John Parker of Wicklow Town

[Newey]

I am descended from the Parker family who were butchers in Wicklow Town in the 1800s and early 1900s.

A posting from J.M. Flannery mentioned the following …………

  "Photo on page 47. Left to right, no 12 William O’Grady, barbers. No 14 Joseph Phillips. 15 Francis Robinett, fisherman. 16 John Parker, Butcher."

Do I understand correctly that you have a photo of John Parker,  Butcher?  If so I would be very grateful to receive a copy if this is possible.   John was my great grandmother's brother and as far as I can tell my grandmother was the only one of the John’s siblings who married.  She moved to Western Australia in 1882.

Look forward to hearing from you,

Jan

[powerwicklow]

Hi Jan.

Looking across the boards I have come across yourself. I think if I am correct we would have come across each other a few years back and swapped info on your Parker Family. I think you were also interested in the name Chapman as well.

Have you managed to get a copy of your photo yet. If you haven,t I know J.M. Flannery and I will see if I can source it for you. If nothing else even answering myself should give you enough use of the board to be able to send a PM.

John.

[Newey]

Hello John,

Yes you are correct I'm the one you helped a few years ago.

I would very much appreciate if you could contact J.M. Flannery on my behalf.

I did post a private message but didn't realise I had to have a certain amount of postings before I was eligible to do so.

I will contact you privately as well.

Thanks,
Jan.

[powerwicklow]

Hi Jan.

I have been looking back across my notes and the following snippets I would have probably sent on to you when we researched before . They might help or inspire someone. All information is from Wicklow Parish Church ( C of I ) , Wicklow Town whose registers are now held at the RCB. This is not a thorough search for the name Parker in these registers, but just when I came upon the name researching certain years.

From the Baptismal Registers:  To John (Butcher) and Catherine Parker.
                                       Born                       Baptised
1) James                       15/7/1844                31/7/1844
2)Martha Elizabeth         15/10/1848              10/12/1848
3)Catherine                   12/8/1850                24/11/1850
4)Mary                          17/10/1852              13/2/1853
5)Martha                        5/11/1854               18/3/1855
6)Elizabeth                    28/1/1857                10/5/1857
7)Benjamin Peter            6/2/1862                 25/5/1862

Martha to John (Soldier) and Eliza Parker. Baptised 18/5/1760
Daniel to John and Ann Parker. Baptised 3/4/1795

Confirmation on wednesday the 25th of July 1832 of John Parker aged 15 by the Archbishop of Dublin, Richard Whately.

From the Burial Registers.
                                                       Age                              Burial
Parker: Martha Elizabeth                 3 mths                           27/11/1849
Parker: Benjamin                             12yrs                             9/10/1858
Parker: Elizabeth                             103yrs                          26/1/1872
Parker: John                                     58yrs                          13/2/1874
Parker:Richard Knott                         38yrs                          11/5/1830
Parker:James                                    73yrs                            4/2/1840

There are no Parker headstones to be found in the graveyard but from the old maps of the same that I looked at we found that there were Parkers buried at the end of the path near the wall. The graveyard offically was closed circa 1905 and after that date it was only any family that had free space left in a grave or someone that had prepurchased a plot could bury in the same graveyard. The Sexton of the time, a Mr Fred Haughton kept a book to keep track of burials after the graveyard was closed and he records two Parker burials in detail.
On the 11th of November 1915 the burial of Peter Parker of Main Street, Wicklow. Burial fee of 5 shillings paid by John Parker, his brother. Location of the grave 154ft south of the porch and west of the path. Depth of the grave 5ft 3ins. Burial by the Revd PB Johnson. Plot no 256.
On the 2nd of February 1944 the burial of John Parker of the Market Square , Wicklow. The burial fee of five shillings paid by a Mr Tony Burk to Mr Russell. Burial 153 ft south of the porch and west of the path. Grave 5ft deep. Burial by Revd Jennings.
 There is certainly great information in the Sexton,s note book when there is no headstone to be found.

You are trying to find the death of Catherine Parker, Jan. The Civil Registers show a Catherine Parker,s death 1871 aged 81. Registrars District of Rathdrum. This Catherine is my own GGG granny who died at Ballygriffin, which is just outside Arklow on the southern side.

I will be at Wicklow Parish Church tomorow and will have a look there to see if there is anything new to be found there.
 
John.

[Newey]

Hello John,

Thank you very much for that additional information.  There are some very nice and new details in it which help sort the family out.  The dates and details of the burials are particularly interesting.

The burial of Benjamin Parker aged 12 in 1858 is a surprise because a family story said that Benjamin Peter Parker had died young.  When I found his death in 1915 I discounted the story but it was probably the earlier Benjamin they’d heard about.  He would have been born c 1846, which slots him in between the births of James 1844 and Martha Elizabeth in 1848. 

I think the James and Elizabeth whose deaths you mention at ages 73 and 103 are the parents of my John Parker -  baptized 27 Feb 1816 and died in 1874.  I bought the Parish register transcript from Irish Family History Foundation on line which says his parents are James and Eliza.


