Looking for parents of Freelove Parker who was married to Gardner Hopkins

Question

Freelove Parker
Birth 12 Aug 1798 in Scituate, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
Death 8 Aug 1884 in Conneaut, Ashtabula, Ohio, USA

Looking for parents of "Freelove Parker" Hopkins? It seems that
there is some real confusion on who her parents were. The two most often sets of parents listed are:

Abel Parker (1769 – 1846) & Sarah King (1775 – 1800)
William Parker (1755 – 1833) & Susan Colvin Cheney (1765 – ????)

I am having a little trouble with each of these sets of parents. Below are listed the two sets of parents and my concerns regarding each with my concerns listed.
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Abel Parker (1769 – 1846) & Sarah King (1775 – 1800)

Information starting on page 28 in:
King genealogy: Clement King of Marshfield, Massachusetts, 1668, and his descendants (1898)
http://archive.org/details/kinggenealogycle00morr

21     Samuel 4 King (Isaac 9 , John 2 , Clement 1 ), of Scituate,
R. I., was born 1737, April 5, at Scituate, and died there
1804, February 1. He left no will, and his son Isaac was
appointed administrator on 11 February, 1804. Inventory
amounted to $579.10.

Commissioners were appointed and divided the real estate in 1805 among the following heirs, viz.:
Isaac;
Elizabeth, wife of Samuel Carpenter;
Ezekiel;
Zilpha, wife of Samuel Cranston;
Rufus;
Eseck;
Susanna, wife of Darius Field;
the heirs of Sarah Parker, late wife of Abel Parker;
and Freelove Edwards, daughter of Pain (Edwards) and granddaughter of Samuel King.

(the phrase "and the heirs of Sarah Parker, late wife of Abel Parker" makes it look to me like Sarah King Parker had Heirs not named here, but FREELOVE the heir of Sarah King Parker Edwards and therefore would be FREELOVE EDWARDS, not FREELOVE PARKER and this would then indicate that our Freelove Parker may not be the daughter of Sarah King and Abel Parker)

He served as a private in Capt. Samuel Wilbor's Company, 5th Scituate Train Band. Marched 1777, March 13. Discharged 1777, March 30. In the census of 1774 he is set down as having 3 sons and 4 daughters under 16 and 1 daughter over 16.

He was married (1st) on 2 December, 1759, at Scituate, (page 29) by Jeremiah A gell, Justice, to Freelove Phillips, daughter of John and Sarah Phillips. She was born 1737, June 17. He married (2d), about 1800, Dinah Burton,* but had issue by first wife only. His children, all born at Scituate, were:

39     i Isaac 5 .

      ii Elizabeth 5 , who m. Samuel Carpenter.

40     iii Ezekiel 5 .

    iv Zilpha 5 , b. 1 761, June 15, d. 1844, June 15,
    m. 1780, Nov. 23, Samuel Cranston, son of
    Peleg and Patience (Gardiner) Cranston, of
    Providence, R. I. He was b. 1752, Apl. 12,
    and d. 1830, Apl. 19. Their children were:

        I. Sarah, b. 1781, Aug. 2y;
        2. John, 1783, Feb. 11 ;
        3. Freelove, 1784, July 30;
        4. Esther, 1785, Sept. 26;
        5. Samuel, 1786, Dec. 30;
        6. Peleg, 1788, May 8;
        7. Zilpha, 1789, Sept. 12;
        8. A'aomi, 1791, May 14;
        9. Barzillai, 1793, Mar. 12;
        10. Hannah, 1794, Dec. 21;
        II. Abraham, 1796, Apl. 14;
        12. Serene, 1798, May 31;
        13. Helen, 1800, May 17;
        14. William, 1802, Nov. 9;
        15. Maria, 1805, July 26.

42     v Eseck 5 , b. 1 77 1, Mar. 17.

41     vi Rufus 5 , b. 1777, Dec. 2.

    vii     Susanna 5 , who m. Darius Field, and had a child Hannah,
    viii Sarah 5 , who m. (1st) Abel Parker, and (2d) Pain Edwards.
        She had issue by first husband (Abel Parker), names unknown
        and by second husband (Pain Edwards) had Freelove.

My question here is: If Freelove was born to Pain Edwards rather than to Abel Parker (Sarah's first husband), why is her surname referred to as PARKER (when married Gardner Hopkins, and also on her cemetery monument)? Is this possibly just another FREELOVE among all the others in this family?

=================================================================================
William Parker (1755 – 1833) & Susan Colvin Cheney (1765 – ????)

Below is listed the baptisims of their children and Freelove is not among them.

