Joshua Carpenter

(1638-1722)

Joshua Carpenter was one of the founders of Christ Church in Philadelphia.  He was also a brewer whose Philadelphia Ale was well known. Joshua Carpenter owned approximately 2 acres of land of Queen Village from 1704 until 1724; his wife Elizabeth sold this plot of land after his death.

He was buried in the center of Washington Square under an apple tree. At the time, Washington Square was the burial place for unknown soldiers, thus it was unusual for a known personage to be buried there. A relative of Joshua’s had committed suicide, which excluded her from being buried in the common church grounds of the city. As a result, Carpenter’s family set up a “Potter’s Field” in Washington Square, where interred members of his family rest in an enclosed ground measuring forty feet square.