Carpenter Family History & Genealogy
Carpenter Last Name History & Origin
AddSummary
Carpenter is a surname. Its use as a forename or middle name is rare. Within the United States in the 1990 US Census, it is ranked as the 189th-most common surname.
This information is from the Guild of One Name Studies for Carpenter. It is a One-Name Study that is North American centric, but accepts members globally. The current version of the Carpenter One-Name Study started in June 2018 with the Guild of One-Name Studies. See the following link:
https: //one-name.org/name_profile/carpenter/ - NOTE - copy the link then remove space after "https: "
Please note that there was another Carpenter One Name Study in the 1990s to early 2000s by another person. After her demise, the surname was removed from the GUILD surname listing.
The Carpenter Cousins Project (see below) started in 1996 as the Carpenter CD Project. The CD Project was published as a two compac disc set in 2001 as the Carpenters' Encyclopedia of Carpenters 2001. The last version was published in 2009 as two data DVD set. See:
https: //carpentercousins.com - NOTE - copy the link then remove space after "https: "
Currently there are a series of on line genealogies, based on the above Project. Many of the major branches were also printed from 2001 to 2009. A number of articles (about 300) were started or contributed to on Wikipedia on notable Carpenters from 2001 to 2009.
In 2008, Eugene Zubrinsky, FASG, (Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists - one of fifty master genealogists in the USA) completed a two plus year study on the immediate families of the two William Carpenters immigrants that came to America in 1635 and 1638. These twelve Carpenter Sketches have been updated as needed as new research has been found and confirmed. See:
https: //carpentercousins.com/carplink.htm - NOTE - copy the link then remove space after the "https: "
The Carpenter Cousins.com Coat of Arms (copyrighted 1997), seen on those pages, was designed by Terry Lee Carpenter in his 1997 article on "Carpenters Coat of Arms." His hypothetical Carpenter Arms is used by his permission for the Carpenter Cousins Project and described as:
Shield: Paly of six, white and gules, on a chevron azure three mullets or.
Crest: The American bald eagle proper.
Motto: E Pluribus Unum (Out of Many, One).
History
Common use of the Carpenter surname in the English language is seen circa 1275-1325 in Middle English. Its use prior to this time as a surname has roots in the Anglo-Norman French introduced into England about the time of the Norman conquest of England of 1066. The earliest attested use as a surname in English is from 1121, though its use as a secondary name or description in the ''Domesday Book'' of 1086 might have precedence.
In Old French, the surname was commonly written as "Carpentier" and its earlier form as "Charpentier". Its use as a surname may have derived as a nickname or description of one's occupation circa 900-1000.
Name Origin
The surname Carpenter, Carpentier and Charpentier are all variations that come from the Late Latin ''carpentārĭus'', denoting use as an ''artifex''. This related to Artificer - a wagon or carriage-maker equal to a wainwright. The roots of ''carpentārĭus'' come from the Latin ''carpentum'', meaning a two-wheeled carriage or a form of chariot not used directly for warfare in the community by women and others, plus ''arius'' - used in the masculine form as a noun denoting an agent of use from other nouns. It may be related to the Old Irish ''carpat'' and the Gaulish language ''carbad'' for carriage or cart, and is probably related to the Gaulish ''karros''.
Spellings & Pronunciations
Historically Carpenter name variants include:
* Wright - Woodwright in old England Such as a "wood wright" (wood worker). See also "wainwright", from "wain wright" (a wooden wagon maker).
* Carpentier and Charpentier - From the French Norman Carpentier (le Carpentier, le Charpentier), a worker of wood, derived from the late Latin "carpentarius", a maker of wooden carriages. French Surnames > CARPENTIER ++, Forme norm.-picarde de Charpentier; var. du Sud-Ouest et roussillonnase Carpentier. Avecart. Le Carpentier.
* Carpender - An English phonetic name variant of Carpenter. Also seen as Carpendar.
* Zimmerman(n) - Within North America and especially in the USA, some Carpenters have Germanic Zimmerman(n) genetic ancestry but have been known as Carpenters for many generations. Those Carpenter/Zimmerman(n) hybrids are treated as Carpenters in the One-Name Study and in the Carpenter Cousins Y-DNA Project.
Carpenter, Zimmerman and related surnames found in the USA include, but are not limited to due to simple misspellings, or phonetic spelled variations.
Carpenter in other languages
* Mac an tSaoir - Irish for "son of the carpenter" (aka wood wright or workman of wood), anglicized as MacIntyre or Macintyre, Carpenter (particularly in and around Dublin), and other related names, sometimes incorrectly as Freeman.(5)
* Ács - Carpenter in Hungarian.
* Agaççy - Carpenter in Turkey.
* Carpentiere - Carpenter in Italian, a worker of wood, from the Latin "carpentarius".
* Carpintero & Carpenteiro - Carpenter in Spanish. A worker in wood, from the Latin "carpentarius".
* Chippie - An United Kingdom and Australian slang for a carpenter. Can be used for either the occupation or surname.
* Dailidė - Carpenter in Lithuanian.
* De Carpenter or De Carpentier - Dutch for "the carpenter", a worker of wood, from the French Carpentier.
* Plotnikov - Carpenter in Russian.
* Puusepp - Carpenter in Estonian.
* Cieśla and Cymerman - Carpenter in Polish.
* Simmerman - alternate of Timmerman, both seen in Western Europe.
* Tâmplaru - Carpenter in Romanian.
* Tesař & Teslyar - Carpenter in Czech.
* Timmerman - Carpenter in Dutch, a worker of wood, from the German Zimmerman.
* Tischler and Schreiner, which are also surnames, are German names for woodworking names/professions related to the English language word Carpenter.
* Tømmermann - Carpenter in Norwegian.
* Zimmerman(n) - German for a worker in wood. The double n may or may not have religious implication.
Nationality & Ethnicity
The Carpenter surname does not have one person or one country of origin. While predominately of European ancestry, we often see that surname and variants all around the world.
The Carpenter Cousins Y-DNA Project has documented over 125 unique genetic profiles or fingerprints for those surnamed Carpenter, Zimmerman and related surnames. It also has about 42 organized groups based on genetics and genealogy.
Why Zimmerman?
This was to account for immigrants to North America, who have anglicized their surnames, that project also includes the surnames Cymerman, Sherbondy, Simmerman, Timmerman, Timmermann, Zimmer, Zimmerman, Zimmermann. For example, Zimmerman(n) is old German for worker of wood, and in North American, on occasion, the surname was changed to Carpenter. The name Carpenter is English, but was originally French and spelled Carpentier.
Famous People named Carpenter
Please see the Wikipedia link of notable people with the surname Carpenter.
Copy the following link and remove the space after "https: "
https: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_with_surname_Carpenter
Early Carpenters
These are the earliest records we have of the Carpenter family.












