1644 English source refers to James Parker in New England. Is there a Massachusetts source to match?

Question

While doing some research on John Parker -- there were several, on both sides of the Atlantic in the mid-1600's -- I found the will of a John Parker, Haberdasher of London who died in 1639 as well as the will of his brother Joseph, who died in 1644.  Neither crossed the Atlantic, nor, to my knowledge, did they have children who did.  But Joseph's will refers to his brother James, who was in New England when the will was written.  James obviously crossed the Atlantic, but I don't see a matching James already in WikiTree.  If there are New England/Massachusetts records of a James aqbout that time who needs an origin in England, this might be it!

Comments

There is a Captain James Parker Sr. in WikiTree. He was born 1617 in Wiltshire, England. His parents were John and Joane (Drake) Parker.

James married Elizabeth Long in 1643 in Woburn, Middlesex, MA. He later married Eunice (Brooks) Kendall in 1696. James was the father of 13.

James Parker Sr. died about May 23, 1700 at Groton, Middlesex, MA.

---

Ah, yes.  that's a profile I worked on a couple of months ago.  I don't think his places match up nor his dates, but it's close.  Since then there have been some erroneous merges in this family.

The family of John Parker, Haberdasher of London, who married a Joanna Drake, has gotten mixed up with another set of Parkers, and I've just spent a week trying to untangle that.  The John Parker you mentioned is probably not married to anyone named Joanna Drake.  She was removed from that family some months ago and I see now she has been added back in.  

The Joanna Drake connection will keep turning up, because her father Francis was a cousin of Sir Francis Drake, and that's a ticket to all sorts of noble ancestry.  But actually delving into the documents and trying to find out what is actually the truth is a challenge!

---

Apart from the parental connection, however, the James Parker of the 1644 will was married with "children" at the time the will was written.  If he is the same James Parker who married Elizabeth long in 1643, he would need to have had twins or triplets to have "children" by the time of the will!.  Of course, the James born in 1617 would have been 20 in 1637 and could have had a marriage previous to Elizabeth Long.  A LOT of women died in childbirth and it was quite common for a man to be looking for a new wife quickly because he had a house full of children and nobody (certainly not himself!) to take care of them.

---

I hope that things can get sorted out to your satisfaction.

---

In genealogy, one is never satisfied!

Answer 1

This James Parker is documented by Anderson in The Great Migration Begins. He appears to have had a brother John who was a haberdasher in London and a brother Joseph who was a skinner.

He has a geographically complex biography (among other things, he ended up in Barbados). We can create a fill in his WikiTree profile for him based on Anderson's profile of him. 

Comments

Searching on the unusual name Azricam (which turns out to be a biblical name from 1 Chronicles, more often rendered as Azrikam), I found some additional records for James Parker's son Azrikam Parker and other men by the same name who I think are very likely to be his descendants. I've created a profile for the son Azrikam Parker and included information about records that appear to represent Azrikam's son and grandson. Azrikam's trail leads to Virginia and North Carolina -- into the territory of the Southern Colonies Project!

---

Sweet!

Nice work, Ellen!

This could be a fun collaborative project of the week if we're still doing those: how far down towards the present can we document this line?

---

You all have done fascinating research on a fascinating family!  It reminds me of what a superhighway the seas were for those who had boats.  James' brother John, haberdasher of London, was married to Joanne Drake, daughter of Francis Drake, the cousin and Godson of Sir Francis Drake.  You won't find it in Ancestry.com's DNA tests, but these people had ships and seas in their DNA.  You've certainly got my appreciation!

---

To support the tracking of James Parker's likely son Azrikam into Virginia and North Carolina, I created the Parkers of Currituck Co., North Carolina. Open to all to work on it.

 

---

I guessed that "Thomazon" (in records as the the first name of the wife and daughter of an Azricam Parker in Currituck County, North Carolina)  probably was an alternative spelling of Thomasine, so I searched the web for "Thomasine Stevens Currituck County" (looking for the daughter). The search results included some speculative comments about a relationship between Currituck County, NC, and Barbados. The name Taylor appears on many results pages. This page is a collection of someone's genealogical notes that appear to be relevant to this family.

---

Very interesting.  I put the new page in the category for Currituck County, North Carolina and looked up its location to see what was close.   Did a search for Parker in WikiTree -- there are of course lots.  Notice a lot in Accomack County, Virginia, which is the next adjacent county and they may be related.  Also noticed that some Parkers started in Accomack County, Virginia and endup in Somerset County, Maryland.  Again demonstrating what a superhighway the seas were if you had a boat -- as these Parkers did.

---

Ellen thanks for the link. I'm still learning the history of this region. I now understand that there may have been no "move" from Albemarle TO Currituck. Currituck was a precinct IN nAlbemarle county. And ultimately became its own county and Albemarle as a separate county "went away".

I see from that link you posted that one Azricam Parker *Jr* was witness to a will in 1710. That implies the presence of a Senior in the same region at that time.

This is a fun puzzle to be working on but I have a busy work week ahead of me. If you see me working in this instead, tell me to get back to work! :-)

---

My error, I referred to Albemarle Co when I should have said Accomack.  I just added the Accomack Category to the Parkers page, and did a search on all the Parkers in WikiTree in the 1600s with a birth in Accomack County, and added the Accomack County Category to their pages.  So as we start to look at Parkers who may be associated, there's a handy list of links now on the Accomack County, Virginia category page.

---

Albemarle would be appropriate, too, Jack. Before it was Currituck, it was Albemarle.

---

Wow, based on what Ellen found (for Thomasine Parker Stevens), we MAY have this Parkers of Currituck Co, NC line to 1800.