TWO SARAH STRATTONS MARRY CARPENTERS

I am a member of a Carpenter list which i occasionally check out. I long since learned that I am the only Samuel Carpenter heir on this list--the rest are Rehobath Carpenters. The list is also more of a family discussion list amongst a bunch f closely related people who appear to live at far-flung places, so family news and pictures occupy most of the site. I stay a member as genealogical discussions occasionally pop up. Last week I got very excited when someone posted a picture of a gravestone of a person identified as the daughter of Jedidiah and Sarah (Stratten) Carpenter. I posted a note asking for more information on this Sarah Stratten (Stratton). The reply came back that she is the daughter of Dr. James Stratten and Anna Harris of Swedesboro, West Jersey. Thinking I could have lost my mind, although I know this family line very well, I reviewed all my proofs. I did not rely upon the Carpenter book from which I got the original information that Sarah Stratton the daughter of Dr. James Stratton and Anna Harris married Edward Carpenter. I went back to my own independent research. I had done this work early in my serious genealogical studies, so was afraid perhaps I had not proven it was as I should have. I should not have worried--as I looked it all came back to me. My sister Betty and I had spent one Good Friday in the cemetery of Old Swedes (Trinity) Church in Swedesboro. Our specific quest was to verify this line. We hit pay dirt when we found the tombstone of Edward Carpenter II. It read "Edward Carpenter Son of Edward Carpenter and Sarah Stratton his wife, born May 17, 1813–died March 4, 1889" I recalled that we had been joyous when we found this tombstone as it definitely identified Sarah Stratton as the wife of Edward Carpenter. A few years later we made another trip to South Jersey (as it is now called) and researched in the Gloucester County library. While there we purchased the records of the Old Swedes Church. This contained more information on the two families as both the Carpenters and the Strattons had been very active members in this time period. I gave a sigh of relief that there was not an error in my research. Upon more questioning of the poster of the picture, I learned that his Sarah Stratton had a different birthdate and was born in Massachusetts. Although my Strattons originally went to Philadelphia--West Jersey from Southampton, Long Island, my direct ancestors had left there several generations earlier. Additionally, Jedidiah is not a name I ever discovered in my Carpenter line. Now that I am confidant that I do not have an error in this particular instance, I want to pursue the background of the Sarah Stratton who married Jedidiah Carpenter. Sarah Stratton was a common name--I have six on my database alone. The Sarah who married Jedidiah definitely was not the daughter of Dr. James Stratton and Anna Harris. But who were her parents? Undoubtedly she is collaterally related from the early Stratton beginnings in this country, but not from "my" group. Just in case I didn't have enough puzzles to solve, now I must solve the mystery of the heritage of this new Sarah Stratton! I think I could use a little less intellectual curiosity! PS--it should be pointed out that Louis Henry Carpenter, the author of the highly-regarded 1912 Carpenter book, was the grandson of "my" Sarah Carpenter. And as a final aside, my DAR membership is through Sarah's father-in-law, Thomas Carpenter.