Carpenter Family Members
Carpenter Family Photos
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Based on limited research and thanks to the assistance of genealogists I was able to gather the following information regarding Martha and her family:
Martha Matilda CARPENTER was b. 25 Feb 1833 in North Abington Township, Lackawanna Co., PA the daughter of Leonard CARPENTER and Waite “Waty” SMITH. Martha was one of 9 children born to this couple including Martha Matilda; Orville or Orvilla E.; Nichols or Nicholas; Nelson; Sarah Jane; George W.; Myron Jay Kasson; Almyra “Myra”; and John Smith CARPENTER, all born between 1833 and 1858.
Martha married Jeremiah GARDNER of Factoryville, PA (son of Champlin GARDNER and Eunice BILLINGS) and they had three children including Milo Monroe; Watie or Waitey or Waite Atie; and Nelson R. GARDNER, all born between 1859 and 1861 the first two in Springville, PA and the third in Clinton, PA. Martha was known by her middle name “Matilda” throughout her life.
Matilda and Jeremiah farmed in Gibson, PA until Jeremiah volunteered for the Civil War and died just weeks later of meningitis at Camp Cadwalader in Philadelphia, PA and he was buried in the Philadelphia National Cemetery. Matilda died on 30 Aug 1872 in North Abington Township, Lackawanna Co., PA, and she is buried in the Franklin Cemetery in North Abington.
Matilda’s orphaned children were sent to the Orphans of Veterans Home at Harford, PA. Her son Milo married Harriette CURTIS and they had three children including Dr. Burdett Curtis GARDNER and two others. Her daughter Watie married Hiram Sutton WORDEN or WARDEN and Watie died in 1955. Then son Nelson R. GARDNER married Rena C. MULLER and he died in 1917.
I’d love to get this wonderful old portrait to a family member and would appreciate you contacting me if you are a member of this family or know someone who might be.
Thanks,
Shelley


Carpenter Family Tree
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Carpenter Death Records & Life Expectancy
The average age of a Carpenter family member is 72.0 years old according to our database of 47,111 people with the last name Carpenter that have a birth and death date listed.
Life Expectancy
Oldest Carpenters
These are the longest-lived members of the Carpenter family on AncientFaces.











Other Carpenter Records
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Followers & Sources

https: //one-name.org/name_profile/carpenter/