Deacon
Thomas
Parker
Born about in England
Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of
Amy (Unknown) Parker
— married
about 1635 in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony [uncertain]
Descendants [uncertain] 
Father of
Thomas Parker, Hananiah Parker, John Parker, Joseph Parker, Mary (Parker) Dodge, Martha (Parker) Johnson, Nathaniel Parker, Sarah Parker, Jonathan Parker and Sarah Parker
Died
at about age 78
in Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony
Profile managers:
Barbara M 
[send private message], Puritan Great Migration Project WikiTree [send private message], John Putnam [send private message], and David Parker [send private message]
[send private message], Puritan Great Migration Project WikiTree [send private message], John Putnam [send private message], and David Parker [send private message]Profile last modified
| Created 8 Apr 2011
This page has been accessed 9,072 times.
| Thomas Parker migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Great Migration (Series 2), by R. C. Anderson, vol. 5, p. 370) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm |
Contents |
Biography
Origins and Parents
- No evidence has been published or appears online that credibly identifies the parents or birthplace of Thomas Parker. This has been discussed by Robert Charles Anderson[1] and Marilyn Fitzpatrick.[2]
Birth
- The passenger on the ship "Susan & Ellen" was born about 1605. See section "Emigration on the ship Susan & Ellen." The resident of Reading was born about 1609. See section "Death and Burial." They may be the same person, but this theory can only be based on circumstantial evidence. Two sides of the issue have been published by Robert Charles Anderson[1] and Marilyn Fitzpatrick.[2]
- Anderson gives his birth about 1609-1611, which is the essence of his argument against him being the "Susan & Ellen" passenger, but the extended range to 1611 is an error. See "Death and Burial." Note: Fitzpatrick is even more confused by referring to the church record as the age on his gravestone.
Possible immigration on the ship Susan & Ellen
- The Thomas Parker who came on the "Susan & Ellen" left England about May 1635. The passenger list says he was 30.[3] The date 11 March 1635 is often given for this ship leaving England. This is evidently taken from The History of Lynn, which says Thomas left on this date on the ship "Christopher."[4] There is nothing published to support the existence of this ship or date. At least one internet site erroneously says the Thomas who came on the "Susan & Ellen" was the minister who settled in Newbury, MA Bay.
Marriage
- Husband: Thomas Parker
- Wife: Amy The surname Aylesworth is unsupported. It appears prominently at Find A Grave as of December 2021.[5]
- Date: unknown, but based on approximate birthdates for his older children, it may have been about 1635
- Place: prob. Massachusetts Bay Colony
Lynn, Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1643
- Thomas Parker was among thirty five men who signed a petition by Jane Armitage of Lynn to be allowed to keep her "ordinary" (tavern) open, which was granted 12 October 1643.[6]
Civic and Church Involvement
- Thomas Parker was Selectman in Reading in 1661, 1665-67, and 1669. Source: Eaton's History of Reading.
- He is called "Deacon Thomas Parker" in the Reading town record of his death[7] It is also in the Middlesex Co. vital records, collected contemporarily from the towns.[8]
Death and Burial
- Thomas’s death is in the Reading town records:[7] "Thomas Parker decon of Redding died the 12th of August 1683." See also a contemporary Middlesex Co. version of the record.[8] It also appears in the published vital records for Wakefield.[9] His gravestone is cited there (not a town vital record as in Reading), since it was in the oldest cemetery in what was Reading. The compiler of these records also cites a "Congregational church" record that says he was about 72 and died of consumption. There are no deaths given in the 17th century Reading church records[10] and the addition of causes of death wasn't done until well into the 18th century. A scan of the deaths section of the published Wakefield vital records doesn’t reveal any other 17th century deaths and death causes that came from a church record, confirming this was a compilation error.
