Descendants of Sir Robert Parke Preston, England

Descendants of Sir Robert -I- Parke, who came from Preston, Eng., to Wethersfield, Conn., in 1640:

After the Norman conquest, a follower of William, named Thomas, was placed in charge of the Royal Parks and made Master of the Hunt. He became Thomas de Parke, and was granted lands in the North of England, with the title of Baronet. Arms: Argent on a pale azure 3 stags' heads caboched of the field. Crest: A talbot's head couped gu eared and gorged with a collar gemel or, and pierced in the breast with a pheon of the last. Motto: Justitia tenax. Among his descendants are found the names of Maj.-Gen. William Parke and Col. Richard Parke, both Companions of the Order of the Bath. Daniel Parke, from whom is descended the Parke-Custis family of Virginia, was on the staff of the Duke of Marlborough and carried the news of the battle of Blenheim to Queen Anne.

Wensleydale, Baron (Sir James Parke). " His lordship, one of the most distinguished lawyers and judges of his time, was youngest son of the late Thomas Parke, Esq., of Highfield, near Liverpool, by Ann Preston, his wife." (Burke's " Peerage," p. 1330.)

Sir Robert Parke, the progenitor of the New England branch of the family, was born in Preston, Eng., near Liverpool, in 1585. " Robert Parke, of Wethersfield, came in 1630 ; went back same year carrying an order by our governor to his son John, in Eng., to pay money, probably the first bill of exchange drawn in America." (Savage's " Genealogical Dictionary.") The exact date of his return to America is not known, but the " Colonial Records of Connecticut," vol. I, pp. 46, 66 and 74, show that he " was of Wethersfield in 1640 and made freeman of the Colony in Apr. of that year ; he was deputy to the General Court in Sep., 1641, and again in Sep., 1642." " He removed to Pequot (New London) in 1649, was a resident of the town plot about six years, and then established himself on the banks of the Mystic. His will, which may be found in the town book, is of date May 14, 1660. He names three children, William, Samuel and Thomas. He died in 1665, an aged man." (Caulkins' " History of New London.")

William Parke, of Roxbury, eldest son of Robert, came in the "Lion," arrived at Boston Feb., 1631, with Roger Williams (m. Martha, dau. of John Holgrave, of Salem, had several children, all boys, who died young). Johnson, in his "Wonderwork Providence," calls him "a man of a pregnant understanding." (Savage.) " He was made executor of his father's will, in which his brother Samuel was left £$o under the following conditions : ' provided my said son Samuel shall first come and demand the same in Roxbury within the time and space of seven years next and immediately after the date hereof,'" (Caulkins.)

Samnel Parke, of Stonington, son of Robert, had Robert, William and probably other children. (Savage.)

"Thomas Parke, after residing a number of years at Mystic, within the bounds of Stonington, removed with his son, Thomas Parke, Jr., to lands belonging to them in the northern part of New London, and in 1680 they were both reckoned as inhabitants of the latter place. The town of Preston was organized in 1687. The petition to the General Assembly for incorporation was of date October, 1686, and is headed by Thomas Parke, Sr., Thomas Parke, Jr., Nathaniel Parke, John Parke and fifteen others. Thomas Parke, Sr., was the first deacon of Mr. Treat's church organized in that town in 1698. He died July 30, 1709. His daughters Alice and Dorothy, respectively, married Greenfield

Larrabee (second of the name) and Joseph Morgan." (Caulkins.)

Robert Parke, b. 1585, d. 1665, and had children : William, Samuel, Thomas. Thomas Parke, son of Robert (m. Dorothy—family name not recovered but she is supposed to have been a sister of Mrs. Blinman(Caulkins), and had children: Martha, b. 1646, Thomas, b. 1648 (d. before his father), Robert, b. , d. 1707, Nathaniel, William, John, b. , d. 1716, Alice [m. Greenfield Larrabee, 2d], Dorothy [m. Joseph Morgan]).

Nathaniel Parke, 3d son of Thomas, Sr., and had children : Nathaniel, b. 1680, d. 1718, Ezekiel, Joseph, John, Isaac, Jacob, Phoebe.

Joseph Parke, 3d son of Nathaniel (m. Mary, and had children : Sarah [m. William Bevin Dec. 20, 1739], Joseph, b. 1712, d. May 19, 1768, Mary, Elizabeth, Daniel, Smith, James).

Joseph Parke, 2d of the name (m. Jan. 16, 1739, Amity Cady of Pomfret, and had children: Joseph, b. Nov. 1, 1742, d. Apr. 10, 1744, Joseph, 4th of the name, b. June 14, 1745, Hannah, Jacob, Elisha, Daniel [m. Apr. 13, 1779, Esther Ranny], John, b. 1760, d. 1819).

