Carpenter Family of New York

About the year 1540, one Cotleb Zimmerman emigrated from Prussia to England, where he married and settled. The name changed into English is Caleb Carpenter. He had a family of children, one of whom was named Ezra, who also married and had issue; among others, Elihu, who married young, and reared a large family. When he was quite advanced in years, the Society of Friends or Quakers arose, with whom he joined, and in consequence he was greatly persecuted and maltreated. He finally fled with his family, children, and grandchildren, taking refuge in Holland, where he remained a considerable time, until the persecution abated, when most of them returned to England.

From the above circumstances, it was supposed that the Carpenter family originated in Holland, and it is believed that some of them remained in Holland, and they, with other English exiles, established Quakerism there.

Ezra Carpenter, of Wales, England, born in the year 1570, had two sons, as follows:

1. Richard, b. May 4, 1593; d. June 11, 1669; m. Rachel -, who was b. Feb'ry 27, 1601. Their children were:

1. Ephraim, b. Nov. 28, 1623; m. Elma -, of Wales, England, who was b. June 17, 1627. Their children were:

1. Ephraim, b. Nov. 3, 1653 in Wales, England, and who came to America in 1678; had a son:

Ephraim Carpenter, who married, Nov. 15, 1675, Phoebe Hope, who was born Feb. 14, 1655. Their children were:

1. Amy, b. Oct. 8, 1676.
2. Josias, b. Feb. 10. 1681.
3. Joseph, b. May 29, 16S4.
4. Julia Ann, b. June 21, 1687.
5. Ashman, b. Aug. 11, 1689.
6. Hope, b. Dec. 12, 1690.

2. Phoebe, b. July 24, 1658; left no issue.

3. Josias, b. Sept. 12, 1661; left no issue.

4. Timothy, b. Dec. 19, 1665; m. Mercy Coles, of Glen Cove, Long Island, N.Y., who was b. Feb. 2, 1668. Their children were:

1. John, b. June 13, 1690.
2. Huldah, b. Dee. 18, 1692.
3. Jeptha, b. Dec. 29, 1693.
4. Benjamin, b. March 25, 1696.
5. Timothy (2), b. Jan. 4, 1698.

[This family of four emigrated to America in April, 1678. Phoebe and Josias returned, and died leaving no issue.]

2. John, b. Sept. 29, 1627; m. Lois Hope.

Both d. leaving no issue.

2. William, b. August 23, 1601; d. a bachelor in London, 1700.

Ephraim and Josias, sons of Ephraim Sr., acquired title to lands.

According to Thompson's History of Long Island, Ephraim and Josias purchased land in the town of Oyster Bay, on Long Island, N. Y., on the 9th of January, 1685, some six years after their arrival in this country. On the 26th of May 1663, the Indians sold a part of Mantinecock to Capt. John Underhill, John Frost and William Frost; another part on the 20th of April, 1669, to Richard Lating; another part, on the 1st December, 1683, to Thomas Townsend, and upon the 9, h of January, 1635, the chiefs, namely, Sucanemen alias Runusuck Chechayen, alias Quaropin Samase (son of Tackapausha), being empowered by the rest of the Indians, conveyed the residue of Mantinecock, together with some other lands, for the price of sixty pounds of current merchantable pay, to James Cook. Joseph Dickenson, Robert Townsend, Stephen Birdsall, James Townsend, Daniel Weeks, Isaac Doughty, John Wood, Edmund Wright, Caleb Wright, John Wright, William Frost and John Newman: and thereupon the said grantees agreed to accept as joint purchasers with them the following named persons, being then the acknowledged inhabitants and freeholders of the town, comprising the most complete list of names at the time which the records present.

Among some forty-eight names appear the names of Josias and Ephraim Carpenter.

It appears that Ephraim and Josias Carpenter purchased lands in Oyster Bay, which joins Hempstead on the north.

Timothy Carpenter, when he arrived in America, was only thirteen years old, and was too young to purchase land or participate in municipal affairs. It appears he engaged in the cooperage business, in which his grandson, William, and his great-grandson, Seaman, also engaged in. Timothy Carpenter, being a Quaker or Friend, was not allowed to Dave any kind of monument erected to. mark his place of burial. No family plots for burial were allowed; they were interred in rows, without regard to relationship, side by side. For this reason it is impossible to find his burial place. The town records of Hempstead, Long Island, were destroyed by fire on the 31st of October, 1797.

Timothy Carpenter, second son of the above Timothy 1st, removed from Hempstead, some fifty miles distant, to North Castle, in the county of Westchester, N. Y., where he purchased a farm, on which he resided until his death, and was interred in the Quaker burialgrounds at Chapaqua. His will was dated July 21, 1763, admitted to probate August 30, 1769, and is recorded in the Surrogate's office in the city of New York.

The above has been furnished by Mr. W. C. Barker. It is believed that it is a branch of the Massachusetts family, as Joseph, the eldest son of William, of Providence, settled on Long Island in 1664.