- Thomas is buried in the Old Burying Ground, Wakefield, Middlesex Co., MA. His Find A Grave memorial has a photo of his gravestone.[5]
- Inscription:
- HERE LYETH WITHIN THIS ARCHED PLACE YE BODY OF DEACON THOMAS PARKER WHO WAS WON OF THE FOUNDATION OF YE CHURCH WHO DYED YE 12 OF AUGUST 1683 AGED ABOUT 74
Children
Together, they had 11 children over the next 22 years as listed in "Thomas Parker of Reading, Mass" by Marilyn Fitzpatrick citing original Massachusetts vital records:[2]
- Thomas Parker b.1636 in Lynn (named in will), m. Deborah Kibbe
- Hananiah Parker b.1638 in Lynn (named in will), m. Elizabeth Brown and (2) Mary Barsham/Bursham
- John Parker b.1640 in Reading m. Hannah Kendall, m. (2) Thankful Unknown
- Joseph Parker (1642-1644);
- Joseph Parker (1645-1646)
- Mary Parker b.1647 (named in will), d. 1717, m. Samuel Dodge
- Martha Parker b.1649 (named in will), m. Daniel Johnson
- Nathaniel Parker b.1651 (named in will), m. Bethiah Polly
- Sarah Parker (1653-1656)
- Jonathan Parker b.1656
- Sarah Parker b.1658, not named in father's 1683 will so may have died by that date
Research Notes
Review of children needed: See comments of Rick Pierpont 4.6.23. A daughter Deborah b about 1660 Reading, was previously attached, but was not found in any original records, or published genealogies so was merged away. Is there one son Joseph, or two? Fitzpatrick lists two, but only the birth of the first and death of the second seem to come from original records. The intervening death and second birth seem to be secondary sources. More research needed to confirm this.
Great Migration Directory: Parker, Thomas: Unknown; 1636; Lynn, Reading [MBCR 1:373; EQC 1:6, 10, 26, 2:270; NEHGR 33:61, 35:86; TEG 15:48-49; Mower Anc 461-65].
Reading or Wakefield?
- Lynn Village was a neighborhood in the town of Lynn and was set off and incorporated as Reading in 1644. As the town grew, different parishes or neighborhoods were established, and the locus of settlement was known as the First or South Parish. By 1812 it was generally known as South Reading, and in that year it was incorporated as its own town with that name. In 1868 the name was changed to Wakefield. For this reason, the core of what was Reading in the 17th century, including its first cemetery, is now in Wakefield.
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume V, M-P, p. 370 (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2007) (Great Migration 1634-1635, M-P, online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2010 1)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Fitzpatrick, Marilyn, Thomas Parker of Reading, Mass., The Essex Genealogist, 15:48-49. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011 AmericanAncestors.org (by subscription)
- ↑ Savage, James, Gleanings for New England History (1843), 17, 21.
- ↑ Lewis, Alonzo and Newhall, James R., History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, (Boston, MA: John L. Shorey, 1865), 157.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 01 January 2020), memorial page for Deacon Thomas Parker (1609–12 Aug 1683), Find A Grave: Memorial #18311892, citing Old Burying Ground, Wakefield, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA ; Maintained by Sue Allen (contributor 46871407), Bio by Gar Watson
- ↑ Townsend, Charles Hervey, "Petition of Jane Armitage of Lynn," The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 33:60-61 (Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-) (NEHGR, online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2013 1)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," familysearch.org database online, Middlesex, Reading, Births, marriages, deaths 1653-1776, image 123. See also an abstract in Vital Records of Reading, Massachusetts, to the year 1850 (Boston, MA:1912), 552.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 See attached image.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Vital records of Wakefield, Massachusetts to the year 1850 (Boston, MA:1912), 310
- ↑ Publications of The Colonial Society of Massachusetts, vol. 72, online database at [1]
- Collections of the New Hampshire Historical Society, Volume 11 GoogleBooks
- Eaton, Lilley. Inscriptions, From The Most Ancient Burial Ground, In South Reading, MS., The New England Historical & Genealogical Register (NEHGS, Boston, 1853) Vol. 7, Page 25
- Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives. Digitized images provided by FamilySearch.org) Case 16812: Will
Sponsored Search by Ancestry.com
DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Thomas by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA. Y-chromosome DNA test-takers in his direct paternal line on WikiTree:
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Thomas by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA. Y-chromosome DNA test-takers in his direct paternal line on WikiTree:
- David Parker
:
Family Tree DNA Y-DNA Test 111 markers, haplogroup E-M35, FTDNA kit #B818519 - Mike Parker :
Family Tree DNA Y-DNA Test 700 markers, haplogroup E-BY7749, FTDNA kit #B727932
-
~0.39%
Ted Beal :
AncestryDNA, GEDmatch WW8882867 [compare]
-
~0.39%
Charlotte Hawkesworth :
Family Tree DNA Family Finder, FTDNA kit #227423
Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.