"John Parke, youngest son of Joseph, 2d of the name, b. in Chatham, Ct., 1760; at the age of 16 enlisted in the Continental army and served throughout the Revolutionary war; was sergt. of the guard at the execution of Maj. Andre Oct. 2, 1780, and described the scene to his children, remembering distinctly the words of that young officer when he first saw the gallows: ' I am satisfied to die, but not with the mode.' In 1784 he married Bethiah Smith, dau. of Ezra Smith, and settled in Middle Haddam; built and commanded his own vessel, the ' Cleantha,' and was for many years engaged in the coasting trade. May 14, 1798, he was commissioned by Gov. Jonathan Trumbull maj. of the 23d regt. Conn. militia. A devout member of the Protestant Episcopal ch., gentle and dignified in manner, he governed his household with much love and some Puritan discipline. Losing the larger portion of a handsome competency by indorsing the paper of a friend who subsequently failed, he removed with his family to Camden, Oneida co., N. Y., ' settled by New Eng. farmers in 1808.' (N. Y. Historical Collections), and later to Manlius, Onondaga co. (' This town was divided by the surveyor-general into lots one mile square, originally, which were drawn as bounty lands by Revolutionary soldiers' — Ibid.), where he died in 1819."—"Memoirs of Cleantha Parke McConnell."

His son Hervey Parke, removed with his family to the Territory of Michigan in 1822; settled in Pontiac, was engaged in the survey of public lands in Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa until 1836; d. in 1879, in the ooth year of his age.

John Parke's second son, Ezra Smith Parke removed to the Territory of Michigan in 1823 and settled in Bloomfield, Oakland co.; continued in the practice of his profession as a physician until his death in 1846. ("Mem. C. P. McConnell.")

Cleantha Bethia, dau. of Hervey Parke, m. Willard McConnell, Esq., a prominent merchant and influential citizen of Pontiac, Mich., where she still resides, a widow (Jan., 1893).

Hervey Coke Parke, a son of Dr. Parke, is now (Jan., 1893) at the head of the manufacturing drug house of Parke, Davis & Co., Detroit, Mich.

Lyman Curtiss Parke, Dr. Parke's youngest son, is a retired merchant of San Francisco, and lives in Oakland, Cal.

John Parke, youngest son of Joseph, 2d of the name (m. July 1, 1784, Bethiah Smith, d. May 29, 1802, after 12 hours' sickness, aged 38 years.—Caulkins) and had children: Lydia, b. June 12, 1785, d. Jan. 15, 1788, Hervey, b. Apr. 14, 1790, d. 1879, Ezra Smith, b. Apr. 4, 1793, d. June 20, 1844, Lucintha, b. Apr. 26, 1795, d. Apr., 1850, Cleantha, b. Feb. 22, 1800, d. July 8, 1879).

(Names in Italics Deceased.)

Hervey Parke (m. 1790, Mercy Brownson, and had children: Cleantha Bethia, Sarah Lucintha, John Hervey.)

Cleantha Bethia Parke (m. Willard M. McConnell, and had children: Cleantha, Hervey Parke [m. Isadore Newman], Jo

seph [d. of wounds received at the battle of Stone River, Murfreesboro, Tenn., Jan. 14, 1863, while serving as 1st lieut. 18th U. S. infty., aged 21 yrs.], Willard Clarence [m. Hama. Rorick, and had one child: Ada], Ada Cleantha [m. Henry Clay Wisner, and had children: George Willard, Hortense Lenore, Harry, Mary Richards, Fanny, Marguerite Parke], Florence Lenore [m. William Henry Butts, and had children: Willard McConnell, Harold Thompson]).

Sarah Lucintha Parke (m. Levi Bacon, and had children: Mary [m. Maj. James Nelson], infant son).

John Hervey Parke (m. Harriet Luring Fuller, and had children: Cleantha Theresa [m. Curtiss T. Dodge and had Jennie [m. Dr. Elmer Gardner] and Hervey Curtiss], Hervey John [m. Frances Louisa Tucker, and had Cleantha Louisa], Sarah [m. Dr. George W. Orr, and had Hazel and Ruth]).

Ezra Smith Parke (1793) (m. Rhoda Sperry, and had children: Cornelia, Francis Asbury, Ira Sperry, Hervey Coke, Sarah Abigail [m. Benjamin F. French], Lyman Curtiss [m. Beatrice Howard, widow of Col. McKay]).

Cornelia Parke (m. Mark W. Kelscy, and had children: Cleantha Rhoda [m. Frederick Page], Eva).

Hervey Coke Parke (m. 1st, Frances A. Hunt, and had children: Sarah, Mary, Annie, Frank, James Hunt, m. 2d, Mary M. Meade, and had children: Willard, Lyman, Bessie Cleantha, Ira, Marie Louise).

Lnclntha Parke (1795) (m. Gen. Lyman Curtiss of Camden, N. Y., and had two sons who died in infancy).

Cleantha Parke (1800) (m. William Beekman Storm of Camden, N. Y., and had children: William Henry, Charles Henry, Cleantha Bethia, Mary Victorine, John Parke, Charles William, Emily Belvidera, Francis Eugene