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Robert Parke (bp. 1580–1665)
Martha Chaplin (bp. 1584–by 1643)
Robert Parke, the son of Robert Park and Alice Chaplin, was baptized on 3 June 1580 in Postingford, county Suffolk. [1] He died on 14 March 1664/5 in Mystic (Stonington). [1] He married first [his first cousin] Martha Chaplin on 9 February 1601/2 in Semer, Suffolk. [1] He married second Alice Freeman. [1] Alice was the widow of John Tompson.
On 30 May 1644, the Massachusetts Bay court gave Robert permission to proceed with his marriage to Alice [Freeman] Tompson. [2]
Martha Chaplin, the daughter of William Chaplin of Semer, was baptized on 4 February 1583/4 in Semer. [1] She probably died by 1643. [1]
English Family of Robert Parke
Robert Parke died between 12 February 1592, when he wrote his will, and 3 April 1593, when it was proved. He married Alice Chaplin in 1579 in Sudbury, Suffolk. [1] West argues that this Robert was not, as was previously thought, the son of William Parke (d. 1551) of Gestingthorpe, co. Essex. [7]
Alice was the daughter of William Chaplin of Long Melford, Suffolk, who wrote his will in 1575. [1]
Martha was the sister of Clement Chaplin—a Great Migration immigrant who was baptized on 5 June 1593 in Semer and later returned to England—and Dorothy Chaplin, who came to New England with her husband John Plumb and settled in Milford, Connecticut. [3]
Robert was an immigrant in the Winthrop Fleet in 1930. [1] It is not known if Martha came to New England. [1] Their son William came later the same year. Robert returned to England that year but his son William and daughter Ann remained in Roxbury. Robert later returned to New England. [4]
Robert was in Wethersfield in 1639. [1] Mr. Parke at Wethersfield was made free at the 9 April 1640 Connecticut Court of Election. [5, 1: 46]
Robert Parke was on the jury at the 2 July 1640 Connecticut Particular Court. [5]
Robert was in New London in 1649. [1] He was in Stonington in 1658. [1] He later moved to Mystic.
An attachment was granted to Robert Parkes for five pounds, ten shillings in the hands of Anthony Wilson of Uncawa at the 6 April 1643 Particular Court. [5]
Robert Parke of Mistick "neere New London" made his will on 14 May 1660; it was proved on 14 March 1664/5. Jacobus made an abstract from a copy made on 28 April 1691. Robert left all his housing and land—170 acres on both sides of the river—to his son William, whom he made his sole executor. He left his son Samuel 50 pounds, if he should come and demand it in Roxbury within seven years. He left Thomas, or any of his children at the choice of his executor, one-third of his estate. [6]
Reverend Richard Blinman called Thomas Parke his brother-in-law. After exploring all the possibilities, Greene suggests that the most likely is that Richard's wife Mary was an unrecorded daughter of Robert. [4]
Children of Robert Parke and Martha Chaplin:
i. Martha Parke was baptized on 21 April 1607 in Semer, co. Suffolk. [4]
ii. Robert Parke was baptized on 4 June 1605 in Semer. [4] He died before 14 May 1660.
iii. William Parke was baptized on 21 April 1607 in Semer. He died on 11 May 1685 in Roxbury. [4] He married Martha, the daughter of John Holgrave. [4]
iv. Richard Parke was baptized on 8 August 1609 in Whetfield, co. Suffolk. [4] He probably died before 11 May 1660.
v. John Parke was baptized on 3 March 1610 in Ringshall, co. Suffolk. [4]
vi. Jane Parke was baptized on 10 August 1613 in Ringshall, co. Suffolk. [4]
vii. Thomas Parke was born on 13 ___ 1616 in Hitchen, co. Suffolk. He died on 30 July 1709 in Preston Capes, Northamptonshire. He married Dorothy Thompson.
viii. Anne Parke was baptized on 3 December 1618 in Hitchen, co. Suffolk. [4]
ix. Samuel Parke was baptized on 20 June 1621 in Bildeston, co. Suffolk. [4] He married Hannah ___. [4]
Samuel was not in New England when his father made his will, but he later shows up with his sons in Stonington. [4]
x. Mary Parke (probably) married Reverene Richard Blinman.
References
1. Gary Boyd Roberts, "The New England Ancestry of H.R.H. The Princess of Wales," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 36 (1982): 85–103.
2. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay, vol. 3, 1644–1657 (Boston: William White, 1853), 3.
3. Clifford L. Stott, "The Chaplin Family of Co. Suffolk," The American Genealogist 82 (2007): 250.
4. "Mary, Wife of Rev. Richard Blinman of Marshfield, Gloucester, and New London: An Unsolved Problem,"
5. Charles J. Hoadley, The Public Records of the State of Connecticut, vol. 1 (Hartford: Press of the Case, Lockwood and Brainard Co., 1894), 55, 84.
6. Donald Lines Jacobus, "New London (Conn.) Probate Records," The American Genealogist 14 (1937): 16.
7. Randy A. West, "Robert Parke of Wethersfield, New London, and Stonington, Connecticut, Was not the Grandson of William Parke (d. 1551) of Gestingthorpe, Co. Essex," The American Genealogist 87 (2015): 91–92.
24-Apr-2023