Thomas Carpenter
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Thomas Pasmere Carpenter (abt. 1607 - abt. 1675)

Thomas [uncertain] Pasmere [uncertain] "The Immigrant, Corn Planter" [uncertain] Carpenter [uncertain]
Born about in Plymouth, Devon, Englandmap [uncertain]
Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of — married [date unknown] [location unknown]
Died about at about age 68 in Running Water Village, Tenasemap [uncertain]
Profile last modified | Created 28 Mar 2016
This page has been accessed 11,165 times.
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Thomas Carpenter is currently protected by the Native Americans Project for reasons described below.
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Research has shown that this person never existed. See the text for details.
There is no historical documentation of this person's existence or relationships.
See Thomas Passmore for the profile of Thomas Passmore of Virginia and Maryland who does have documentation of existence but with no ties to Shawnee or other Native American family members.

Disproven Existence

The existence and relationships of Thomas Pasmere Carpenter are vigorously disputed. This biographical write-up will focus on some (but probably not all) of the related issues.

Please read a well-researched presentation: Susan Reynolds, "The Passmore Chronicles, Blog: Indian Reservations - Where History, Genealogy and Myth Collide, 13 July 2016

This article is much too long to include all of its text here, but it is quite relevant to our subject and you are strongly encouraged to read it fully and carefully. This is not new material... It does present a case counter to what is presented in the following section of this biography (and a host of other readily available inputs not referenced below)... But it likely will not unanimously "seal the deal" for all. Reasonable and rational people can look at the totality of a situation and come to different conclusions.
Bottom line: there is no documentation to support the existence of a Thomas Passmore Carpenter, his relationship to claimed parents, his Shawnee bride named Pride or any children.

Claimed Biographies

The following section of this profile consists of material posted by various individuals. Much of it follows a widely-read story (some say myth, some accuse fraud) several years in the making. Their validity and significance can/will be weighed by the individual reader, and by history:

Origins:

There is no proof that he was son of real, existing couple Robert Carpenter and Susan Jeffrey. They existed, were married to each other and had children, but no child named Thomas. See their profiles for more details.

Title:

Moytoy I (supposedly named by the Cherokee); aka Cornplanter, a corruption of "Carpenter"

Claimed bio:

THOMAS PASMERE CARPENTER, CORN PLANTER, b 1607 in Plymouth, Devonshire, England; d 1675 in Running Water Village, Tennessee; married PRIDE Shawnee in 1630 in Shawnee Nation, Virginia, b 1615 in Shawnee Nation, Va., d 1679 in Running Water Village, Tennessee. He was buried in The Great Mound, Nikwasi, Franklin, North Carolina.[1]

Conflation with a real person, Thomas Passmore, carpenter, a real, historical person:

Virginia Land Grant: 14 August 1624, James City, Virginia
Land Grant made to: Passmore, Thomas, grantee
General Note: "of James City, Carpenter"
Virginia Land Lease: 20 Sep 1628, James City County, Virginia. Title Marshall, Robert : 10 acres within the island of James City adjoining the land of Mary Bayly, THOMAS PASMERE CARPENTER (sic).[2]
Followers of the "Thomas Pasmere Carpenter" theory claim this lease was abandoned when Carpenter went to live with the Indians mid 1628. The lease was then passed to Robert Marshall 20 September 1628.[3] (This is not from the Land Grants.)

This unsourced story was entered by Living Anonymous, Apr 24, 2013; its source is not known:

Twenty year old Thomas Pasmere Carpenter came to Jamestown, Virginia from England in 1627, living in a cave near the Shawnee. Thomas was called "Cornplanter" by the Shawnee, derived from their sign language that matched as near as possible to the work of a carpenter. He married a Shawnee woman named "Pride" and bore a son between 1635-1640 named Trader Carpenter, who as an adult, was named Amatoya Moytoy.
Thomas Pasmere Carpenter .... was descended from the noble Anglo-Norman family of Vicomte Guillaume de Melun le Carpentier. Thus, Moytoy's European lineage can be traced to the Frankish Duke Ansegisel of Metz Meroving, Peppin II, and Charles Martel. This ancestry also makes the Cherokee Moytoys cousins to the Carpenter Earl of Tyrconnell, and thus related to the current British royal family.
The Carpenter family of Devonshire & Plymouth England were small sailing ship owners, many of which were leased out to the East India Trading Company, an affiliation dating to the formation of that company December 31, 1600. Documented ownership of fifteen different ships owned by the Carpenter family, those of which were involved with moving furs between the Gulf Ports & Glasgow, or Dublin, and trade goods for North America. These ships usually made stops both directions at Barbados where the family had banking connections set up. These ships were small and fast, often able to make the crossing from Scotland and Ireland in less than thirty days. They were shallow draft ships, capable of handling shallow water ports with ease. The first documented trip made by Thomas Pasmere Carpenter occurred April 1640, sailing from Maryland to Barbados aboard the Hopewell, and returning on the Crispian in September 1640. He made another trip in March 1659 departing Charleston South Carolina aboard the Barbados Merchant, returning on the Concord in August 1659.