Early church records of Groton, Massachusetts, 1761-1830: containing a list ...
http://books.google.com/books?id=cZdD_EF6FasC&pg=PA159&lpg=PA159&dq=susanna+chaney+parker&source=bl&ots=rLIbAJ-TPr&sig=Kkeq4lG7_59uC6v9mU1hFnoLWEs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Qj3zTpvjBYrliAK-_qWkDg&sqi=2&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=susanna%20chaney%20parker&f=false

William & Susanna [(Chaney)] Parker--baptisims of their children

1795 - November 3        Henry (baptized at the house of Elnathan Sawtell at a lecture)
1795 - November 3        Matilda (possible) (baptized at the house of Elnathan Sawtell at a lecture)
1795 - November 3        John (possible) (baptized at the house of Elnathan Sawtell at a lecture)
1795 - November 3        Mary (possible) (baptized at the house of Elnathan Sawtell at a lecture)
1796 - October 16        Mighill     ([Chaney]) name not shown in this record
1798 - October 14        Warren
1800 - June 8        Jane
1803 - June 21        Caroline (baptized at a lecture at the house of Elnathan Sawtell)
1805 - November        Loisa (at the house of Elnathan Sawtell)
1806 - October 26        Julian
1810 - November 22    Joseph
1810 - November 22    Addison
1812 - September 24    Oliver (all baptism of this date at School house No. 8)

FREELOVE is not among the children baptized to this couple. Does that mean she is not their chid?

=========================================================================
Any help in solving this mystery would be greatly appreciated.  

Thanks,
Kay  :-)

Comments

Unfortunately, your mystery only started one for me.  I have William Parker (1755-1833) married to Susannah Colvin Cheney (1765-) as the parents of Colvin Parker (1783-1868) (my direct ancestors); Sarah Parker (1784 - 1892), William Parker (1797-1891); Freelove Parker (1798 - 1884).  

It is logical that Colvin Parker is their son as he is obviously named for his mother's family.  Also, when you look at the church records, Susannah would have been 47 when her last child, Oliver, was born (45 for the prior two listed).  My chief source of information is the information obtained by a family member for my Parker family when she traveled to the east coast and visited the various sites involved.  Like anyone else, she could have been dead wrong, so I will start to check all of this out further.  However, all the family trees I have viewed online support my tree as listed above.  I realize that doesn't seem to mean much as it seems a lot of errors are carried forth there!

I guess I can say "Thanks,"  but darn, I thought I had this family nailed!

Kathy Ulrich

Answer 1

I am a direct descendent of Abel Parker (1769-1846) and Abel Parker, Jr. (1813-1900).  As per our family records Abel Parker (1769-1846) was first married to Sarah King (Abt. 1775-Abt.1800) and the children we show born to this union are as follows:Deborah Parker, Zephaniah Parker, Jeremiah Parker, and Freelove Parker who was born August 12, 1798 in Scituate, Providence County, Rhode Island, and married Gardner Hopkins in Foster, Providence County, Rhode Island.   

After the death of Sarah King, Abel Parker,Sr. married Nancy Ann Goodspeed, who would have been my Great-Great-Great Grandmother.  To Abel and Nancy were born Emily Parker, James R, Parker, Zephaniah Parker, Sarah Parker and Abel Parker, Jr.  (my Great-Great Grandfather).  Abel Parker, Jr. (1813-1900) moved to Wisconsin in about 1844 and most of our family resides in Wisconsin to this day.

The name Zephaniah Parker shows up twice in the Abel Parker, Sr. family, but according to what I have learned in our genealogy club, this is not uncommon, as when an infant died, the name was very often used for another child born at a later date during that period in history.

I hope this information is helpful to you.

Gary

Comments

Thank you so much for this information. It really helps with sorting out the parentage of Freelove Parker Hopkins.

Kay  :-)

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Couldn't rest until I did more research on all of this, and here is what I have found for your consideration.

RESEARCH RE WILLIAM PARKER AND SUSANNAH COLVIN CHENEY PARKER

WILLIAM PARKER (5/1/1755 – 12/31/1833) B.  Coventry, Rhode Island

SUSANNAH COLVIN CHENEY PARKER (1765 – 12/31/1833 – questionable date of death.  Birth date also listed as 1755) B. Foster, Rhode Island

Problem:  Claim that William and Susannah were married in Groton, MA, rather than Foster, Rhode Island.

Research results:

1. The children:

a. None of the children listed on my records appear in the Groton town records.

b. They are also not listed in the Groton group.

 

2. What started the question was the search for Freelove Parker.

a. The Groton town records have no Freelove for any family listed.

b. Freelove does appear in my records (8/12/1798 – 8/8/1884) in Scituate, Rhode Island.  I am a bit uncomfortable with her included in my listing because everyone else I have checked (which is not all of them at this point, partly because some of them don’t appear in the searches), is born in Coventry.  That doesn’t totally rule her out, but I have my questions about her.  She died in Ohio, but it is apparent that others had also moved away from Coventry.

c. I have removed Freelove Parker as a daughter of William and Susannah.  Subsequent research makes me believe her true father was Abel Parker (1769 – 1884).  He was born in Chelmsford, Massachusetts and died in Lapeer, Cortland, New York.  Chelmsford is closer to Scituate, Rhode Island.

