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WILLIAM PARKER (d. 1684)
MARY TURNER (bp. 1635–1704/6), daughter of HUMPHREY TURNER and LYDIA GAYMER
William died between 1 July and 3 October 1684. He married first Mary Rawlins in April 1639 in Scituate.1 Mary, the daughter of Thomas Rawlins, died in August 1651.1 William married second Mary, the daughter of Humphrey Turner on 13 November 1651.1,2
Mary, the daughter of Humphrey and Lydia Turner, was baptized on 25 January 1634/5 by Reverend John Lothrop at his house in Scituate. [GDB, 3: 517] She died between 1 March 1703/4 and 2 March 1705/6.1,2
Mary Turner was only 17 when she married the much older William.1
William took an oath of allegiance on 1 February 1638 in Scituate.1 He was a freeman by 1 December 1640.1 He received a grant of land as an old resident in 1674.1
William is in the Scituate section of the 1643 list of those able to bear arms in New Plymouth.3
Mary Rawlins brother, Thomas Rawlins of Boston, made his will on 12 December 1681. Among the many relatives he left bequests to were the wife of John Randall of Scituate and Stephen Totman.1
William wrote his will on 1 July 1684; it was proved on 3 October 1684. He left bequests to his son Joseph, his daughter Prudence Randall, his grandchild Stephen Totman, his wife Mary, and his children Miles, Nathaniel, William, Lydia, Mary, and Judith.1
Children of William Parker and Mary Rawlins:
i. Mary Parker was born on 1 January 1639 and was baptized on 16 May 1647.1 She died shortly before 10 April 1666.1 She married Thomas Totman about 7 March 1664/5.1 Thomas died about 6 May 1678.1
The verdict of the Coroners Enquest concerning Mary's sudden death was that she had gathered and eaten a root that turned out to be poisonous. The verdice of the Coroners Enquest concerning Thomas's death was that he had willfully starved himself.1
ii. William Parker was born in December 1643 and was baptized on 16 May 1647.1 He probably died after 1662, and probably about 1675, and certainly before 12 December 1681, when he was not mentioned in his uncle's will.1
iii. Martha Parker was born in February 1646 and was baptized on 13 June 1647.1 She probably died young, as she was not mentioned in her uncle's or father's wills.
iv. Patience Parker was born in February 1648 and baptized on 6 May 1649.1 She died on 23 February 1711/2 in Rochester, Massachusetts.1 She married John Randall about 1676.1 John, the son of William Randall, was born about 1650 in Scituate.1 He died in Rochester before 30 September 1727, when his will was proved.1 He married second Alice, the widow of Isaac Spooner of Dartmouth, Massachusetts, on 21 January 1716/7.1
Children of William Parker and Mary Turner:
v. Lydia Parker was born on 9 May 1653, baptized on 13 April 1636, and died on 7 September 1719, age 67, in Scituate.1 She married Theophilus Wetherell on 9 November 1675.
vi. Miles Parker was born on 25 June 1655, baptized on 6 April 1656 [!], and was living on 6 October 1708, when he acknowledged a deed.1
vii. Joseph Parker was born on 4 October 1658.1 He died on 24 March 1723.1 He married Mary Whitcomb, the sister of his brother-in-law James Whitcomb.1
Joseph was one of the many residents of Scituate to have a dispute with Captain John Williams. In September 1686 John sued Joseph Parker on the grounds that he had not completed his promised five months service. Joseph said that he had not been paid and John said that Joseph had stolen from him. The jury found for John. [PC2, 1]
viii. Nathaniel Parker was born on 8 March 1661/2 and died in 1690, unmarried.1
Nathaniel Parker, pressed to be a soldier in the Expedition to Canada, died in the Expedition. His mother Mary Parker and his elder brother Miles desired that administration be granted to Timothy Rogers of Marshfield on 17 March 1690/1.4
Nathaniel left his estate to his mother and his eldest brother Miles.1
ix. Judith Parker was born about 1664 and died before 19 June 1705, unmarried, when she was referred to as deceased.1
x. Mary Parker was born about 1666/7. She died on 30 November 1729 in Rochester, Massachusetts. She married James Whitcomb.
xi. William Parker was born on 15 May 1675 and probably died between 1742 and 1746.1 He married Rachel Clarke on 2 March 1696/7.1 Rachel, the daughter of Thomas and Martha Clarke, was born on 24 March 1678/9.1
References:
1. Mrs. John E. Barclay, "William Parker of Scituate, Mass.," The American Genealogist 41 (1965), 102–6.
2. Vital Records of Scituate, Massachusetts: To the Year 1850, 2 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1909), vol. 1: 378 (baptism of Mary), 305 (marriage of Mary).
3. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, "List of Those Able to Bear Arms in the Colony of New Plymouth in 1643," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 4 (1850): 257.
4. PCPA. "Plymouth County Probate Records," Genealogical Advertiser, 4 vols. (Cambridge: Lucy Hall Greenlaw, 1896–1901), vol. 1: 117.
PC2. "Plymouth County, MA: Plymouth Colony Court Records, 1686–1859," database with images, AmericanAncestors > vol. 1.
GDB. Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs, The Seventeenth-Century Town Records of Scituate, Massachusetts, 3 vols. (Boston: New England Historical Genealogical Society, 1997, 1999, 2001).
Last revised: 09-Dec-2022