Our Parker Family History Table of Contents

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Family Tree Maker. My computer also contains a program called Family Tree Maker, which is allied with the Ancestry.com tree, and which permits us to produce many charts and reports from the information therein which can be copied and printed from it.

My Computer Files. My desktop computer has many, many files pertaining to our history, including this work. I will try to gather them all into one folder called Parker, in a directory called Family History, and copy them all to a CD disk.

Great Helpers. Early in 2006 I met two third cousins, John David Parker and Richard Francis Ross, as a result of queries on Ancestry.com. Richard, born as was I in 1935, descended from Mary Ann Parker, is retired Dean of the College of Agriculture at Iowa State University. He lives at Ames. John, who is about ten years younger and is descended from Richard Parker, has the last Parker farm near Gilman, Iowa. About a year ago we found Colin Rodgers, who is an anesthesiologist in Carlisle, England, and is related to us through the Paul and Buick families. Colin has close ties in County Antrim, Ireland, which is next to County Down. More recently we connected with John Paul, who lives in California and is of the Paul family who were connected and related to us during the early years in Scott County, Poweshiek County and Marshall County, Iowa. A developing and very satisfactory relationship with all these men has resulted in a huge increase in our knowledge of Parker family history³.

Beginning with Our Parkers. In this writing I am concentrating on the Parker side of our family. But looking back just two generations; to Loretta’s and my grandparents, I also have many resources on our other branches; Browne, Carney, Lavender, Swanson, Karlsson, LeRoy and Block people.

And, of course, now my children have connections with families of their spouses. I’d like to include them all later. I hope God gives me the time and energy.

As a convenience in writing, I’ll use the term Our Parkers often. By that I’m referring to the 14 who came from Ireland together in 1861 and all of us who have followed them. My lineage comes from William E. Parker, one of the 14. Please remember that Isaac and Robert and David and little Agnes were also part of that family but either died in Ireland or did not come to America.

Three Parts. There are really three parts to this story; first is the history of the Parkers in Ireland, second is the history of Our Parkers in this country (beginning on January 1^st, 1862,) third is about the “modern” Parkers. This last part begins with my grandfather, Robert Lavender Parker, and the generations following him up to today.

About Ireland. For most of us who grew up in a stable and generally homogenous United States, Irish history can be challenging and confusing. That’s why I’m starting this book with a chapter on the times and conditions in which Our Parkers lived in Ireland. Our family might be easier to understand if we know from where, why and how we came to America.

Keep Our History Growing! I hope that some of you who read this will share our pride and enthusiasm for history and knowledge, and will want to keep our research going. I’ll be very glad to help you get started.

The Parker Family in Ireland

We think our family name originated in England. Wikipedia says: “Parker is a family name of English origin, derived from Old French with the meaning "keeper of the park." Parker was also a nickname given to gamekeepers in medieval England. It is the 51st-most common surname in the United Kingdom. Within the United States, it is ranked as the 47th-most common surname.^”

We have a hand-written note from Grandmother Bess, said to be sent her by Ellen Thompson, who was a granddaughter of Ellen Parker, and thus a great-granddaughter of Robert and Susanna. It says that “Descendants of William Parker of Norwich, England were millers of wool goods, having factories in Scotland and County Down, Ireland. One of those descendants was James A. Parker, born County Down 1760, manufacturer of linen goods.”

James Parker may have been the father of our Robert Parker. Robert and Susanna named their first-born son James Parker. An interest in linen mills may have provided the capital necessary for the journey to America and purchase of the farm in Cleona Township.

Our Parkers came to America from County Down, in what is now called Northern Ireland, a province of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. When Our Parkers left there, in December of 1861, the entire island was one province, ruled by the parliament of England. Here is a map of County Down, Ireland in 1860. You can see the towns of Newry, Loughbrickland and Aghaderg near the left side. We believe that our Parkers lived in that area.

Figure 1, County Down
Our Parkers always said that they came from Newry in County Down. The city of Newry was in Newry Parish. It seems probable that when our Parkers said they were from Newry, they meant the Parish of Newry, not the city of Newry. We know that there were several Parker families in County Down before 1861. Our question is; exactly where in the Townlands of Newry did our Parkers reside?

We Americans – particularly those from the wide-open spaces of the Midwest – must realize the difference in scale between our maps and those of Ireland. We are concerned to find where our Parkers might have lived between Loughbrickland and Newry but the distance is only 11 miles, about the same as between Ames and Story City, Iowa!

We do have a reliable record from a Loughbrickland Presbyterian Church that states that the Parkers lived, at least for several years, in a Townland called Ballintaggart, civil parish of Newry, in County Down, a part of the Province of Ulster, now part of the United Kingdom of England, Ireland and Scotland. Church records show that five of their children were baptized there between 1844 and 1857. Richard Ross has seen this record while in Ireland. This church record serves as our genealogical “anchor.” It confirms that Our Parkers did live in County Down in the middle of that century. That church still stands, although rebuilt, and is located just southeast of Loughbrickland on this map:

Robert was born in 1806 and Susanna in 1807. They were married in 1827. All of our family notes and records agree that Robert and Susanna had 16 children in County Down. James, the oldest, was born in 1829. Agnes, the second with that name and the last of the children, was born in 1857. The first to be named Agnes died in Ireland as a little girl. The rest came to America. Isaac, Robert and David came alone; Isaac in 1848, Robert in 1852, and David came in 1854. The remaining twelve children came with their parents in 1861.

These dates show that our Parkers had many years of life in County Down. It seems that a family of this size, existing as a unit for 34 years, could be located in an area about the size of a few modern Iowa farms, but we have not yet been able prove the exact location. Here is an expanded map of the Loughbrickland area that shows clearly where Ballintaggart was; Newry was only about 11 miles to the south.

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