Speaking in Jonesborough April 25

I want to apologize to everyone for my lack of blogging of late. I wish I could say that I'll be resuming my regular blogging schedule now, but I've got something on my schedule every night next week and am speaking next Saturday April 25 in Jonesborough, Tennessee for the Jonesborough Genealogical Society. The fun starts at 10 a.m. at the public library in Jonesborough. My topic is "The Basics of DNA for the Family Historian." This is a new lecture for me, and I will have had only slightly more than 3 weeks to prepare for it from the time they contacted me. After that event, I have a few more deadlines to meet by May 1. I've also got a big genealogical report to write before the research gets too stale; however, I'll try to take a break and blog some while I'm doing that!

The Carpenter Connection

It seems that Midge has found a connection with Randy on a New England Carpenter line. Let me be really upfront and say that I have not really worked on my Carpenter line. I did a little "quick Internet research" (and we know how reliability varies on that) to see if my Mercy Carpenter, wife of Edmund Rathbone/Rathbun, was descended from the William Carpenter that Midge and Randy can now claim kinship. I will admit that I found a couple of different stories on who Mercy's grandfather was, but most seem to just omit a generation and ultimately end up in the same place. I know that there is still work to do on this line, and I'll do it when I really have time. I'm just trying to see if I might be kin to Midge and Randy. If I am able to prove the following, I guess I can claim them both as cousins:

Mercy Carpenter (b. 13 Mar 1739 Coventry, CT ; d. 7 May 1827 Washington Co., OH ; w/o Edmund Rathbone)

d/o Jeremiah Carpenter (b. ca. 1715/16 ; d. 5 Mar 1792 ; bur. Carpenter Hill Orchard Cemetery, Bennington, VT) - I did find a nice photo of the tombstone online!

s/o Christopher Carpenter (the person who adds this generation states that Christopher's will mentions Jeremiah and says to check Rhode Island Register, vol. 2, no. 2, p. 127 which I've not had a chance to do)

s/o Oliver Carpenter (b. abt. 1668, Pawtucket, R.I.)

s/o Abiah Carpenter (b. 9 Apr 1643, Weymouth, Mass.) - It looks like the Carpenter Encyclopedia mentioned by Randy does show Abiah as the son of William and Oliver as Abiah's son.

s/o William Carpenter (b. abt. 1605, England)

Can You Explain Airline Pricing?

For several months, I've been monitoring airfares from Knoxville and nearby airports such as Asheville and Tri-Cities to Springfield, Missouri. I will be attending a conference for librarians there this summer. Springfield is apparently one of those destinations where one can rarely find a "deal." Most of the time, the pricing was about the same. The cheapest rate I'd been able to find was about $457 out of Knoxville (without taxes and fees). The cheapest rate from Asheville had been over $500 and out of Tri-Cities over $600. Having frequently checked to see if prices had come down without seeing any changes, I had just about resolved myself to the fact that I was going to have to rent a car and have a two day drive each way with an overnight stay. Then Saturday night I decided to check fares again. I checked Knoxville first and found that I could get a flight for $352. I checked Asheville and discovered it was only $292. I decided that I'd better go grab the credit card before they decided to go up on me. I had several options for departure from Asheville flights at the $292 rate, but the only option I had for a return flight was one with two stops. I decided that I could deal with the two stops and booked it! It beats a two day drive! Out of curiosity, I checked the rates again Sunday evening. Guess what? The cheapest flight out of Asheville was now $391 and the Knoxville price was similar for the airline I'll be flying; however, there was still one airline with the cheaper rate which was still about $60 more than I'm paying. I count myself fortunate to have gotten in that window of opportunity for the reduced pricing! I don't understand how airline pricing works. It makes no sense how a fare jumped nearly $100 overnight.