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Abraham Parker (say 1618–1685), son of John Parker

Rose Whitlock (say 1620–1691)

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Abraham Parker was born say 1618 (based on his marriage). He died on 12 August 1685 in Chelmsford. [1][2] He married Rose Whitlock on 18 November 1644. [2][3, 246]

Rose Whitlock was born say 1624 (based on her marriage and the birth of her last child). She died on 30 November 1691 in Chelmsford. [1][2]

Abraham Parker is "presumed" to have come frome Wiltshire, England to Woburn. [2] He first settled in Woburn. [2] He was a freeman in 1645. [2] He came to Chelmsford, probably in 1653, with his brothers Jacob, James and Joseph. [2]

Abraham's 24-acre homestead near the center of town was set off to him on 29 September 1662. [2]

Abraham Parker was the first settler in Chelmsford. [3, 39] He was an original member of the church in Chelmsford in 1665. [3, 11] His wife was an early member of the church in Chelmsford in 1655. [3, 12] Rose owned the covenant there on 11 (4) 1656. [3, 27]

Abraham is on a 1671 tax list in Chelmsford. [3, 59–60] A 1672 account of his estate for tax purposes says that he owned two oxen, seven cows, one horse, seven swine, 12 sheep, 28 acres of meadow and eight acres of pasture. [3, 246]

On 20: 3: 1673 William Underwood, William Fletcher and Abraham Parker were appointed to lay out a highway in Chelmsford. [3, 40]

Abraham Parker, Sr. was on a 1 September 1674 list of able-bodied men in Chelmsford. [3, 90]

Livestock laws were apparently strictly enforced in early Chelmsford. Abraham's eight swine were impounded for trespassing "fouer times in the same year." [3, 56]

On 24 March 1678/9 Abraham Parker and his two sons Moses and Isaac were accused of selling strong liquor to the Indians. They confessed and promised to desist. [3, 530]

On 12 (12) 1679 Abraham Parker, Sr. was appointed tythingman in Chelmsford. [4]

Abraham, or his son Abraham, was on a 24 May 1682 list of freemen in Chelmsfors. [5]

Rose Parker of Chelmsford, the widow of Abraham, made her will on 17 September 1691. She mentioned her sons John, Abraham and Moses; the children of her son Isaac; her sons-in-law John Kidder of Chelmsford and James Parker of Groton; her daughters Mary, the wife of James Parker, Elizbeth, the wife of James Pierce, Lydia, the wife of John Kidder. Probate was on 15 March 1692/3. 6]

The inventory of the estate of Abraham Parker and his wife Rose, both deceased, was taken on 23 March 1696.6]

Children of Abraham Parker and Rose Whitlock: [1]

i. Anna (Hannah) Parker was born on 29 October 1645 in Woburn. [2] She was baptised on 1: 12m: 1656 in Chelmsford. [1] She probably died before 17 September 1691, when she was not mentioned in her mother's will. She married Nathaniel Blood on 16 January 1679 in Chelmsford. [2]

ii. Corporal John Parker was born on 30 October 1647 in Wobury. [2] He was baptised on 1: 12m: 1656 in Chelmsford. [1] He died on 14 April 1699 in Chelmsford. [1] He married Mary Danforth, the daughter of Captain Jonathan Danforth of Billerica. [2][2]

John Parker, the son of Abraham, built a sawmill on Beaver Creeek in 1678 in Chelmsford. [3, 52]

John Parker was on a1 September 1674 list of able-bodied men in Chelmsford. [3, 90]

iii. Abraham Parker was born on 8 March 1650 in Woburn. [2] He died on 20 October 1651. [2]

iv. Abraham Parker was born in August 1652 in Woburn. [2] He was baptised on 1: 12m: 1656 in Chelmsford. [1] He died after 17 September 1691. He married Martha, the daughter of John Livermore, of Watertown on 15: 5m: 1682 in Chelmsford. [1]

He was a selectman in Chelmsford in 1691 and 1692. [3, 758] Thomas Clark, Abraham and Moses Parker, Stephen Pierce and John Burge and their families were in a garrison together on 16 March 1691/2 in Chelmsford. [3, 134]

v. Mary Parker was born on 15 or 20 November 1655 in Chelmsford. [1][2] She died after 17 September 1691. She married her first cousin James, the son of Captain James Parker, on 11 December 1678 in Chelmsford. [1][2] He was killed by Indians on 27 July 1694 in Groton. [2]

v. Moses Parker was born about 1658 in Chelmsford. He married Abigail Hildreth.

Inventory was taken on Isaac's estate on 2 April 1690; it amounted to £191-19-00. Administration was granted to Isaac's relict Esther in 1900. William Fletcher, probably Esther's brother William, was administrator on 25 April 1705. 6]

vii. Elizabeth Parker was born on 10 April 1663 in Chelmsford. [1][2] She died after 17 September 1691. She married James Pierce of Woburn. [2]

viii. Lydia Parker was born on 17 February 1665 in Chelmsford. [1][2] She was baptized on 18 September 1665. [2] She died after 17 September 1691. She married John Kidder of Chelmsford on 3 December (or September) 1684 in Chelmsford. [2]

ix. Jacob Parker was born on 24 March 1669 in Chelmsford. [1][2] He probably died young as he is not mentioned in his mother's will.

References

1.Vital Records of Chelmsford, Massachusetts: To the End of the Year 1849 (Salem: Essex Institute, 1914). Baptisms of Abraham, Anna and John (as ch. Abraham) and births of Elizabeth, Isaac, Jacob, Lydia, Mary and Moses (as ch. Abraham and Rose), pp. 105–12. The marriages of Abraham, Mary (as d. Abraham), Moses, Isaac and Lydia (as d. Abraham and Rose), pp. 282–7. Death of Abraham (as "Sr."), death of Rose (as wid. Abraham), death of John (as Corp.), death of Isaac, pp. 419–22.

2. Francis J. Parker, "Parker Genealogy," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 16 (1862): 41–42.

3. Wilson Waters, History of Chelmsford (Lowell, MA: Courier Citizen Co., 1917).

4. Lucius R. Paige, "Middlesex Statistics, 1680," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 5 (1851): 171–4.

5. Lucius R. Paige, "List of Freemen," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 3 (1849): 246.

6. "Massachusetts, Wills and Probate Records," database with images, Ancestry > Middlesex > probate records, vol. 7–10, 1689–1704, image 191.

Revised 04-Jun-2023

©2019 A. Buiter