My ancestor John Parker, born probably around 1770-1780 in Massachusetts, had one son, Asa Longley Parker, in Massachusetts in 1800. John then went to Oneida County, NY, where he had two additional children, Leonard, b. 1802, and Edith Ede, born 1809. He may have had two older sons, Thomas and David. The family moved to Ashland (later Richland) County, Ohio around 1820 or perhaps earlier. Edith Ede was a teacher in Lake as a young girl and Leonard was a preacher in several counties in Ohio before moving to Iowa. I have quite a bit of information on the three children: Asa, Leonard, and Edith Ede, but little about their father, John. I do not know who John married or his parents or where/when he was born.
I recently had a tip from a biographical sketch by Silas Parker, b. 1831, of Richland County, OH, who stated that Edith Ede was his aunt. Silas stated his father was Cephas Parker, born 1808 in Sangerfield, NY; his grandfather was William Parker (who was a hops farmer in Sangerfield); and that his great-grandfather was Captain John Parker from Lexington, MA, who led the battle at Lexington. Silas also said that his father Cephas was a first cousin of Theodore Parker, a famous theologian from Massachusetts and grandson of Captain John Parker. I have searched wherever I could to find a relationship between Silas' family and John's family and a relationship of any of them to Captain John Parker and Theodore but have had no luck to date, so some of the biographical data from Silas may not be accurate.
However, if Silas said Edith Ede was his aunt, which seems would be true, that would mean that either Cephas and my John Parker were brothers, or, more likely, Edith Ede was Silas' great aunt and William and John were brothers. So, if anyone has any information on either John Parker or his brother (?) William's family (Cephas and Silas), please let me know. This family has een one of my most frustrating brickwalls!
Thanks for any help.
Marilee Cunningham
Replies
Hi Marilee, If Capt. John Parker of Lexington is your ancester, then the lineage is from Thomas Parker b. 1609 England who settled and died in Reading, MA. I suggest if you have a male "parker" living relative that you have him participate in the Parker DNA group which will then group your Parker ancestry without doubt, in the respective Parker line or at least rule out many Parker lines. you can read more about it by google search Parker DNA Project, Dennis West is the web moderator.
karen parker galvin, 7th great grand daughter of emigrant James Parker b. 1617 England d. 1701 Groton, MA
I believe his father was William Parker who died prior to 1820 probably in Lake Township, Wayne (now Ashland) County, Ohio. His widow Elizabeth is listed there on the 1820 census.
I have identified the following as the children of William and Elizabeth Parker:
Rev Asa Longley Parker born 1800 MA died 1883 IA
Rev Leonard Parker born 1804 NY died 1881 IA
Josephus/Cephas Parker born 1807 Oneida County NY, died 1867 OH
Edith Parker mar 2nd Bader born 1809 NY died 1903 CA
I have seen the father of these children as John, instead of William, but have found no documentation for this. Calvin Parker's bio from an 1880 history says his grandfather was William Parker and Calvin was still living in 1880, so he would have known his grandfather's name.
I recently recruited a male Parker cousin to do the Y-DNA test - results in about a month.