The Baptismal Register of the German Lutheran Church (then in Culpeper) has some slave baptisms. There is one that took place on 6 Nov 1777. The general format of a slave baptism record mentions the mother, to whom she belongs, the baby's name, dates, and sponsors. In this particular one, the mother is described as, "Belonging to 'Old John Carpenter's Estate' but she has died since the birth of the baby on 01 Nov 1777." The child is Eva and the sponsors are Mary Carpenter, William's wife, and Mary Carpenter, Michael's wife.
Who is old John Carpenter? I would normally think of him as the immigrant, the youth who came with William (that we just mentioned in the previous note). But that particular John Carpenter is said to have died in 1782 in the histories.
What is the meaning of the phrase, "Old John Carpenter's Estate"? We normally think of an estate as being created when a man dies. Technically, an estate exists when a man is still living; however, it seems unusual to use the word before a man dies.
The word "old" was necessary, in the same way that "Senior" is used, to distinguish a man from a younger man. In this case, the history says that there were three generations of "Johns". I have interpreted "old" as pertaining to the most senior one, who was getting old by the standards of the day (though he might very well be my age).
The Baptismal Report should have been written in the book by Rev. Franck. He had been there for two years when it was written. Since the Carpenters were among the most frequent attenders of church, he surely knew the family structure by then.
Usually, the slave baptisms have the owner, or the owner's wife, as one of the sponsors. This one does not, as the sponsors were the wives of William and Michael, sons of "old John Carpenter".
In short, the record does not make sense. Perhaps it is because there was an error made or because I do not understand the situation; however, in view of the problem in the will of William Carpenter in the last note, I do not trust the Carpenter history fully.
(30 Jul 03)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.