Robert H. Carpenter is a well-known and highly esteemed resident of Cleveland County, and was born in Tishomingo County, Miss., October 22, 1854, being a son of Israel F. and Lavina C. (Manning) Carpenter, who were born in Pennsylvania and South Carolina, respectively. When a child, six years of age, Israel F. Carpenter was taken by his parents to North Carolina, and there he was reared to manhood. After commencing the battle of life for himself he went to South Carolina, but after a very short stay he emigrated to Tishomingo Connty, Miss., which county continued to be his home until 1860, when he took up his abode in Drew County, Ark., and in 1873 located in Cleveland, County, on the farm on which Robert H. is now living. Here he died in 1880 aged sixty-five years, his wife having died in Drew County in 1873, when forty-three years old. The father was a tanner by trade, but the last years of his life were spent in farming, at which he was very successful. During the Civil War he served two years as captain of a company of Arkansas Confederate Cavalry, and was in many battles and skirmishes west of the Mississippi River. He was a Mason in high standing, a Lutheran in his religious belief, and was a man whom all respected and esteemed. His wife was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and their union resulted in the birth of the following children: Mary Ann (wife of F. Sturgis, a farmer), Robert H. (the subject of this sketch), Elizabeth (who lives with him), Margaret C. (wife of John Maxwell, who is a dairyman and gardener at Hot Springs, Ark.), A. L. (who is engaged in farming with his brother Robert), and Sallie Jane (who died October 13, 1889, aged twenty-four years). Robert H. Carpenter inherits German blood from his father, and received his early education in the schools of Drew County. He is a joint owner of 300 acres of land, a goodly portion of which is under cultivation, and he is an enterprising and progressive young farmer. He is a Democrat, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and is a stanch supporter of the causes of Christianity and education.