Unsourced Events

1607 birth, Plymouth Devonshire England
child birth, ♂ Moytoy I Chota (of Tainesi (Cherokee)) [Moytoy]
1627 immigration, Jamestown, Virginia
1628 census, Virginia Early Census: 1628, Jamestown, Virginia
1635 other, Shipping Trade Info: Fur
1675 death, Running Water Village, Tennessee
1675 burial, The Great Mound, Nikwasi, Franklin, North Carolina
Thomas Passmere and Pride had a son who was the Supreme chief of the Cherokee nation in 1675. His name was Chief Amatoya Moytoy, l, of Tellico.

Sources

  1. Native American Indian & Mulungeon History - Genealogy (Unsourced family tree)
  2. Land Office Patents No. 1, 1623-1643 (v.1 & 2), p. 92 (Reel 1). Virginia State Land Office. Patents 1-42, reels 1-41. ; Publication 20 September 1628.Subject - Personal Marshall, Robert. grantee. Bayly, Mary CARPENTER, THOMAS PASMERE
  3. Jamestown Records, Virginia Archives, Virginia Land Grants; more details needed

See also:

Moytoy Family (Facebook) - unsourced repetition of the TPC myth.





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Comments: 16

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Thomas Passmore “Pasmere” Carpenter is a real person. If you haven’t searched into him extensively then don’t claim that he’s not real, he is. I called Virginia archives and they have multiple records claiming he’s real. He’s mentioned in Cavaliers & Pioneers and the “muster of 1624/25” after the “Powhatan Uprising” recorded as still living on James Island (Jamestown). I’m still waiting on the book “Adventurers of Purse & Persons” which lists the first settlers of Virginia and their genealogy. From what I can see Thomas Passmore is not mentioned after this and his land grant was taken away from him, possibly because he went to live with the Indians, or he went to live with Indians when his land was given to someone else of the name John Southerner. You should take down the “disproven existence” claim since he obviously has been historically recorded. I will comment back with any new info that I find.
posted by S. Veigel
Thomas Passmore was a real person. His profile here on Wikitree is at Thomas Passmore (aft.1572-aft.1652). The Internet has taken his profession of "Carpenter" and turned it into his name and provided him with a mythical family and history. The real man moved to Maryland, as documented on his profile, and had nothing to do with any Native Americans.
posted by Kathie (Parks) Forbes
Updated and revised 10/16/2017: I have been requested to delete an earlier WikiTree contributor's comment because it was offensive. I am authorized to do so, and initiated the process...whereupon WikiTree gave the following caution: "...you have the power to delete the message but this power should be used very conservatively. Please do not delete unless it is spam, vandalism, or reveals private information." The subject comment did not meet any of the three criteria listed. But, upon the very strong recommendation of a highly respected veteran WikiTree genealogist, the unacceptable tone and content of that comment justify it's deletion. This present comment is being retained to acknowledge that careful and respectful consideration has been given to this issue, and to all involved. The offending comment has been deleted. Garrett-4589
posted by Rhitt Garrett
In 1636 Thomas Pasmere was living in Maryland. See references below. He never lived with Indians. He gave up his land in the Jamestown area for a more substantial, well-documented land grant in Maryland. See Archives of Maryland on line records for land records and index record. Born 1579, immigrant from Virginia. First recorded in Maryland 1634, last recorded there alive 1649, date of last record 1650
posted by Kathie (Parks) Forbes
Reference for Passmore move: Rchardson, Hester Dorsey, Side-lights on Maryland History, pub. in Baltimore, 1913 - this gives book and page references for land grant
posted by Kathie (Parks) Forbes
Thomas Passmore and his wife, Jane, arrived in Jamestown on the ship 'George,' which made several trips from England to Jamestown. It is not clear which voyage they were on, but it is also recorded that they paid for the passage of their servant, John Buckmaster, on the 'Great Hopewell' in 1623. In 1634 Thomas moved to Maryland, which was offering land in exchange for new settlers.
posted by Kathie (Parks) Forbes
From Cavaliers and Pioneers, Abstracts of Virginia Land Grants and Patents, 1623- 1800. Virginia State Library, 1934 p. 3

"THOMAS PASSMORE, carpenter. 12 acr. within the corporation of James City, adj. Mary Holland, August: 14, 1624." [note that capitalization and punctuation are from the original]

posted by Kathie (Parks) Forbes
There is no record of a Thomas Carpenter at Jamestown. There was a Thomas Passmore, who was a carpenter by trade. Passmore is on the muster of 1624/5 (see Virtual Jamestown) and received a land grant. This early genealogy is not substantiated.
posted by Kathie (Parks) Forbes
You are correct, another researcher has posted this: https://www.indianreservations.net/2017/10/more-on-mythical-story-of-thomas.html I thought you might appreciate their research, they believe the stories of him mixing with the Shawnee (who were in Ohio not Virginia) were ridiculous, he is also mentioned as being the husband of a Cherokee woman and of course he is also referred to as being part of the Powhatan family (nonsense of course), they break it down to fiction. I actually do descend from Chief Cornstalk of the Shawnee (DNA proven through GEDmatch groups) and Chief Wahunsenacawh (one of many spellings) of the Powhatan Confederation, it is insulting to read the nonsense of so many because they do not research only copy and do not do any DNA testing. My cousins are tribal members, they used DNA as well as the family tree that shows our lines. Thank you for your input.

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Categories: Native American Adjunct | Disproven Existence