 

3. Marriage dates:

a. The marriage date we have is 1781.

b. The Early Church Records for New England show William Parker and Susanna Chaney, both of Groton, being married October 26, 1784.

c. My ancestor, Colvin Parker was born in 1783 in Coventry.  It is unlikely the couple came down to Coventry, especially since they were not yet married.

 

4. Name discrepancies:

a. Our records list her as Susannah Colvin Cheney Parker.

b. Her son, Colvin Parker (1783 – 1868) in all probability would have carried his mother’s maiden name, Colvin.

c. The Early Church Records list her name as Susanna Chaney Parker.

d. The Groton Births list her name as:

i. Susanna (Chaney)Parker

ii. Shusana (Chaney) Parker

iii. Susana Parker

iv. There is a listing on all the Groton and Early New England Records for Channey (Cheney) plus some other variations.

e. I have also researched Susannah’s names for “Colvin” and “Cheney.”  I had hoped to find her parents listed somewhere.  While there are lots of Colvins in the New England area, but I could not connect her to any of them.  I did not want to take the time to investigate every single name.  In those searches, I used all the variations of the spelling of Susannah’s name I could think up, but none worked.

 

5. The name discrepancies have a significance when it comes to whose children were they.

a. All the children born whose mother’s name was listed as “Susana Parker” are listed below. They could not be Susannah’s as she wasn’t born until 1755.

i. 2/10/1736 – Susanna

ii. 5/1/1744 – Sibbel

iii. 3/7/1746 – Samuel

iv. 6/25/1752 – Levi

b. All the children born whose mother’s name was listed as “Susanna (Chaney), are listed below.  None of them are named in my Parker genealogy, both as children or later as adults.  The family trees do not meet.

i. 9/10/1784 - Susanna

ii. 2/28/1786 - William

iii. 10/3/1787 - Luther

iv. 12/21/1791 – Matilda

v. 3/4/1793 - John

vi. 2/28/1795 – Mary

vii. 8/18/1796 – Mighill (Miai)

viii. 5/17/1798 – Warren

ix. 4/4/1800 – Jane

x. 5/31/1802 – Caroline (twin)

xi. 5/31/1802 – Unnamed twin

xii. 7/4/1804 – Loisa

xiii. 3/15/1808 – Joseph

xiv. 1/5/1810 – Addison

xv. 5/16/1812 - Oliver

c. There was one listing for Susana Parker:

i. 1/22/1749 – Isaac

d. The names listed by Early Church Records of Groton, in an email forwarded to me included only the names listed above beginning with Mary (1795) whose mother’s name was “Susanna (Chaney), but also included the additional names and their baptism dates listed below.  Perhaps the people listed before 1795 had been baptized earlier.

i. 1795 – November – Henry

ii. 1806 –October 26 – Julian

e. According to our records, William Parker and Susannah Colvin Cheney Parker had the following children:

i. 1783 - Colvin - Coventry

ii. 1797 – Sarah – Rhode Island

iii. Freelove – 8/12/1798 – Scituate, Rhode Island

iv. Deborah  - No dates or further information

v. Sheffield – No dates or further information

f. My conclusion is that there was more than one couple of William and a woman whose name was some variation of “Susannah” in Groton and probably a lot of other places in New England.

i. Another part of that is there is a difference in the ages my Susannah was listed born.  I had her originally listed as 1755, but several records have come up with the date as being 1765.  This would make a Susannah born in 1755 making her 57 when her last child was born – not likely.  So the date shown for the Groton Susanna must be more correct.

g. In the Groton records, there are lots of Susannahs spelled one way or the other, as well as lots of William Parkers.

 

6. The email sent to me lists the Parker children who were baptized as per the Groton church records as being the children of my family’s William Parker and Susannah Colvin Cheney Parker.  None of them are listed under my genealogy information.  Groton Massachusetts is a far journey from Coventry in those days, so unless my Parkers decided to go to Groton to have their brood, and then return to Coventry in-between to have their own, it is unlikely there is any relation, other than incidental here.

 

7. Colvin Parker, born 1783 in Coventry, Kent, Rhode Island, died in Marathon, New York March 12, 1868.  His son, Charles Edwin Parker, was born January 8, 1811 in Coventry, Kent, Rhode Island, died in Mosinee, Marathon, Wisconsin March 6, 1904.  On Charles’s death certificate, he named his father’s and mother’s birthplace as Coventry, Rhode Island.  I am confident in my documentation to William and Susannah Colvin Cheney Parker.  I will happier when I find more direct documentation for Susannah herself, but for now, I think this is correct.