Surname Saturday ~ Parkhurst of Watertown, Massachusetts

PARKHURST

This is another ancestor who arrived in New England in the 1600s and returned to England.  George Parkhurst arrived in New England sometime before 1640 judging by some of his children’s marriage dates.  He is in the records in Watertown, Massachusetts in 1642 when a road was laid out near his house.  With his first wife he had nine children, but it is unknown whether or not she came to America with him.  In 1644 he married Susanna, the widow of John Stimson, and had five more children.

At some point before 1655 Susannah went back to England.  George Parkhurst sold 12 acres of John Stimson’s land on 13 June 1655 and petitioned the General Court for the sale because he was elderly (67 years old), and his wife had returned to England with six of the children, and he wanted to go be with her.  He must have returned to England soon after this date.   He is probably the “Old George Parkhurst” buried on 18 June 1675 in St. Lawrence, Ipswich, England.

I descend from both Deborah and Elizabeth Parkhurst, the daughters of George and his first wife, Phebe Leete.  Deborah married John Smith of Martha’s Vineyard who is my 9^th great grandfather.  I also descend from his brothers Thomas and Francis.  Elizabeth Parkhurst also married a man from Martha’s Vineyard, Joseph Merry, and her first husband was from New Hampshire, where she lived and had four children.   Deborah and Elizabeth’s siblings married and removed to Woburn and Concord, Massachusetts and to Rhode Island and New Jersey.  They were a very diverse bunch, which descendants all over the East Coast!

Some sources for researching this family are Fifty Great Migration Colonists to New England and Their Origins by John Threlfall, 1990, pages 257 – 269, and also The History of Martha’s Vineyard by Dr. Charles E. Banks, Volume II, pages 111 – 113.  You can also use the Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, and The Ancestry of Margaret Brooks Threfall, by John Threlfall, 1985.

My Parkhurst genealogy:

Generation 1: George Parkhurst, son of John Parkhurst of Ipswich, England, buried on 18 June 1675 in St. Lawrence, Ipswich, England; married first about 1612 in Ipswich, England to Phebe Leete, daughter of Robert Leete and Alice Grundy.  She was baptized on 20 December 1585 in Little Eversden, Cambridge, England, and died sometime before 1643.  He married second about 1644 in Massachusetts to Susanna Unknown, the widow of John Stimson of Watertown, Massachusetts.

Lineage A:

Generation 2:  Deborah Parkhurst, baptized on 1 August 1619 at St. Margaret’s in Ipswich, England, died about 1686 on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts; married about 1638 in Watertown to John Smith, son of John Smith and Isabella Drake.  He was born about 1616 in Hampton, Hampshire, England and died before 16 June 1674 in Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard. They had five children.

Generation 3:  Deborah Smith m. Nathaniel Batchelder

Lineage A1

Generation 4:  Nathaniel Batchelder m. Elizabeth Foss

Generation 5:  Josiah Batchelder m. Sarah Page

Generation 6: David Batchelder m. Elizabeth Swett

Generation 7: Elisha Batchelder m. Sarah Lane

Generation 8: Jonathan Batchelder m. Nancy Thompson

Generation 9: George E. Batchelder m. Abigail M. Locke

Generation 10: George E. Batchelder m. Mary Katharine Emerson

Generation 11: Carrie Maude Batchelder m. Joseph Elmer Allen

Generation 12: Stanley Elmer Allen m. Gertrude Matilda Hitchings (my grandparents)

Lineage A2:

Generation 4: Abigail Batchelder m. John Dearborn

Generation 5: Elizabeth Dearborn m. John Garland

Generation 6: Elizabeth Garland m. Richard Locke

Generation 7: Simon Locke m. Abigail Mace

Generation 8: Richard Locke m. Margaret Welch

Generation 9: Abigail M. Locke m. George E. Batchelder

See above

Lineage B:

Generation 2: Elizabeth Parkhurst, baptized on 18 May 1628 at St. Margaret’s in Ipswich, England; died 6 October 1727 probably in Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard; married first on 10 April 1640 in Watertown to Emanuel Hilliard.  He died 20 October 1657 at sea.  Elizabeth married second on 14 December 1659 in Hampton, New Hampshire to Joseph Merry as his second wife.  He died 5 April 1710 in Edgartown.  She had four children with her first husband and four more with her second husband.

Generation 3:  Elizabeth Hilliard m. Reverend John Mayhew

Generation 4: John Mayhew m. Mehitable Higgins

Generation 5: John Mayhew m. Ruth Davis

Generation 6: Mary Mayhew m. Caleb Rand

Generation 7: Mary Rand m. Asahel Bill

Generation 8: Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill m. Caleb Rand Bill

Generation 9: Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson

Generation 10: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo