This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: CARPENTER Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/2RB.2ACE/8344 Message Board Post: I have just received a copy of my husband's great grandfather's military records and find that he was born in Potsdam, New York. The records indicate that he was born in 1851. His death certificate says 1841 but I have to believe that since all of the re-enlistments support the date of 1851, I believe that this is correct. Are birth records available from that time? I believe that he was Catholic but cannot say that for sure. I do not know who the parents were. I am searching for any information available such as who the parents might have been or, perhaps, if he might have had any siblings. I have been searching for four years and this is the first solid information I have to go on. I will be happy to pay for any copies or postage. Kathleen Leveroni