Hi fellow researchers! Eureka is about the only word that came to mind as I stumbled across the answer to a family puzzle that I'd been working on for the last 15 years. I'm in the process of transcribing and adding on-line the History of Richland County. Currently I'm doing the chapter on Rockbridge. On Monday night, when I got to a good stopping point for the evening, I thought I'd take a quick look ahead to see how many more pages I had to transcribe in this particular chapter. It being 3:15 AM, I didn't want to spend much more time doing so. About 6 pages over from where I was at the time, my eyes fell upon an entry for a Mr. Silas L CARPENTER. Now I've that surname in my family tree, but I didn't give it a second thought as my family is in central New York State. But glancing down the bio on him just a couple more lines I was thunderstruck - for there appeared the names of his parents - Halsey and Sarah (Vannetter) CARPENTER - my great, great, great grandparents! Reading further, (bedtime forgotten), it stated that Silas had come to Wisconsin as a young man of 17 WITH his parents. I was dumbfounded. Here I'd been looking for them in central New York, after their daughter, Martha Rachel CARPENTER had married my great, great grandfather in Madison County, NY in 1849. Late last year, I'd found another sibling of Rachel's from a CARPENTER journal's listing of a cemetery in Herkimer County, NY. So I did some research there but found nothing more to date. But it got better - apparently Halsey,his wife and at least Silas if not other children came to Wisconsin in 1856. They must have found the area agreeable for the daughter, Rachel and her husband came the following year to the same county! But wait, there's even more! Next I decided to take a quick look at Thompson's Death Index of Richland County, provided about 18 months ago by a volunteer. Lo and behold there sat Halsey CARPENTER's death record reference, giving me his date of death, 10 Jan 1892. With this information I can now seek out his death certificate and/or a newspaper account of his death. After finding this - I got to thinking - I believe I've a copy of a partial old land atlas for Rockbridge for 1874. So I scratched around, found it and there before my eyes I could 'see' where his 40 acres were located. Now a new mystery occurs as next door there is a 120 acre section with the name of E W CARPENTER on it. I believe this to be another son of Halsey's. If there are any CARPENTER researchers in this area, please contact me. Thanks, Tim Stowell Richland County, WIGenWeb host Crawford County, WIGenWeb co-host ASC WIGenWeb Chenango County, NYGenWeb host Madison County, NYGenWeb host

Weee-ooooo! Serendipity strikes again! Marsha (is it my turn yet?) Tim Stowell wrote: > > Hi fellow researchers! > > Eureka is about the only word that came to mind as I stumbled across the > answer to a family puzzle that I'd been working on for the last 15 years. > > I'm in the process of transcribing and adding on-line the History of > Richland County. Currently I'm doing the chapter on Rockbridge. On Monday > night, when I got to a good stopping point for the evening, I thought I'd > take a quick look ahead to see how many more pages I had to transcribe in > this particular chapter. > > It being 3:15 AM, I didn't want to spend much more time doing so. About 6 > pages over from where I was at the time, my eyes fell upon an entry for a > Mr. Silas L CARPENTER. Now I've that surname in my family tree, but I > didn't give it a second thought as my family is in central New York State. > But glancing down the bio on him just a couple more lines I was > thunderstruck - for there appeared the names of his parents - Halsey and > Sarah (Vannetter) CARPENTER - my great, great, great grandparents! > Reading further, (bedtime forgotten), it stated that Silas had come to > Wisconsin as a young man of 17 WITH his parents. > > I was dumbfounded. Here I'd been looking for them in central New York, > after their daughter, Martha Rachel CARPENTER had married my great, great > grandfather in Madison County, NY in 1849. Late last year, I'd found > another sibling of Rachel's from a CARPENTER journal's listing of a > cemetery in Herkimer County, NY. So I did some research there but found > nothing more to date. > > But it got better - apparently Halsey,his wife and at least Silas if not > other children came to Wisconsin in 1856. They must have found the area > agreeable for the daughter, Rachel and her husband came the following year > to the same county! > > But wait, there's even more! Next I decided to take a quick look at > Thompson's Death Index of Richland County, provided about 18 months ago by > a volunteer. Lo and behold there sat Halsey CARPENTER's death record > reference, giving me his date of death, 10 Jan 1892. With this information > I can now seek out his death certificate and/or a newspaper account of his > death. > > After finding this - I got to thinking - I believe I've a copy of a partial > old land atlas for Rockbridge for 1874. So I scratched around, found it > and there before my eyes I could 'see' where his 40 acres were located. > > Now a new mystery occurs as next door there is a 120 acre section with the > name of E W CARPENTER on it. I believe this to be another son of Halsey's. > If there are any CARPENTER researchers in this area, please contact me. > > Thanks, > > Tim Stowell > Richland County, WIGenWeb host > Crawford County, WIGenWeb co-host > ASC WIGenWeb > > Chenango County, NYGenWeb host > Madison County, NYGenWeb host