Harold Bertram Carpenter was born in Wuchou China in 1908. His father, George, a brilliant electrician and top notch salesman, was a British subject. On a visit to the U.S. he met Nellie Jane Lynn at a Methodist prayer meeting in Wellsville, N.Y. where she had been born and raised. After they were married they decided to devote a few years to missionary work and were promptly sent to China, where they were transferred from city to city.