Robert Parke the immigrant - connection to Parke of Gestingthorpe Essex

[Simon Pugh]

I have been reviewing some of the evidence for a descent from the Parkes
of Gestingthorpe, Essex for Robert Parke the immigrant with the Winthrop
fleet. The most recent I have information I have goes back to 1986 and I
wonder if anyone knows of any recent developments.

The line goes as follows:
William Parke of Gestingthorpe ob 1551, wife Margaret
Robert Parke of Acton ob 1592, wife Alice Chaplin
Robert Parke the immigrant, wife Martha Chaplin.

From The Newsletter of the Parke Society [NPS] 1986 Vol. XXIII no.3:

The will of William Parke, Gestingthorpe, 25 Mar 1551 proved 31 May
1551.
His wife Margaret is mentioned together with 3 sons and a daughter.
John
William
Robert, the youngest, under 18 years, therefore born after 1533 and
before 1551
Margaret married to William Sympson.

This ref also show an extract from the visitations of Essex 1634 that
shows a pedigree of Parke of Gestingthorpe. It is in a letter from T.
Woodcock, the Somerset Herald, College of Arms and gives more
information than the version of the pedigree in the Harleian Society
publication. It shows Robert Parke = Alice Chaplin (of Acton) as a son
of William of Gestingthorpe, but as an addition with a dotted line and a
note saying: ref. T. Woodcock letter. It does not give the evidence for
making this addition.

So what is he evidence that Robert son of William is Robert of Acton?
According to NPS 1978, XV;1 p 97 Robert Parke of Acton sold lands in
Gestingthorpe in 1571/2 and a Robert Parke was the executor of his
brother John's will. The reference does not say if this Robert is
specifically identified as of Acton.

So we can say that Robert Parke of Acton has a connection with
Gestingthorpe and may have been the brother of John Parke.

From the first Ref:
Will of Robert Parke of Acton 12 Feb 1592, proved 3 Apr 1593.
His wife Alice is mentioned together with 3 children.
Edmund the second son who gets property in Gestingthorpe.
William the youngest son.
The eldest son is not named.
Interestingly property in Acton is not mentioned, perhaps the eldest son
already had it? Also the Gestingthorpe connection is reinforced.

Turning now to Robert's wife Alice

The parish register of All Saints Sudbury records the marriage of an
Alice Chaplin to a Robert Parker 27 Sep 1579. Alice Chaplin d of William
Chaplin of Long Melford was left land in Acton in her father's will,
providing a connection to Acton and we know that Robert Parke of Acton
had a wife called Alice so it is possible that the above marriage does
refer to Robert Parke of Acton and Alice Chaplin of Long Melford. Robert
Parke's age at marriage would be between 28 and 46.

Turning now to Robert Parke the immigrant. The baptism of a Robert Parke
son of Robert Parke is recorded in the Poslingford parish register 3 Jun
1580. The mother is not given and there are no other Parke baptisms in
Poslingford in the same time frame. Poslingford is about 8 miles from
Acton as the crow flies. Can we really be sure that the Robert Parke in
the baptism is either the immigrant or the son of Robert of Acton who's
eldest son is not named in his will.

There is at least some evidence for connecting the baptism to Robert
Parke the immigrant. Reading between the lines I think that Robert Park
the immigrant's age was known because his birth date was given as 1580
before the above baptism was found. An article in NPS 1978, XV:1 Says
that the Rev. Paul Park 1720-1802 gave the immigrants birth date as
about 1580.

I gave the evidence that Robert Parke the immigrant married Martha
Chaplin of Semer in an earlier post.

My assessment of all this is although each link is possible, even
probable, none is completely proved. When you have a chain of
probabilities, they multiply up to make the whole thing rather
unreliable. Does anyone know of any additional evidence that proves the
above line?

--
Simon Pugh

[Sutliff]

Of all the one-name societies with which I am familiar, The Parke
Society (parke.org) makes a sincere attempt at scholarship and are
quick to correct errors.

Most lines of Park/e/s have Lineage Leaders who are responsible for
documenting particular families. My line is the Dr. Roger Parke
(1648-1739) of New Jersey.

If you haven't already checked with The Parke Society, you might want
to do so to see if there is any new research about to be printed. I
have found them very generous in sharing research and ideas. I will
pass your query on to David Parke who I believe shares this line and
has done much research in Britain the last few years.

Best regards,

Henry Sutliff

[Simon Pugh]

In article <00d901c12824$ab5395c0$0b7fb23f@ELNsssbo>, Sutliff
<ss...@earthlink.net> writes

>Of all the one-name societies with which I am familiar, The Parke
>Society (parke.org) makes a sincere attempt at scholarship and are
>quick to correct errors.
>
>Most lines of Park/e/s have Lineage Leaders who are responsible for
>documenting particular families. My line is the Dr. Roger Parke
>(1648-1739) of New Jersey.
>
>If you haven't already checked with The Parke Society, you might want
>to do so to see if there is any new research about to be printed. I
>have found them very generous in sharing research and ideas. I will
>pass your query on to David Parke who I believe shares this line and
>has done much research in Britain the last few years.
>
>Best regards,
>
>Henry Sutliff

Thank you Henry

I did try contacting the Parke Society a while ago about the Chaplin
side of this story, but I got no reply. I will try again, unfortunately
my library's run of Parke news letters stops at the end of the eighties
so I am not up to date.

My real interest is the Chaplin name but this bit of Parke genealogy is
tied in with them.

I would be very interested in corresponding with David Parke if you
would pass my email address on to him.

Regards

--
Simon Pugh

[Reedpcgen]

From what I've seen of your posts, they seem very carefully thought out and
accurate.

I'm a Parke/Chaplin descendant three times. Of course, it would be nice to
have a descent from nobility through this line, but that's not in the cards.

Paul

[Simon Pugh]

In article <20010819051036...@mb-fo.aol.com>, Reedpcgen
<reed...@aol.com> writes

Thanks Paul, I am trying to get the boundaries of what is known clear in
my mind.

Shame about the descent from nobility but at least these two were
amongst the ancestors of Diana Princess of Wales. <g>
--
Simon Pugh