Welcome to the Carpenter-Zimmerman.org web page.
You are welcome to browse around. Then when you are ready to access the Forum and passworded pages like the GEDCOM, then head over to the Contact Us page, and look for the GEDCOM Form. Send us your contact information and also tell us how you are related to George Zimmerman.
Be sure to give the full names of relatives (Grandparents, great-grandparents, etc.) who can link you to our famliy tree. If you are not sure how you might be related, then tell us as much as you do know. Our family genealogists can probably help you figure it out.
If you have a technical question about the website, would like to make a suggestion, or would like to contribute an article, you can send mail to the Webmaster and I will be glad to help you.
Thanks,
-- Joseph William Carpenter, Webmaster
Call for submissions
Where does it all come from? It comes from you!
The content you see on this website was submited by other family members just like you. If you are a Carpenter, then we would love to post your stories and other items of importance to the family.
But I am not a writer, should I send in something anyway?
Yes, please do. The webmaster will refer your article to a peer review process to make sure that your content is acceptable, and also clean up any obvious spelling and grammatical errors. We have several family mambers who are teachers, and others who have training as professional writers. You may be familiar with one of my favorite quotes, "An error does not become a mistake until you refuse to correct it. -- Author unknown" . Also, you will also be given the opportunity to review and approve your article in its finished form before it is published on the web page.
I am not very comfortable putting my name on the Internet, can I post anonymously?
Sure. I can post your article without a byline, perhaps just using initials. You get to share what you know, but you also get to do so anonymously. I encourage you to consider using a byline just because the main audience for this website is other Carpenters. We get very little traffic otherwise.
What about the Family Forum?
Your Email address will never be posted here, but family members can ask to be included in the Family Forum, as I write this now, there are 103 registered members in the forums who you can contact once you register and are approved.
All family members are encouraged to join the forum. This will allow you to see open discussions between other family members concerning such topics as: upcoming reunions, cemetery maintenance, genealogy, recipes, as well as birth and death announcements. The possible topics is unlimited, so if you have a new one let the webmaster know and a new one can be started. The Family Forum is also the place to send feedback concerning the website and forums.
How do I submit a story or article?
The text can be submitted with the Email the Webmaster form. Just paste in your text. If you would like to submit a file instead, then you can send mail to the webmaster and he will respond with an address to which you can send an attachment.
For photographs, anything smaller than 5MB, such as some text with one or two photos attached, can be Emailed to me. If you need my address, send Email to the Webmaster, and I will reply with my real Email address.
I can obviously accept a CD-Rom anytime with whatever you wish to send in. Anything larger than 5MB, such as a collection of photos for the upcoming image archive, should be burned to CD and mailed to my PO Box:
Back to top
What is the purpose of this web site?
The answer to this question can be found by considering the motivations of different people who are already contributing to this project.
One purpose of this web site is to help coordinate the activities related to the next Carpenter-Zimmerman Reunion in June 2006. There will definitely be information posted here about that.
This web site was also founded to help coordinate and display some of the historical research that has been done by family genealogists. Those folks and their work will be an key part of what you can expect to find here.
Some people are most interested in the stories, so this website will also serve as a clearing house to collect those family stories, and also share them.
This sharing of information will help the serious genealogists, and also those with a more casual interest in simply learning more about their family history.
Finally, we hope to inspire others to take a closer look at their own roots and maybe lend a helping hand by collaborating on the future of this web site. Either by becoming serious about genealogy, or by bringing others here to get involved.
This web site is word of mouth only. You will not likely find it listed on Google or any of the others. So tell others about it. This web site is a community formed by family.
Back to top
One cousins related to me her own goals for participating in this project:
1) A personal goal for me would be to get to meet and better know contacts and relatives. Because of intermarriages in my grandfather's ancestry, I am seven times related to many.
2) Many of us want to share research of the George Zimmerman family history and come to some conclusions about what is true and what is [not] true in the various family histories.
3) It may be useful to spread the word about the Carpenter DNA Project and urge participation by other male descendants.
4) My closer relatives always appreciate it when I can point them in a direction where they can get more information about their heritage. The younger ones tell me they plan to be more active when they are in retirement.
