John Christopher Parkhurst (abt. 1465 - 1574)

The Parkhurst name Parkhurst is about 9 miles from Guildford. It was from this wooded park, so named, that the family took its name. By the early 1500's Parkhursts were living in Shere, Guildford, Shalford and nearby. All were certainly closely related, the same given names being repeatedly used.

Georgius Parkhurst was born 1433 John Parkhurst (1470) Parkhurst Manor, Guildford Georgius Parkhurst died 1505

John Parkhurst (1470) Parkhurst Manor, Guildford, married Ann Marie Baron (1472) and they had four children: John Parkhurst 1486-1546, Thomas Parkhurst 1488, George Parkhurst 1490, Henry ‘of Shere’ Parkhurst 1495 West Clandon, Surrey John Parkhurst died 2 February 1575 Norwick, Norfolk Ann Baron died 29 June 1514, Parnham, Suffolk, England

George Parkhurst 1495 Guilford, Surrey, married Phoebe Owsley 1 January 1490 St Marys, Guildford and had nine children: Thomas Parkhurst 1510 (married Olive Meerhurst), John Parkhurst 1511-1575 (married Margaret Garnish daughter of Thomas Garnish), George Parkhurst 1514-16 September 1540, Nicholas Parkhurst 1514-1594, Helen Parkhurst 1 February 1516-1 February 1574 (married Nicholas Babbs), Agnes Parkhurst 1518-1573, Alice Parkhurst 1573 (married Francis Griswold), Christopher Parkhurst 1520-1595 (married Phoebe Leete), Elizabeth Parkhurst 1522. All Reg. St Mary, Guildford, Surrey. Phoebe Parkhurst (Owsley) died 1530 St Mary, Guildford, Surrey. George Parkhurst died 27 Apr 1545 in Sussex.

George was an important person in that time in Guildford as the mayor, the coroner and listed with his armour as part of the local militia. More importantly his son John was a very famous prelate in the 16th century. On 15 January 1514 George Parkhurst was sworn in as a Flesh and Fish Tasters. George was recorded on the Guildford Borough records on 3 April 1514 with a licence to sell in the local market. Later that year he was chosen as a Hallwarden. This office had the responsibility of the actual fabric of the Guild Hall as well as the collection of sums due to the Guild Merchant for Admissions, and so on. The office of Hallwarden dates back at least to 1361. On 6 October 1515, George Parkhurst was named Bailiff. On 18 January 1517/18, he was again sworn in as a Hallwarden. He is on the first list of Approved Men on 3 October 1519. Approved men were associates of the Mayor, entry being restricted to those who had served as Bailiff. There are many more entries in the Borough records for his appointment as Hallwarden and he was on the list of Approved Men year after year for the rest of his life. In 1522, George Parkhurst was elected Mayor and Coroner of Guildford, being sworn in 6 October. He was re-elected Mayor in 1529 and 1533. In 1533 he was one of two men elected a warden of the scole house (school house). In a list of harnes appoynted within the Towne of Guldeford in 1539, the third entry is: George Parkehurst the Elder A harnes with...a Byll in his owne handes. This meant that he was a member of the local militia with a suit of armor and a weapon, the bill being a form of pike used by the English militia then, harness being an archaic word for a suit of armor. On 27 April 1545, fines were levied against William Hamonde senior (2d.), Thomas Stoughton (4d.), George Parkhurst (6d.) and several others for permit[ting] their taverns in the High Street to be inclosed to the common nuisance. A year later he was fined 4 pence for the same offence. Christopher Parkhurst is son and heir of George Parkhurst in 1550 in a Surrey Feet of Fines.

Somewhere I read that the prelate John Parkhurst Doctor of Divinity, had children, but what I have read, sure he married but did not have children at all. At an early age he entered Magdalen College School at Oxford, and subsequently joined Merton College, where he was admitted to a fellowship in 1529 after graduating B.A. (24 July 1528). He was an adept in the composition of Latin epigrams. He took holy orders in 1532, and proceeded M.A. 19 February 1533. While he was acting as tutor at Merton, *John Jewel was his pupil and they remained friends through life. 30 October 1566 Rector of Pimperne Dorset, 1549 of Cleve Episcopi, ci. Gloucester, 1549 and Bishop of Norwich 1560-1574. He was one of the translators of the Bishop’s Bible and several of his works, letters and manuscripts are preserved in the British Museum. He was buried in Norwich Cathedral, where a monument to his memory was erected which was destroyed during the Civil War in the Reign of Charles I. Parkhurst married Margaret, daughter of Thomas Garnish of Kenton, Suffolk, but they had no children. When, in 1543, Henry VIII and Queen Catherine Parr visited Oxford, Parkhurst wrote Latin verses in their honour and became chaplain to the queen. He was already chaplain to Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, and to his wife Catherine, and his friends included Miles Coverdale and John Aylmer. Soon afterwards he was appointed rector of Pimperne, Dorset, and in 1549 was presented by Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley to the living of Cleeve Episcopi, Gloucestershire. Jewel and other Oxford scholars often visited him there; when Jewel gave humanity lectures at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, Parkhurst went over to hear him, and declared in a Latin epigram that he was metamorphosed from a tutor into a pupil. On the accession of Queen Mary he left the country and settled at Zurich, where he was received by Rodolph Gualter and other Calvinists. Returning on the accession of Elizabeth I, on 13 April 1560 he was elected bishop of Norwich, and was consecrated and installed in September following. He was created D.D. at Oxford in 1566. In the see of Norwich, at the time of Parkhurst's appointment, many of the livings were without incumbents. He did nothing to discourage 'prophesyings' in his diocese, and took measures against Catholics. Defrauded by a servant, Parkhurst moved from the bishop's palace, which he had repaired, to a small house at Ludham; and introduced a bill into parliament to prevent such abuses which was accepted by the government. He died on 2 February 1575, aged 63, and was buried in the nave of his cathedral on the south side. WILL I dont have this but it would clarify things.

Henry of Shere Parkhurst (1495) married and had four children John Parkhurst 1520, Margaret Parkhurst, Joan Parkhurst, Robert Parkhurst. Henry of Shere Parkhurst died in 20 April 1556

John Parkhurst (1520) married Alice Gepson (1525) 1541 in Parkhurst manor and they had eight children: George Parkhurst 20 August 1547 Parkhurst Manor-1571, Agnes Parkhurst 1548, Katherine Parkhurst 12 April 1553 Parkhurst Manor, Shere, Surrey, Edward Parkhurst 1554, Walter Parkhurst 1558-1575, Richard Parkhurst 1559 Thomas Parkhurst 1562-1564. John Parkhurst ‘clothier of Shere’ 1563 WILL I HAVE THIS VERY LONG WILL Alice Parkhurst (Gepson) died September 1599.

This is where the interest in the Parkhursts' stops for me. William Risbridger (1549c Cookes Place) married Katherine Parkhurste (1553) 28 October 1571 St James, Shere.