Dr. Henry Carpenter was born in Alstead, N. H., December 24, 1803. His father, Eber Carpenter, was a practicing physician in Alstead from 1802 until his death, May 23, 1841. Henry, the eldest of his eight sons, distinguished himself in the profession of medicine and surgery. He graduated medicine at Castleton, Vt., in 1825, and soon after settled in Chesterfield where he soon gave evidence of superior skill, and with a growing reputation as such, continued the practice of his profession until his death, August 1852. Decisive in all things, ignoring creeds, he spent his life in ministering to the wants of his fellow men, believing that acts, and not creeds or belief constituted true religion. He was a man of large sympathies. He married Lydia H. Chandler, of Colerain, Mass., in 1829, and had born to him two daughters, Helen and Lucretia. His wife died in 1837. Only one of daughters, Lucretia A., is living, and resides in Montrose, Pa., highly esteeme and noted for her Christian virtues. Dr. Carpenter served as representative in the legislature of the state with commendable ability, and in all things in trusted to his care was a man of accredited worth. A son by a later marriage, Charles Henry, served in the late Rebellion, and distinguished himself by meritorious acts and duties during the war, dying in Mississippi soon after the close of the same, while yet in the service of the United States. Dr. Carpenter was a man of commanding appearance, a true representative of liberal republican principles, and a strict adherent of justice and right.
