Hello, if this is posted in the wrong location, please let me know. :-)
I joined this group because my dad's DNA sample on FamilyTree DNA has many more matches carrying the surname Parker rather than Park. In documenting our genealogy, I have not come across anyone in our line using the spelling Parker... but I have found Parke, Park, and Parks. Dad was an early participant in the Parke Society's DNA project, and his sample was positively identified as a descendant of immigrant ancestor Richard Park (1602 England - 1665 Newton, MA), who arrived aboard the 'Defence' in 1635. Dad's sample was a 67 marker match to a very well-documented descendant of Richard (that was the max they were including at the time the project started). Since then, very few people have matched dad's sample, even at the 25 marker level... and of those, the majority of them have carried the surname Parker rather than Park/e/s. As Richard's parentage and birth information has never been documented, and as he lived in a community that also included a Parker family, I am left to wonder if perhaps he shortened his surname to avoid confusion... or perhaps he had a reason to change his surname when immigrating. Family lore was that he was Scottish, but he sailed from London with Thomas Shepard's company.
John Parker (1615 England - 1686 Newton, MA) was also a member of Thomas Shepard's company, and some of his descendants are later found in the same Kentucky communities as my ancestors in the late 1700's and early 1800's. It appears that the families did travel together. However, I do not see his name listed on the Parker DNA project chart over on FamilyTreeDNA... so I cannot determine if there is a relationship or not. Ours is listed there, in FG64 (a group of only two). I am assuming that the other Parker matches that appear on FamilyTreeDNA have not joined the Parker Project yet.
At this point, I'm a little lost about how to proceed. While we do have Park matches to Richard Park (1602 England-1665 MA) and Rowland Park (1806 NY-1887 KS), the best Y-DNA matches are to men with Parker fathers. One match documents back to Samuel Parker (1820 Nottingham, England-1898 Ontario, Canada) another documents back to James Parker (b. 1860 Carlisle, England). One match claims to go back to Richard Parker (1630 Cornwall, England-1681 Parker Creek, VA)... but his sample does not match the other person who claims the same lineage on the Parker DNA project... so someone is off there. We also have 10 more matches that list the Parker surname, but that have not included information regarding their ancestors.
My own documented line is as follows:
Father, Donald E. Park - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/125081503/donald-edward-park
Grandfather, Albert Lawrence Park - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9603881/albert-lawrence-park
Great Grandfather, Francis Edward Park - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/71972153/francis-edward-park
2nd Great Grandfather, Francis Marion Park - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/126639059/francis-marion-park
3rd Great Grandfather, Henry Thomas Park - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60815407/henry-thomas-park
4th Great Grandfather, Elza D. Park - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/132195445/elza-d.-park
5th Great Grandfather, believed to be John Park who married Nancy Darnall in Bourbon County, Kentucky, on 15 Oct 1798... but no documentation found to date.
Any advice regarding how I could/should proceed in attempting to break down this brick wall would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Evey :-)
