Francis Wood Carpenter (June 24, 1831 – December 1, 1922) was a prominent businessman and steel merchant in

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

Early life and education

He was born in

Seekonk, Massachusetts Seekonk is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, on the Massachusetts border with Rhode Island. It was incorporated in 1812 from the western half of Rehoboth. The population was 15,531 at the 2020 census. Until 1862, the town o ...

to Edmund Carpenter, a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

, and Lemira Tiffany Carpenter. He was a direct descendant of William Carpenter, who came to

in 1638. He attended Seekonk Academy and prepared for college, but instead became an apprentice under Gilbert Congdon.

Career

From 1892 until his death, he was the president of Congdon & Carpenter Company, an iron and steel company which was founded in 1792, and operated in Providence into the 1980s. He was also the president of the Rhode Island Perkins Horse Shoe Company, the Quidnick Manufacturing Company, the Boston District Messenger Company, the Postal District Messenger Company of Providence, and the

American National Bank First American National Bank was a subsidiary of First American Corporation, a financial institution based in Nashville, Tennessee, that served the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia and Virginia. It was headquartered in the First American ...

. He was a director of the Peoples Savings Bank in Providence, the Corliss Safe and Vault Door Company, the Providence Washington Insurance Company, and the Union Mutual Insurance Company. He was a President of the Providence Commercial Club and of the Providence

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

. Carpenter was very influential as chairman of the committee on the construction of a new building for the Central Congregational Church in 1893. He hired the same architects,

Carrère and Hastings Carrère and Hastings, the firm of John Merven Carrère ( ; November 9, 1858 – March 1, 1911) and Thomas Hastings (architect), Thomas Hastings (March 11, 1860 – October 22, 1929), was one of the outstanding American Beaux-Arts architecture, Be ...

of New York to design his own house next to the church, which is now Hamilton House. In 1927, Carpenter was referred to as "the most generous donor Central Church has ever known." Among other items, he donated the West Window and the chancel dome decoration at the church. He contributed generously to numerous charities in Providence and abroad. He was a member of the Squantum Association, the Hope Club and the Oquossoc Angling Association in Indian Rock, Maine.

Family life

He married Anna Davis Barney in 1853, and had six children before her death in 1864. He married Harriet Zerviah Pope in 1867 and had four children. He died at his home at 276 Angell Street. He is buried with his parents and both of his wives in the Newman Cemetery in East Providence, Rhode Island.

References

1831 births 1922 deaths American steel industry businesspeople Businesspeople from Massachusetts Businesspeople from Providence, Rhode Island {{US-business-bio-1830s-stub