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Priscilla the wife of Alexander Carpenter
Contributed By
A
Audrey07
Biography
The given name of Priscilla for the wife of Alexander Carpenter of Wrington, Somerset, England has been deduced from a burial record in Wrington for a Priscilla Carpenter around the time that a letter between two of the Carpenter sisters spoke of their mother's death.
For many years the wife of Alexander Carpenter was thought to be a woman named Priscilla Dillen, due to some entries in the International Genealogical Index which have since been found not to exist in the parish registers. Unfortunately those fictitious entries became sources for several well respected genealogical papers.
Priscilla Dillen's profile has been disconnected as the wife of Alexander Carpenter and mother of his children. Her profile has been preserved and the errors leading to her creation are discussed on that profile. Her profile has been labelled as Uncertain Existence.
Estimated birth year
Nathaniel, the oldest son of Alexander Carpenter was born in July 1582. Allowing for Priscilla to have been at least sixteen years of age at the time of the birth of this son, her birth year was 1566 or before.
The death record for Priscilla Carpenter at Wrington in December 1653 gave her age as 101 years. A birth year of 1552 would have been unlikely, as this meant she was giving birth mainly during her late thirties and forties, and had her last known pregnancy in 1598 at the age of 46.
A birth year of around 1560 would make Priscilla about 22 when she had her first child, 38 when she had her last child and 93 years old when she died which was still a respectable age.
Birth location
Wrington, the place where the Carpenter family lived from 1580 onwards, is in Somerset, England.
It is about 10 miles due east from Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset on the coast, about 11 miles south-west of Bristol and 20 miles due west of Bath, Somerset, where the Carpenter family were known to be living in the early 1580s .
Priscilla's birth location has been given as Somerset.
Marriage
No marriage has been found for Alexander Carpenter and Priscilla, but it is very probable that they were married before the birth of their first son Nathaniel who was baptised in Bath, Somerset in July 1582.
Children
The following children were baptised as children of Alexander Carpenter. A mother's name is not given. It is possible that Alexander may have had children by more than one wife, as there is a six year gap between the first two children (in Bath) and the last five children (in Wrington).
There is no baptism record for Alice Carpenter in either the Bath or the Wrington parish register. It is likely she was born between 1584 and 1589 in a different parish to her siblings.
Alexander's first two recorded children were baptised at St James, Bath, Somerset, whose registers are extant from 1569.
1.) Nathaniell Carpenter Sonn of Alexander Carpenter Christened the xxv th [July Ano 1582]
2.) Julian Carpenter the Daughter of Alexander Carpenter was Christned the vij th [March ano 1583] (7 March 1583/4)
The following children were entered in the baptism register at Wrington, Somerset. There are two surviving versions of the register from this period, the original paper register and a copy register made in 1599. The version from the original is given first with the copy register entry following in brackets:
3.) Joa. Carpenter the daughter of Elisander Carpenter baptised ye same day [2 August 1590] (Jone the D of Ellesander Carpenter [August 2 1590] ) A Joan Carpenter was buried at Wrington on 13 February 1609/10. As there was no other Carpenter family in Wrington at this time, this death is probably of this Joan aged about 20 and unmarried.
4.) An. Karpender the daughter of Alexander Karpender baptised the first day of October [1592] (Ann the D of Elxannder carpenter [October 1 1592] )
5.) Annis Carpenter the daughter of Elisander Carpenter baptised also the same day [16 day of December 1593] (Anns the D of Ellexander Carpenter 16 Decemb 1593.)
6.) Marye Carpinder ye daughter of Elisander Carpinder baptised ye 6 Feb [1596] (Mary the D of Ellexander Carpenter, Febru. 6 1596)
7.) Priscilla Carpender the daughter of Elisander Carpender baptised the 3 daye of September [1598] (Precylla the D. of Ellesander Carpenter, Septend. 3 1598)
Later life
The family relocated to Leiden in the Netherlands sometime between 1610, when Priscilla and Alexander's daughter Joan died in Wrington and 1612 when their daughter Julian married there. It is likely that Alexander may have been travelling between the two countries regularly 1612, as he is recorded as acting as a witness at a wedding in Amsterdam in 1600.
