12: Jesse M. and Caroline Carpenter

Grave of Caroline Carpenter

There are nine Carpenters buried in the cemetery, including Caroline Carpenter and her son, Charles. Strangely enough, Caroline's husband Jesse is not buried there.

Jesse and Caroline first appear together in the 1850 census, along with their one-year-old daughter Sarah and a thirteen-year-old boy named Charles H. Williams. Jesse was a farmer. Strangely, Caroline is listed as only 23 years old, when the dates given on her tombstone (age 70 in 1890) would have made her 30. This is a significant discrepancy. We'll have to see what the other the censuses suggest.

1850 US Federal Census

Here is the 1860 census. Caroline is now 33, which is consistent with her age from the 1850 census. Jesse, on the other hand, has either aged backward by 20 years or has fallen victim to the census taker's bad handwriting and/or hearing. He is certainly not 23 - not with a thirteen-year-old daughter.

1860 US Federal Census

In 1869, Jesse Carpenter held a surprise party for his two daughters, which was described in the Yonkers Statesman: 

Yonkers Statesman February 11, 1869

Of course there were Sarleses present.

It's 1870, and the Carpenters' ages have changed yet again. Now Caroline's age corresponds with the information given on her tombstone.

1870 US Federal Census

I tend toward the theory that Caroline was actually born in 1820 and that her age was incorrectly recorded (for whatever reason) on the census. First of all, ages given on tombstones are typically more accurate than ages given in the census. And secondly, if Caroline were actually 33 in the 1860 census, that would mean that her youngest child was born when she was 25. Even allowing for children's deaths, it seems much more likely that Caroline had her last child at age 32. 

Furthermore, the number of children Caroline had (3) is more in keeping with a woman who began reproducing in her late 20s or early 30s, rather than in her early 20s. If Caroline had actually had her first child at age 22, I would expect to see more Carpenter children - either in the census or in the cemetery, or both. After all, women in this time period typically had a child every two years, a pattern that is reflected in the other families I've researched. And Jesse and Caroline's children do seem to have been two years apart.

 Jesse and Caroline's youngest child and only son Charles died in 1871 at the age of 19.

Grave of Charles Carpenter

In 1880, Jesse and Caroline had only one child under their roof. They also had one laborer, Lewis Reynolds, age 20.

1880 US Federal Census

Caroline Carpenter died on August 16, 1890. This was her obituary in the local paper:

The Recorder August 22, 1890

Jesse M. Carpenter died in 1899. This was his obituary:

Mr. Jesse M. Carpenter, a farmer, living on the South Bedford road, died on Sunday morning, Feb. 5th, 1899, at about 4 o'clock, at the advanced age of 80 years. His age and paralysis were the causes of death.

He is survived by two daughters, Mrs. Sarah Jane Young, of New York City, and Miss Francenia Carpenter, who lived at home with him, and kept his house. He also leaves one sister, Mrs. La Boyteaux, of New York.

1. Jesse M. Carpenter (1819-1899) m. Caroline (1820-1890)
1. Sarah J. Carpenter (1849-) m. J. B. Young
2. Francenia Carpenter (1851-)
3. Charles Carpenter (1852-1871)