John Carpenter1, 2 was born Abt. 1737 in Hampshire, England, and died Abt. 1806 in Coshocton County, Ohio.
Notes for John Carpenter: From DAR Vol. 1 John Carpenter served in the Revolutionary War from Virginia as Quartermaster Sgt. of State Garrison Rgt., under George Washington. He served for three years,discharged in 1781. He is buried near Parrie Chapel Church in Coshocton County, Ohio. ***************************************************************************
From Beverly Jean Aytes-Bowhall, Deer Lodge, TN: In a letter dated 2/3/1989 written by Elaine Bonner, sent to Beverly Bowhall, Mrs Bonner stated that "John Carpenter and his two brothers came to America about 1750 from Hampshire, England is thought that John's brothers went east to Baltimore. John enlisted in 1755 at age 19 years, 5'2" tall in [Military] 1755" Elaine also states that an ancestor received TITLE in Ireland in 1647.
From: "STORIES OF GUERNSEY COUNTY OHIO History of an Average Ohio County" By William G. Wolfe published by the Author Cambridge, Ohio 1943 pages 873-875
"At the western Edge of the unincorporated village of Londonderry, crossed by the William Penn highway, is the quarter section of land entered by Edward Carpenter and family, the first settlers of what is now Londonderry township. The history of the Carpenter family is an eventful one, and is closely connected with the early history of Eastern Ohio. JOHN CARPENTER, who was the first of this Carpenter family in America, was born in England. He came to Virginia between 1750 and 1760 and settled on a plantation near the home of George Washington. He fought with Washington in both the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. Near the close of the latter Washington sent him west of the Alleghenies to assist the settlers in fighting the Indians who had become allies of the British. Here he became an associate of Lewis Wetzel, the Zanes and other famous frontiersmen. His adventures would fill a volumes. He was a short-legged, heavy-set man. Washington once said of him that as he could not run fast, the British or Indians would eventually get him. But, Carpenter was not the kind of man who would run from an enemy; he would rather stand and fight. Of Nancy, his wife, two stories have been told. It was said that a French settlement was raided by Indians and every inhabitant massacred except one baby girl who was overlooked. She was discovered a short time afterwards by some English soldiers who came upon the scene, and taken to Virginia where she was reared. Who her parents were was never learned. She was named Nancy, the only name she bore until she reached young womanhood and married John Carpenter, about the year 1770. According to another story John Carpenter was a member of a party on an expedition against the Indians in Western Virginia. They came to a burning cabin which Indians had just left. Rushing into the cabin, Carpenter found a young woman lying on a bed, her face covered in blood from a tomahawk wound. Her husband had been killed. Carpenter bore her from the cabin. She recovered and became the wife of her deliverer. John Carpenter was amongst the first, if not the very first white man to settle west of the Ohio River. His cabin was located at the mouth of Short creek, below the present site of Steubenville. It was afterwards strengthen and known as Carpenter's fort. Carpenter started to Fort Pitt one day with two pack horses to obtain a supply of salt for the fort at the mouth of Short creek. He was captured by Indians and taken to their town which was Sandusky. He afterwards recalled that they passed through the present day Londonderry township and turned north to the Moravian Indian town of Gnadenhutten. Here they traded Carpenter's clothing for Indian garb. The Moravians were peaceful Christian Indians. Carpenter's disappearance gave rise to the belief in the settlement that he had been killed by Indians. When some soldiers visited the Moravian town later and discovered his clothing there they felt certain that this had been his fate, and that the Moravian Indians were the guilty ones. Indians from west of the Ohio river had been raiding settlements in western Pennsylvania, and had killed all the members of the William Wallace family. At Gnadenhutten the solders found the clothing belonging to his family. A short time after this, the Moravian massacre occurred, when ninety men, women and children were murdered by soldiers under Col. David Williamson. A court of inquiry was called at Fort Pitt to determine why this, the most cruel tragedy in early history of Ohio had been enacted. the actors attempted to exculpate themselves from blame by exhibiting the clothing found in the village. This evidence of the Moravians' guilt, they claimed prompted them to make the attack. John Carpenter was summoned as a witness for the accused. He identified the clothing as his own, but explained how the Moravians came to possess