Images: 5
Rejected matches › Thomas Barker (1606-)
Featured National Park champion connections: Thomas is 11 degrees from Theodore Roosevelt, 19 degrees from Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, 12 degrees from George Catlin, 13 degrees from Marjory Douglas, 21 degrees from Sueko Embrey, 10 degrees from George Grinnell, 25 degrees from Anton Kröller, 12 degrees from Stephen Mather, 21 degrees from Kara McKean, 13 degrees from John Muir, 15 degrees from Victoria Hanover and 24 degrees from Charles Young on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
1) There were two daughters named Sarah. One born in 1653 and the other in 1658. Evidently both died young. This second Sarah is here: Parker-50854. 2) There were two sons named Joseph. The son named Joseph given above seems to be a conflation of these two. 3) He did not have a daughter named Deborah. His son, Thomas Parker, Jr., had a wife named Deborah and a daughter named Deborah
Lynn Village was a neighborhood in the town of Lynn and was set off and incorporated as Reading in 1644. As the town grew, different parishes or neighborhoods were established, and the locus of settlement was known as the First or South Parish. By 1812 it was generally known as South Reading, and in that year it was incorporated as its own town with that name. In 1868 the name was changed to Wakefield. For this reason, the core of what was Reading in the 17th century, including its first cemetery, is now in Wakefield.
Thomas’s death is recorded in the Reading town records (Vital Records of Reading, Massachusetts, to the year 1850 (Boston, MA: 1912), 552, online at https://ma-vitalrecords.org/MA/Middlesex/Reading/Images/Reading_D552.gif). It also appears in the the published vital records for Wakefield (Vital records of Wakefield, Massachusetts to the year 1850 (Boston, MA:1912), 310, online at https://www.google.com/books/edition/Vital_Records_of_Wakefield_Massachusetts/qwsO0VE8diAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=vital+records+of+wakefield&printsec=frontcover). His gravestone is cited there (not a town vital record like in Reading), since it was in the oldest cemetery in what was Reading. The compiler of these records also cites a church record that says he was about 72 and died of consumption. This is undoubtedly an error. There are no deaths given in the 17th century church records (Publications of The Colonial Society of Massachusetts, vol. 72, online at https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/1428) and the addition of causes of death wasn't done until well into the 18th century. A scan of the deaths section of the vital records book doesn’t reveal any other 17th century deaths and causes that came from a church record.
Here's a handy link to decoding Torrey source abbreviations https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Sources-Torrey
Best of luck, I look forward to your contributions!
1. Amy Aylesworth's marriage should be severed from Thomas Parker. 2. A new Amy Unknown is needed for his wife. 3. Amy's children, inherited from Thomas, should be severed from her profile. There are many comments in both profiles indicating that the marriage to Amy Aylesworth is not supported by research. These can be strengthened.
edited by Doug Sinclair
Re: renaming vs. creating a new profile, that's an interesting one. Was the original intent creation of a never-existed daughter to a never-existed father Nathaniel? On ancestry she is widely married to Deacon Thomas Parker so there is a good argument that the original intent was to create the wife of Thomas Parker who we know was at least "Amy". My personal vote would be just to rename her since there is no proof that an Amy Aylesworth of about this age existed. We could look at "Elsworth" etc etc but, since I always see her linked as Thomas Parker's wife and since "Nathaniel Aylesworth" never seemed to exist, I would give primacy to that spousal relationship and rename her rather than leave an imaginary Amy Aylesworth intact.
Recommend removing town of origin, Brownsholme, Wiltshire, England, because there is no evidence to support it.
Please see newly added sources and text in new section "Origins and Disputed Parents" for verification.
Btw, whats the evidence for the parents?
is there any evidence for the EXACT date of his birth. I haven't found any. I believe his birth date should be changed to About 1605, based on his age on the ship's manifest.
Also https://archive.org/details/genealogybiograp00byupark