Prominent Chicago business family.

Benjamin Carpenter was born in Manlius, Onondaga County, New York in 1809. He studied law and practiced for several years in Ohio, but later turned to the trading and shipping business. He came to Chicago in 1850 and joined Sylvester Marsh in the packing business, establishing the house of Marsh & Carpenter on North State Street. He was one of the city's first packers and a member of the city's first board of public works. He married Abigail Hayes, daughter of Col. Richard Hayes, in 1832. They had six children, George Benjamin, Clinton, Mary Ellen, Cornelia, and two daughters who died early. Benjamin Carpenter died in 1881.

George B. Carpenter was born in Ohio in 1834. He was first a merchant and ship chandler, and eventually joined his father in business at Marsh & Carpenter. In 1857 he bought into the ship chandlery house of Gilbert, Hubbard and Co., taking sole proprietorship upon the death of Mr. Hubbard. He continued the business as George B. Carpenter & Co. He married Elizabeth Curtis Greene in 1861 and they had four sons, Benjamin, George A., Hubbard, and John. He died in 1912.

George A. Carpenter was born in Chicago in 1867. He was the only son of George B. Carpenter who did not join his father in business at George B. Carpenter & Co., but rather went into law. He studied at Harvard and was admitted to the bar in 1890. He entered the firm of Abram M. Pence and became a partner in1892. He was elected judge, Circuit Court of Cook County in 1906, and was eventually appointed U. S. District Court judge in 1910 where he served for 23 years until his retirement in 1933. He married Harriet Isham in 1894 and they had three children, Katherine, George Benjamin, and Isham. He died in 1944.