Additional info I have from the Irish Times death notices …………

Burials

Martha Parker  19 Aug 1902
Catherine Parker 9 July 1937

Deaths

James Parker  21 April 1890

The death of Catherine Parker you mention wouldn’t be my Catherine as she would be too old to be having children in 1862.   I believe Catherine was born in 1821 and I’m still struggling with a death date as there doesn’t seem to be any entries in Rathdrum which fit with her age  Then again Martha ,James and Benjamin Peter are also missing off the death registers.

I’ve bought 2 certificates which I thought could possibly be her but they both turned out to be spinsters. 
One in      Rathdown in 1885  age 66
Another    Dublin South in 1897 age 80

Apart from that I think I have that particular family covered except for Mary born in 1852.  She may have married but probably died young because as far as I know my great granny Elizabeth was the only one who married. 

Thanks again for all you’re doing for me.

Regards,
Jan.

[Erato]

"I think you were also interested in the name Chapman as well."

Is this correct?  Are you also interested in Chapmans from Wicklow?

My gg grandfather was Benjamin Henry Chapman, born 1820 in Ballyloughlin, Wicklow, the son of Joseph Charles Chapman and Sarah Hudson.  Benjamin Henry and his wife [Mary Pepper of Avoca] immigrated to Canada in about 1842 and went from there to Wisconsin.  I am always looking for Chapman connections in Ireland.

[powerwicklow]

Hi Jan.

I made it as far as Wicklow Parish Church today and lucky enough the care-taker was there who had no problem in helping me out. There is not much left at the Church as anything of importance has been sent on to the RCB for safe keeping. What is left will eventually go to the local archives.

It was common to produce pamphlets of the Churchs accounts and activities and we found one for 1886. This one is interesting as it mentions a Mrs Parker paying £3 to rent her pew in the centre aisle for the year. Whether this Mrs Parker is the widow of John Parker is hard to say but it might give a different time scale in looking for her death.

Trying to figure out what female Parkers may have been in the town Griffiths Valuation for Wicklow circa the 1850,s gives an Eliza Parker (Corporation Lands) and an Elizabeth Parker (Main Street). The Elizabeth is possibly the Elizabeth whose burial I found aged 103 and this might eliminate her.

We measured the graveyard and the Sextons measurements match up with what was found on the map before.

John.

[powerwicklow]

The following Chapman information is again from Wicklow Parish Church  and is not a full search of the name in the Registers .

From the Baptismal Registers.

All dates to the left are when born. To the right when baptised and a single date is baptismal.

To Henry (Farmer) and Sarah Chapman of Dunbur.

1)Martha                                2/9/1849                   27/11/1849
2)Benjamin                            1/5/1852                   12/10/1852
3)Sarah                                  18/4/1854                 18/6/1854
4)Henry                                  6/5/1856                    3/6/1856
5)Catherine                           5/5/1858                    22/8/1858
6)John                                   13/3/1860                  29/7/1860
7)Susanna                             19/5/1863                  23/8/1863
8)William George                     28/3/1865                  7/7/1865

To Benjamin Joseph (Land Steward) and Sarah Chapman.
Templerainey Arklow.

1)Mary Anne                         13/1/1871                    22/1/1871
Note. Child at Dunbur Wicklow with Smiths.

To John (Saddler) and Catherine Chapman.

1)John                                                                       23/11/1832
2)Maria                                                                     17/6/1826
3)Marianne Catherine                                                   9/9/1830

To John (Farmer) and Elizabeth Chapman of Dunbur.

1)Joseph                                                                   27/12/1832
2)Eliza Anne                             10/6/1837                  13/8/1837

To John and Elizabeth Chapman.

1)John                                                                        31/1/1823
2)Elizabeth                                                                 26/5/1826
3)Catherine                                                                 22/9/1827
4)Jane                                                                        20/5/1828

To William and Marianne Chapman.

1)Rebecca                                                                11/12/1823
2)Marianne                                                                 2/2/1826
3)William                                                                  22/2/1828
4)Joseph                                                                   28/3/1831

To Benjamin and Martha Chapman.

1)Anne                                                                    21/2/1824

From the Marriage Registers.

31/10/1848
Henry Chapman of Kilpoole/ Farmer/ age 29/ single/son of Benjamin Chapman
To
Sarah Chapman of Callery, Delgany/age21/single/daughter of George Chapman


28/4/1852
Abraham Chapman of Wicklow/Revenue Officer/single/son of John Chapman
To
Elizabeth Davies of Wicklow/Revenue Officer/single/daughter of John Davies

22/12/1862
Edward Smith of Dunbur/farmer/age 23/single/son of Edward Smith
To
Martha Chapman of Dunbur/age 20/single/daughter of John Chapman

19/8/1865
Benjamin Joseph Chapman of Dunbur
To
Sarah Smith of Dunbur

14/2/1831
Walter Chapman   to   Phebe Stanly

12/11/1840
Peter Tyndall   to    Martha Chapman

[Newey]

Hi John,

Thanks for all that information for the Chapman family.   I'll need to spend some time trying to sort out the various families.

Each of them seem to use the same names so it makes it a bit challenging.

Ann born 1824 to Benjamin and Martha is Catherine's sister as is Martha who married Peter Tyndall in 1840.

The pamphlet you emailed came through fine and I found it very interesting with regards to the collection and expenditure of monies.  Thanks very much for thinking of me and sending it.


Jan.