Joseph Carpenter
Descent: Meghan Jane Leineweber ← Catherine Raye Lobb ← Patricia Jane Loomis ← Edward Byron Loomis ← Isaac Hayes Loomis ← Juliette Cordelia Hayes ← Nelson Hayes ← Rhoda Slaughter ← Lois Carpenter ← Benjamin Carpenter ← Edward Carpenter ← Benjamin Carpenter ← Joseph Carpenter
In brief
Born about 1634 in England. May 2, 1638: Joseph and his family as well as his grandfather William Carpenter were at sea having left from Southampton, England aboard the ship Bevis. He married November 25, 1655, in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. He died May 1675, in Swansea, Plymouth Colony (Massachusetts, USA).
Family
Children
- Joseph Carpenterb. August 15, 1656, in Rehoboth, Massachusettsm. Mary ____, February 23, 1681d. February 1717, in Swansea, Massachusetts
- Benjamin Carpenter · in this lineb. January 15, 1657[1658], in Rehoboth, Massachusettsm. November 27, 1706, in Swansea, Massachusettsd. May 22, 1727, in Swansea, Massachusetts
- Abigail Carpenterb. March 15, 1659, in Rehoboth, Massachusettsd. February 1, 1683
- Esther Carpenterb. March 10, 1661, in Rehoboth, Massachusettsm. Samuel Brentnall/Brintnell, March 19, 1687, in Swansea, Massachusettsd. December 20, 1730, in Norton, Massachusetts
- John Carpenterb. Abt. 1667, in Rehoboth, Massachusettsm. ____ Grinnellm. Elizabeth ____m. Abigail ____d. August 25, 1753, in East Greenwich, Rhode Island
- Hannah Carpenterb. March 1671, in Swansea, Massachusettsm. Thomas Skinner
- Solomon Carpenterb. April 27, 1673, in Swansea, Massachusettsd. October 25, 1674, in Swansea, Massachusetts
- Margaret Carpenterb. May 4, 1675, in Swansea, Massachusettsm. Thomas Chaffee, June 4, 1695d. May 6, 1751, in Rehoboth, Massachusetts
- ____ Carpenter
Siblings
- John Carpenterb. Abt. October 1626 near Shalbourne Parish, Wiltshire/Berkshire, Englandm. Hannah ____d. May 23, 1695, in Jamaica, Long Island, New York
- Abigail Carpenterb. Abt. May 1629 near Shalbourne Parish, Wiltshire/Berkshire, England. 2, 3/April 9, 1643, in Weymouth, Massachusettsm. John Titus in 1649/1659m. Jonah Palmer, November 9, 1692, in Rehoboth, Massachusetts
- William Carpenterb. Abt. December 1631 near Shalbourne Parish, Wiltshire/Berkshire, Englandm. Priscilla Bennett, October 5, 1651, in Rehoboth, Massachusettsm. Miriam Searles/Sale, February 10, 1663[1664], in Rehoboth, Massachusettsd. January 26, 1703, in Rehoboth, Massachusetts
- b. Abt. March 1636[1637] near Shalbourne Parish, Wiltshire/Berkshire, Englandd. Abt. April 1637 near Shalbourne Parish, Wiltshire/Berkshire, England
- Hannah Carpenterb. April 3, 1640, in Weymouth, Massachusettsm. Joseph Carpenter
- Abiah Carpenterb. April 9, 1643, in Weymouth, Massachusettsm. Mary Redway sister of Sarah Redway (1554)d. Pawtuxet, Rhode Island
Life story
A Founder of Swansea's Baptist Church
Joseph Carpenter, baptized April 6, 1634, in Shalbourne Parish, Wiltshire, England, crossed the Atlantic as a child in 1638 with his father, William Carpenter, and grandfather, also William, aboard the ship Bevis, settling eventually in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. He worked as a house carpenter, served as Rehoboth and later Swansea's way warden and grand juror, and in 1663 joined a small Baptist congregation gathered by the Reverend John Myles — a decision Massachusetts authorities punished with a five-pound fine and a month-long ban from worship, since Baptists dissented from the colony's established Puritan church. Joseph was undeterred: in 1666 he was one of seven founders of what became the Swansea Baptist Church, moved there from Rehoboth the following year.
A Widow's Pregnancy
In his May 1675 will, written as death approached, Joseph divided his land among his sons Joseph, Benjamin, and John, along with his tools (all but an axe and hoe reserved for his wife), and noted that his wife was then pregnant with another child; his funeral was held just days after that child, a daughter named Margaret, was born. His movable goods were appraised at over 137 pounds. Joseph's death in May 1675 came at the start of King Philip's War, which would devastate Swansea within weeks of his passing.
Sources (4)
- Amos B. Carpenter, A Genealogical History of the Rehoboth Branch of the Carpenter Family in America (Amherst, Massachusetts: Press of Carpenter & Morehouse, 1898).
- Eugene Cole Zubrinsky, “The Family of William Carpenter of Rehoboth, Massachusetts,” The American Genealogist 70 (October 1995): 193-204; image copy, American Ancestors, (https://www.americanancestors.org/DB283/i/13130/193/234370203 : accessed 6 August 2026).
- Eugene Cole Zubrinsky, “William Carpenter of Rehoboth, Massachusetts,” Carpenter Cousins, 22 March 2023 (https://www.carpentercousins.com/Wm2_Rehoboth.pdf : accessed 7 August 2026).
- Eugene Cole Zubrinsky, “Joseph Caprenter of Rehoboth and Swansea, Massachusetts,” Carpenter Cousins, 16 February 2018 (https://www.carpentercousins.com/Joseph3_Rehoboth&Swansea.pdf : accessed 7 August 2026).