I have written some on my Parker ancsestors in the past. I have a web page here on the Parker family. I found an interesting part in the Parker family history was the ship repairing business that Isaac Parker had in Nantucket in the early 1800’s. I found many records relating to Isaac Parker which I have on my Parker Web Page.
Nantucket Newspapers
Recently I noticed in an NEHGS Newsletter that there are now many Nantucket Newspapers available online.
Spotlight: Newspaper Archive, Nantucket Atheneum, Mass.
by Valerie Beaudrault
Nantucket is an island located about 30 miles south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The Nantucket Atheneum has made a Digital Historic Newspaper Archive available on its website with a keyword searchable database containing the following titles: The Inquirer and Mirror (1821–2013, published under several titles); Nantucket Gazette/Nantucket Commerce Gazette (1816–1817); Nantucket Weekly Magazine (1817–1818); Nantucket Journal (1826-1828; and 1878–1899); The Islander (1840–1843); Daily Telegraph (1843–1844); Morning Telegraph (1844–1845); The Warder (1846); Island Review (1874–1878); The Daily Nantucket (1889–1899); Nantucket Light (1964–1965), and a few other smaller Nantucket newspapers (1842–1985). The Search and Browse buttons are in the upper right corner of the newspaper archive homepage.
Isaac Parker moved to Nantucket probably around the year 1800. He died in 1842, before the the Nantucket fire of 1846. That means that I would be interested in the earlier newspapers.
Lydia Parker
The first relavent entry I found while searching for Isaac Parker was a sad one:
This would be Isaac’s youngest daughter:
If Saturday was July 25, 1929, then Monday would be 5 days earlier or the 20th of July.
More Sad News
Here is a death notice for Prudence Parker:
Silas Parker
I mention Silas Parker on my web page on the Parkers. He was the uncle of Isaac Parker:
Some Business for Isaac Parker in 1825
I’m not sure what this was all about. Apparently Charles Calder died while owing a lot of money. I would also assume that he did not owe money to Isaac Parker, but I’m not sure.
Sale of Isaac Parker’s Nantucket Land
Isaac died in 1842. It took over a year after his death to sell the property. The Nantucket Fire of 1846 likely burnt down the house. I have more information on the sale of this property in this Blog.
More On Isaac’s Children
I had that Isaac’s youngest was Benjamin, but he died as a baby in 1802.
Elijah Parker and Family
I have Elijah born next in 1803. He was my third great-grandmother’s brother. The 1850 Nantucket Census has him as a ship master. Perhaps this is him:
From what I can tell, Callao is in Peru. Here is Elijah’s wife and two children in 1855 in the Census in Nantucket:
They were living with Betsy and Elizabeth Joy. I assume that these were relatives. I also assume that Elijah was out at sea at the time.
Alan P Folger, Grandson of Captain Elijah Parker
This article gives us some more family information than I had on my web page:
By checking around on Ancestry, I see this:
Ann ended moving to Australia.
I assume that she followed her daughter Leila to Australia. .
it looks like Leila died before her mother.
Here is Aukland and Sydney:
This part of the Parker family really got around.
Isaac Parker Junior Born 1808
My web page has a very incomplete picture:
It turns out that Isaac Junior’s wife was a very interesting person:
Looks like I missed 8 of their children on my web page. The newpaper article has her dying in Nantucket, but her death record makes it appear that she died in Weymouth:
The death certificate also has her buried in Rochester:
She was apparently buried in the Sherman Cemetery where many of my Hartley ancsestors were buried. She was born in Wareham, married in Nantucket, died in Weymouth. I wonder why she was buried in Rochester.
My DNA Match Through Pardon Parker Born 1845
AncestryDNA shows ThruLines. Here are mine with Isaac Parker Sr:
This shows that I am a 5th cousin to td and share 42 cM. According to the Boston Census of 1870, Pardon was a barber:
William Henry above was born in Malden. So of all the Parker paths, I could have shared DNA with, this is the one that shows up. Of course, a descendant had to have taken the test for me to match. 42 cM is a large amount for 5th cousins to share.
Charles Henry Coffin Parker Born 1839
I had on my web page that Charles was born in 1849, but I think 1839 is more accurate. It looks like Charles was also a barber – at least in 1880:
Summary and Conclusions
These newpapers articles tend to take me back to the time when all this was happening. There was not a lot in the newspapers about this family, but the family was not on Nantucket for too long and mostly left after the great fire in Nantucket. I found out a lot more about this family – what they did and where they went. I looked at one 5th cousin who matched by DNA. I was also able to better fill in my Parker family tree. This could lead to more ThruLine connections at AncestryDNA.