter married Alice Knight, and another Richard Carpenter married Ann Kent on 31 October 1603 (Newton Toney Parish Register, unpaged [FHL 1279336, item 13]. The latter man died at Newton Toney in 1614 (ibid.; Archdeaconry Court of Sarum, Reg. 8, fol. 226 [FHL 994489, item 1]); the only Newton Toney record surely of the former is that of his marriage. Among a dozen or so legatees named in the 1599 will of Robert Carpenter of Newton Toney is Richard Carpenter of "Aymsbury" (relationship not stated), quite possibly the man of that name who married Alice Knight (see Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 93 Kidd, fol. 47 [FHL 92,005]). Evidence of this or of the couple's being Providence William's parents is not found, however. The apparent family connection between Robert Carpenter of Newton Toney and Richard Carpenter of Amesbury nevertheless tends to diminish further the likelihood that the latter was the son of Robert Carpenter of Marden. (I was alerted to the above-cited marriage and probate records and their potential implications by John R. Carpenter of La Mesa, Calif.) For any readers harboring the unfortunately popular notion that Richard of Amesbury married at Nettlecombe, Somerset, and resided thereafter in that county, I should add the following: "[H]oping to assist further research," Elisha Arnold introduces the 1606 marriage of Richard Carpenter and Susanna Trevelian, recorded at Nettlecombe, Somerset (seventy plus miles from Amesbury), as "seem[ing] to connect in some way with a John and Richard at Salisbury, 7 miles from Amesbury" (Elisha Stephen Arnold, _The Arnold Memorial: William Arnold of Providence and Pawtuxet, 1587-1675 . . ._ [Rutland, Vt., 1935], 35). So as to put William1 Carpenter of Providence and his eventual wife, Elizabeth Arnold, in close proximity in England (the evidence is now overwhelming that they met and married in America), overzealous researchers have converted this item into the now frequently seen (online) assertions that Richard and Susanna (Trevelian) Carpenter were Providence William's parents and that Richard died at the Arnolds' home of Ilchester, Somerset, in 1625. Trevelian's husband, however, died at Loxhore, Devon, in 1627 and left neither a son William nor a daughter Frideswide (Charles William Boase, ed., _Registrum Collegii Exoniensis: Register of . . . Exeter College, Oxford_ [Oxford, 1894], 86; Frederick Brown, _Abstracts of Somersetshire Wills, etc._, Frederick Arthur Crisp, transcriber, 6 vols. [London, 1887-90], 2:109-10). The Richard Carpenter buried at Amesbury, 21 September 1625, is far more likely to have been Providence William's father than one said to have died at Ilchester that year (see Amesbury Parish Register, vol. 1, unpaged; Daniel Hoogland Carpenter, _History and Genealogy of the Carpenter Family in America, from the Settlement at Providence, R.I., 1637-1901_ [Jamaica, N.Y., 1901], 8n). Gene Z. In a message dated 1/19/2005 4:00:34 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, [email protected] writes: X-Message: #1 Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 14:19:45 +0900 From: "Bruce E Carpenter" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Message-ID: <[email protected]> Subject: Rich. of Amesbury Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Could Mr. Zubrinsky be so good as to present this particular evidence on this forum? Most helpful would be any evidence BESIDES the often quoted will that mentions "Richard Carpenter of Amesbury." "presents evidence pointing away from Robert Carpenter of Marden, Wiltshire, as the putative father of Richard of Amesbury; introduces other evidence pointing toward the latter man's antecedents' being of Newton Toney (adjacent to Amesbury)" Sincerely, Bruce Carpenter Nara, Japan