it. Two weeks after Carpenter's capture the party of Indians reached Sandusky with him. Knowing his reputation as a fighter, they wished to adopt him as a member of their tribe, as did Indians try to adopt Boone and Kenton when they captured them. Believing it wise to appear pleased with their plan, Carpenter so conducted himself as to gain their confidence. He was allowed the freedom of the town and occasionally sent outside for the horses. On such an errand one day he found that they had strayed farther away than usual, and he decided this to be an opportune time to attempt escape. He mounted one of the horses and rode towards home, reaching Fort Pitt after several days almost starved and exhausted. In 1797 the Carpenters moved from the fort to Stillwater creek near the present site of Smyrna. From here John Carpenter moved to what is now Coshocton county, leaving the farm in charge of his son Edward." ***************************************************************************
Richardson on pg 245, "Time and Place" states: "John Carpenter apparently died in 1806, and George Carpenter was appointed administrator of the estate. The immediate heirs of John carpenter were: Edward and Catherine De Long Carpenter, George and Susannah Tilton Carpenter, Jacob and Elizabeth Carpenter Highshoe, Charles and Susannah Carpenter Williams, William and Ann (Nancy) Carpenter Morrison, Ira and Sarah (Sally) Carpenter Kimberly, Issac and Mary (Polly) Carpenter Hoaglund, William and Sarah Critchfield Carpenter, and Thomas and Delilah Critchfield Carpenter. On November 20, 1810 these heirs sold 128 acres of land in Section no. 7 to John Humphrey for $1,280. At the time of this sale, George and Susannah Carpenter were the only heirs of John Carpenter residing in Jefferson county."
John and Nancy Sell John Beaver's Land This Indenture Made the Eleventh Day of March in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy-seven, Between John Carpenter and Ann his wife of this County of Ohio in the State of Virginia of the One Part, and Thomas Holobach of the County of Hampshire in the same State of the Other Part. Wit forth that said John Carpenter and Ann his wife for and in Consideration of the sum of Five Shillings current monies of Virginia, To them in Hand paid by the said Thomas Holobach at or before the Sealing and delivery of these Presents of the Witnesseth where and is hereby acknowledging hath Granted. Bargained and sold, and by these ????? Doth Grant. Bargain and sell unto the said Thomas Holobach, a certain Tract of Land in the said County of Hampshire Known by the Lot No. 9 on Patterson Creek. Bounded as followeth to wit Beginning at Two Chestnut Oaks on a Piney Point Corner to the Lots No. 7 & 8 and ????? along the Line of Number Eight, East Two Hundred and Ten Poles to Two White Oaks at the foot of the Hill, Thence North One Hundred and Sixty Poles to a Pine, Thence North Seventy Degrees West or along the creek, Two Hundred and Fifty Poles a Black Walnut on a Point Thence South Five Degrees East Two Hundred and Fifty three Poles to the Beginning, containing Two Hundred and Eighty Acres which was granted to a Certain John Beaver (now deceased) for Deeds from the Proprietor of the Northern Neck of Virginia having Date the 5th day of June 1749 and the said John Beaver afterward died in testate, by where of and by means of the Laws of the Same descended to the said Ann & Susannah wife of Edward Scott, which said Edward Scott & Susannah his wife afterwards conveyed them Mostly or Part there to the said John Carpenter by deeds of Lease & Release as by the Same Deeds may move at large ???? . And all Houses, Buildings, Orchards, Ways, Waters, Watercourses, Profit Commodes, ??????????? and appurtenances whatever to the said Premises hereby granted or any Part herein belonging or in any Wise Appertaining and the Revision and Revisions, Remainder and Remainders ??????? ????? and Profits there of To have and hold the Lands hereby conveyed and all and singular other the Premises hereby granted ??????? . The appurtenances unto the said Thomas Holobach he is Granted and Released and by every Part and Parcel hereto with them and every of them appurtenances unto the said Thomas Holobach for heirs??? and ????? forever to the only ????? was and behalf of him Lord Thomas Holobach and of his heirs and assigned forever. And the said John Carpenter and Ann his wife for themselves true Heirs, Executors and Administrators doth Covenant , Promise and Grant to and with the said Thomas Holobach his Heirs and assigns by these Presents that the said John Carpenter and Ann his wife now at the time of the sealing and delivering of these Presents are sworn of a good sure profit and Indefeasible Estates of Inheritance in Free Simple of and in this premises hereby Granted and Released and that they have good power and Lawful and absolute authority to grant and convey the same to said Thomas Holobach in