— MaryAnn Hormuth
What is your reason for seeking this website? Tell us, and we may include your reason on this web page. Click here to send Email...
The time is now
You can get involved a little, or a lot. Starting today, you can participate in the Forum and talk with other family who are also seeking answers to where they come from.
Browse through the website, and come back again, because it is growing. With the help of others, like you perhaps, we will do our part in preserving our legacy for future generations. It may be only one small pebble in the sea of humanity, but it is our pebble. We should cherish it.
I am reminded of the line from the movie, "Field of Dreams," where the lead character gains inspiration in the form of these words, "If you build it, they will come." I hope that is true, because as this web site continues to grow, I am thankful for your efforts and contributions. With your help, we will build it and they will come.
Back to top
How can I help?
For now, we are mostly interested in your participation. Join the forum! Share your stories and photographs...
You can help by telling us what you know about your family heritage. We may be able to help you see where your family fits in the Genealogy of Descendants of George Zimmerman. To some of us, genealogy is about more than dry facts and figures, though those are very important to proving the facts out. Share what you know, pure fact (with references) or purely unverified bull... We will make a place to put the tale until one day maybe we will have enough clues to solve the puzzle.
Head over to the Forum and write down what you know. The more people who participate, the better resource that will become. The Forum is a place where people are talking about family history. The more we know, the more information we can all share. You are our number one resource. Go now to the Forum page, add your two cents. If you know a family story, send it to the web master. It does not have to be perfect. We will do our best to make you look good.
Do you know of other sources for good information? Why not let us share that too. Tell us about links to more information and we will put that on our Resources page.
You can also help by adding names to the Family Tree GEDCOM project. As of this writing, there are nearly 9000 names of persons spanning at least twelve generations. With your help, we might be able to fill in a few more names on the Family Tree. There is a form for sharing this information on our Contact Us page.
Back to top
How do we pay for all this?
Please remember that the web site is free to use. However, there are costs involved with hosting a web site. I pay about $30 per month to my ISP for web hosting. Two thirds of the resources go to supporting this family web site. That is roughly $20 per month or $240 per year. Relatively speaking that is not a lot of money for some people, and a lot to others. Some of the proposed new features I discussed at Reunion2006 (Photo database, enhanced genealogy program, etc.) will cost extra money and so I am looking into open source alternatives.
A good example of this open source approach is the new Articles page, and our Announcements which you see at the top of this page. I will leverage technologies and free services on the Internet, and integrate them into the website. I am a big believer in doing something better, faster, cheaper, if I can also make it look good.
If you would like to help out, then one obvious way you can help is to could make a donation by mailing a check. Include your name and Email address in the cover letter and I will make sure to thank you and also confirm that I received your letter. The post office box is listed on the Webmaster Contact Form. Later, I will try to make things easier by adding links to a PayPal account, and maybe a credit card system if I can find one with reasonable merchant fees.
Now, you can also donate via PayPal. There is no suggested amount, so if you feel inclined tohelp out, then then thank you in advance.
Another way to help me financially is by simply shopping at the Big Bear Communications Online Store, hosted by NextDayPC.
I use NextDayPC with my computer consulting business. This store is like many other online stores. The catalog has thousands of items so it is likely they may have the item you are already looking for. Sometimes the price is better, and sometimes not, but experience has taught me that true cost is not calculated by the sticker price alone. If you see something you really like, write to me and let me know, because sometimes I can influence the price. Other times not. If I can save you money and still make a small commission, then I will be happy to help you. And, I will transfer the commission from any sale related to a family member to the budget for this website.
I cannot tell you how much it meant to me when several people at the reunion literally "passed the hat" to collect money for the web site. They raised enough money to pay the costs for about one year of operating this web site. Quite literally putting their money where their mouth is and expressing their support for this web site and all that it represents. I wish I could name all of you personally, but if you are reading this now, know that you are appreciated.
As ever, I will continue to endeavor to make improvements and make sure this web site remains worthy of your support.
-- Joseph William Carpenter, Webmaster
Back to top
All Announcements (default) 
Announcements 