In brief

Baptized May 27, 1604, at St. Michael and All Angels Church in Shalbourne Parish, Wiltshire/Berkshire, England. May 2, 1638: Abigail and her husband William along with 4 of their children and William’s father were at sea having left from Southampton, England aboard the ship Bevis. She married April 28, 1625, at St. Michael and All Angels Church, Shalbourne Parish, Wiltshire/Berkshire, England. She died February 22, 1686[1687] near Rehoboth, Massachusetts.

Family

Father
John Briant
no.
Mother
Alice ____
no.
Spouse
m. 1625

Children

With William Carpenter

  • John Carpenter
    b. Abt. October 1626 near Shalbourne Parish, Wiltshire/Berkshire, England
    m. Hannah ____
    d. May 23, 1695, in Jamaica, Long Island, New York
  • Abigail Carpenter
    b. Abt. May 1629 near Shalbourne Parish, Wiltshire/Berkshire, England. 2, 3/April 9, 1643, in Weymouth, Massachusetts
    m. John Titus in 1649/1659
    m. Jonah Palmer, November 9, 1692, in Rehoboth, Massachusetts
  • William Carpenter
    b. Abt. December 1631 near Shalbourne Parish, Wiltshire/Berkshire, England
    m. Priscilla Bennett, October 5, 1651, in Rehoboth, Massachusetts
    m. Miriam Searles/Sale, February 10, 1663[1664], in Rehoboth, Massachusetts
    d. January 26, 1703, in Rehoboth, Massachusetts
  • Joseph Carpenter · in this line
    b. Abt. 1634 in England
    m. Margaret Sutton, November 25, 1655, in Rehoboth, Massachusetts
    d. May 1675, in Swansea, Plymouth Colony (Massachusetts, USA)
  • Hannah Carpenter
    b. April 3, 1640, in Weymouth, Massachusetts
    m. Joseph Carpenter
  • Abiah Carpenter
    b. April 9, 1643, in Weymouth, Massachusetts
    m. Mary Redway sister of Sarah Redway (1554)
    d. Pawtuxet, Rhode Island

With William Carpenter

  • Samuel Carpenter · in this line
    b. Abt. 1638 around Weymouth, Plymouth Colony (Massachusetts, USA)
    m. Sarah Redway, May 25, 1660, in Rehoboth, Massachusetts
    d. Abt. February 20, 1682[1683] · Rehoboth, Massachusetts

Life story

Crossing on the Bevis

Abigail Briant was baptized May 27, 1604, at St. Michael and All Angels Church, Shalbourne, England, and married William Carpenter there in April 1625. In May 1638 she sailed with William, four of their children, and William's father for New England aboard the ship Bevis, settling in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, where she was buried on February 22, 1687.

Sources (3)
  1. Amos B. Carpenter, A Genealogical History of the Rehoboth Branch of the Carpenter Family in America (Amherst, Massachusetts: Press of Carpenter & Morehouse, 1898).
  2. 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).
  3. Eugene Cole Zubrinsky, “William Carpenter of Rehoboth, Massachusetts,” Carpenter Cousins, 22 March 2023 (https://www.carpentercousins.com/Wm2_Rehoboth.pdf : accessed 7 August 2026).