I am hoping to find male Parker descendants of the following 4 Parker ancestors who have already taken or who will be willing to take the Family Tree y-DNA test and post them to this group. The ancestors I am interested in are:
- John Parker, est. 1710 to 1774, Brunswick/ Lunenburg Counties, VA. In his will he identifies wife Jane (her first husband was a Birchett) and male children, William, Sterling, Thomas, and John, He accumulated substantial land through land grants and purchases from 1735 to 1759 on Stony Creek and Little Creek which adjoin and are in current day Lunenburg County and on Dry Creek, which is about 12 miles NW of Stony Creek. Deeds show he had an earlier wife named Ann (last name Sterling by some accounts but this may be speculation). His will indicated there was an Ordinary (tavern) on his property on Stony Creek. There was also a mill identified in the original 1735 grant.
Son Sterling died in the Revolutionary War and sons John (wounded in the Revolutionary War) and William are not otherwise accounted for. This family is the subject of the book Parker and Spurlock Family History, 1987, by John Marvin Parker, who was a descendant of John’s son Thomas who went to TN. The most likely candidates for the y-DNA test would be the family of the above John Marvin Parker, whose family seems to be located in California and Washington state. There also might be descendants in Missouri.
- John Parker of the Staunton River, est. 1750 to 1805-1811, first shows in a land Grant in Bedford County, VA in 1783 then was granted land next door in Pittsylvania County, VA in 1791. He is somewhat of a mysterious figure (origins and wife’s name unknown) and I believe this led to him erroneously being designated William Alexander Parker in sloppy and incorrect internet research. His sons were well documented, George (a possible Quaker by the way) staying in Pittsylvania and having numerous descendants, and other sons, David and Benjamin moving to Kentucky with descendants strown across the western states. John Parker of the Staunton River has been confused with another Pittsylvania Parker, my ancestor...
- William Parker of the Pigg River and Cherrystone Creek, Pittsylvania County, VA, est. 1750 to 1839, married to Henrietta, first appeared in Bedford County VA in 1786 and in Pittsylvania County starting in 1780. He left a will and was a substantial landowner. He had sons John, James and Elijah who had descendants in Pittsylvania and Patrick counties, VA. My grandmother was from a branch that went to West Virginia. My grandmother’s Parker relations were of the Dunkard sect but I’m not sure how far back this affiliation dates.
- William Parker, est. 1760 to after 1826, lived on Old Woman’s Creek in Pittsylvania County, VA, appearing in a 1789 deed, and disappearing from the records in 1826 when he seems to have had debtor problems and sold his lands. He was married to Keziah and may have had a son John. His daughter Keziah 1795-1861 married Patrick Graham and moved to Kentucky. He is the most obscure of this group, leaving the smallest number of records discovered so far.
I suspect that y-DNA testing will show a relationship between some or all of the four subjects named above. If not, it may point to other origins that can be explored. Please let me know if you are interested in further information about any of these lines. Richard Bradley rbrabazon@msn.com
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Wayne