Priscilla may have been the witness "Dille Carpenter" at the marriage of Isaac Allerton in Leiden in 1611.
It is not known when Priscilla was widowed, but there are no records for Alexander after 1613, and at some time before 1653, Priscilla and her unmarried daughter Mary returned to live in Wrington.
Death
Two documents combine to give a probable date of death and a name for Priscilla.
A transcription of a letter from William Bradford (husband of Alice Carpenter) in Plymouth, Massachusetts to his "loving sister" Mary Carpenter in Wrington, Somerset was printed in the New England Genealogical Register in 1860. The commentary accompanying this letter states that the originally transcribed date of 19 August 1664 must be wrong and was probably 1644 or 1646 to fit with other events (the death of William Bradford in 1657).
The letter starts:
Loving Sister
We understand by your letter, that God hath taken to himselfe our aged mother out of the troubles of this tumultuous world, and that you are in a solitary condition...
From this we can deduce that Mary was unmarried and had been living with or near to her mother.
The substance of the letter is an invitation to Mary to join William and Alice Carpenter in Plymouth Colony. Much of the letter is concerned with how to get a reply back to the Plymouth Colony and how to book a passage to the Colony, but there is a telling sentence in the middle of the letter:
and sundrie of our ministers (hearing of the peace and liberty
now in England and Ireland) begine to leave us and it is feared many
more will follow.
The Civil War in England lasted from 1642-1650. The West of England was heavily involved in the fighting, so it was very unlikely that William would have described England being a peaceful place at that time. However 1650-1660 was decade of the Puritan Commonwealth. Cromwell had also subjugated Ireland in the Third Civil War 1650-51. This was more likely to be the "peace and liberty" that William described, bemoaning the ministers in the American Colonies returning to England which was now very Puritan friendly. It is more likely that the date of the letter was 1654 rather than 1644.
There is a burial of a Prescilla Carpenter in Wrington on 22 December 1653:
Prescilla Carpenter Dyed the 21 th of December and was buried the 22 th of December: of one hundred and one years old
There had been no other Carpenter BMDs in Wrington since Joan Carpenter's death in 1610. And there would be no further Carpenter entries until the early 1700s.
Research Notes
These are the children of Alexander Carpenter and his wife listed by Myrtle S Hyde in The Mayflower Descendant 1989. The parish register of St James, Bath, Somerset reviewed by Gerald K. Deacon of Bath in 1971 (1559-1699 for baptisms marriages and burials)
The parish register of Wrington reviewed by H.C.Smith of Wrington in 1971
Only entries naming Alexander Carpenter have been added to this profile
1.) 1582 July 25 Nathanill Carpenter, son of Alexander (baptism St James, Bath)
2.) 1584 March 7 Julian Carpenter, daughter of Alexander (baptism St James, Bath) (note that this is 7 March 1584/5)
3.) 1590 August 2 Jane (or Jone) the daughter of Alexander Carpenter (baptism Wrington)
4.) 1592 October 1 Ann the daughter of Alexander Carpenter (baptism Wrington)
5.) 1593 December 16 Anne the daughter of Alexander Carpenter (baptism Wrington)
6.) 1596 February 6 Mary the daughter of Alexander Carpenter (baptism Wrington) (note that in the journal article this was corrected to NS dates and given as the year 1597. This was 6 February 1596/7)
7.) 1598 September 3 Presilla the daughter of Alexander Carpenter (baptism Wrington)
Tagged People
Priscilla
Female
1562-1653
• LR9L-YF7
Contributed By
A
Audrey07
2 August 2021
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Bef 1593 - 1615 (> 21 years)