manner and form aforesaid and that the said Premises now are and so forever hereafter shall remain and be free and clear of and from all former and other gifts, Grants, Bargains, Sales, Dower Rights and Title of Dower Inducements, Exclusions, Titles, Troubles and Encumbrances what so ever made done committed afforded by the said John Carpenter and Ann his wife or whiten of them or any then person or persons whatsoever the Quitrents then give due and payable for and in respect of the Promises only sealed and ???????? . And Lastly that the said John Carpenter and Ann his wife and true Heirs and all and every other Person and Persons whatever shall warrant and forever Defend by these Presents Wit????? Where the said John Carpenter and Ann his wife have hereunto set their hands and seals the Day and ????? above written sealed and delivered in the presents of Silas Hedges & William Scott
John Carpenter (Mark)
Ann A. Carpenter (Mark)
Common Wealth of Virginia To David Shepherd, Silas Hedges & William Scott of the County of Ohio, Gentleman Greetings Whereas John Carpenter and Ann his wife of the said County by Ohio Deeds of Lease and Release bearing Date the Eleventh and fifth days of March last past for the Consideration therein mentioned. ***************************************************************************
This speech was given on Sept. 17, 1967 when the Massillion County Chapter of the DAR dedicated his REV. War grave marker.
As we stand here today, let us picture this place 186 years ago today. It would have been a wilderness, we know, into which few of us timid souls would have had the tenacity to enter, much lass the stamina to stay. Let us picture the man we are here to honor. According to tradition, he was a short-legged, stocky man, who they said, could not run very fast, that the Indians would surely capture him. But he was not the kind of man who ran; he was the kind who stayed to fight. He was an Ohio Pioneer, and those two words are enough to distinguish any man. But there were many more: John Carpenter began his fight for liberty and for the establishment of our Republic soon after he came to Virginia from England in 1750. He was a neighbor of George Washington and he served under him, both in the French and Indian War and in the American Revolution. In the later years of the Revolution he was sent west of the Alleghenies to assist the settlers fighting the Indians and the British. This, no doubt, gave him a liking for the Ohio Country. So in 1781, he brought his family and settled at the mouth of Short Creek, which flows into the Ohio River near the present site of Warrenton, in Jefferson County. There he built a cabin and established a fort, the site is still known as Carpenter's Fort. Later John and his family moved to Stillwater Creek, the present site of Smyrna in Guernsey County. From there they moved to Coshocton and there he died in 1800. John Carpenter and his wife, Nancy, has seventeen children, nine of whom lived to adulthood. There has been much written in County Histories about these children, and many traditions, concerning their adventures and accomplishments, have been handed down from generation to generation. Some of you standing here today are members of those succeeding generations. You should be very proud. We of the Massillon Chapter, Daughters of the Americium Revolution are proud too to have a part in this Dedication Ceremony. It is one of the main purposes of our Society to Perpetuate the memory and the spirit of men and women who achieved American Independence. We are especially proud today because one of our Chapter members, Jayne Carpenter Fair, has, like her ancestor, pioneered into the wilderness of fact and fables, handed down for nearly two centuries, to make this dedication come to pass. Today is the culmination of years of research, through court, church and Bible records, of miles of tramping over remote hillsides to uncover forgotten tombstones, of careful planning and untiring enthusiasm for the cause. In all this, she has been encouraged and actively by her husband, S. B. Fair, who is also a lineal descendant of John Carpenter. Also a member of this Chapter is Jayne's sister, Margery Carpenter Winoe, who read the appropriate poem a few minutes ago. Another interested and helpful descendant here today is Mrs. Alice B. Hyde. And there are two others present, who have more Carpenter blood in their veins than anyone else present. They are the Fair's daughters, Cynthia Fair Murphy and Debra Fair, who will unveil the monument in memory of their great-great-great-great grandfather, John Carpenter, REVOLUTIONARY PATRIOT and OHIO PIONEER." ***************************************************************************
More About John Carpenter: Burial: Unknown, Prarie Chapel Cemetery, Coshocton Co., Ohio. Military service: Bet. 1755 - 1781, Revolutionary War.
John Carpenter (b. Abt. 1737, d. Abt. 1806)
Notes for John Carpenter: