PARKINSON of Lancaster. Bleasdale and Chipping

[Jackie464]

Hi - I wonder if anyone else is researching the Parkinson who lived at Bleasdale and around Chipping post 1800 in Lancaster area.  Farms mentioned:  Woodgate, Hogton House, Higher Core, Colcoates, Daub Hall, Bradley Hall, Fairsnape, Hazelhurst, Blindhurst and others.  I would love to hear from anyone researching the Parkinsons family or anyone in this area - Jackie

[Lindy Freedman]

Hi - I wonder if anyone else is researching the Parkinson who lived at Bleasdale and around Chipping post 1800 in Lancaster area.  Farms mentioned:  Woodgate, Hogton House, Higher Core, Colcoates, Daub Hall, Bradley Hall, Fairsnape, Hazelhurst, Blindhurst and others.  I would love to hear from anyone researching the Parkinsons family or anyone in this area - Jackie

This is such an old post I am not sure if anyone is still out there interested in this family but my mother was a Parkinson.  I am not far from that area now but the areas I am getting back to are more Bolton on my Dad's side but well back in history and my maternal grandfather Robert Parkinson who was Preston but the line seems to have come from Woodplumpton, or at least that is more or less where I have got back to. My fourth grandfather on another line was also a Parkinson and that appears to go back to Welsh Royalty but that isn't my research. I know there is an online book about 'The Parkinson Family of Lancashire' that suggests a link to Normans.  My grandfather has the same Y line as the De Percy men and the Somerset men (descendants of John of Gaunt).  That isn't to say it was Norman but certainly rather a large number of farms are in the hands of Parkinson men.  It would be really nice if there were others interested in testing. It is quite expensive to do Y700 but if there is a family where males are interested (has to be father to son Parkinson) it is a lot more economical to test the oldest member of the family and split the cost between descendants.  FtDNA is the database we are on.

[Gillg]

Anything to do with former MP Cecil Parkinson (1931-2016), born in nearby Carnforth?

[frian]

My grandparents lived in the same Carnforth street as Cecil's family, so I did once look at his ancestry and found that he descends from the Cockerham Parkinsons (via a Parkinson who lived in Levens and then Carnforth).  My Parkinsons are also from Cockerham / Ellel but there was no immediate connection to Cecil as far as I could see.  Parkinson is a common name in north west Lancs - yes, I know that's no help.  Part of the challenge!
Ian

[Lindy Freedman]

I didn't know Cecil Parkinson was born in Carnforth.  That's interesting.  We are up to Y700 on our Parkinson line and very few people have tested which is frustrating.  A Y67 match with Ancestry back to Sowerby has his Ancestor listed as a 'Gentleman Goldsmith' in Parish Records. He is also a remote autosomal cousin match. My Ancestor at the time on the Parkinson line was an Ostler at the village inn in Woodplumpton indicating there was a drop in social status for some Parkinsons, probably younger sons of younger sons.

I am actually at a crossroads in the 1700's unsure if my closest branch goes to Cockerham and Ashton Hall or West.  I have another Parkinson in Kirkham who is a 4th grandfather on another line but still on my grandfathers branch of the family tree.  I have a third who was just a stepmother and a fourth is on my fathers side in Bolton but that line goes back to Fairsnape. 

I guess the mystery is who was 'Perkin's son' to inherit such a vast amount of land?  Are all these Parkinson Families connected and who do they go back to?  It doesn't appear to be the Featherstonehough's as suggested in the book about Parkinsons. Incidentally, the Y700 shows the line was in Belgium in 350 a.d then we jump forward to a Y700 match in the South of England who my cousin is linked to in 1150, unsurprisingly his surname is different, it's too far back.  We really need more testers. 

[frian]

Just as a matter of detail - Cecil Parkinson wasn't actually born in Carnforth, but in Lancaster Royal Infirmary (first words of his autobiography - I only read the Carnforth chapters which I felt gave a fair picture of the town in the 1930s and 1940s).  I researched his tree and found that his family had moved to Carnforth in the later 19th century (like many of my ancestors and relatives).  Cecil descends ultimately from Robert Parkinson, born Thurnham 1789 and baptized at Cockerham 3 May 1789, son of John Parkinson.  So far I have not discovered that I am related to him, but I found that we have relatives in common through several Carnforth / Warton marriages.
Ian

[Lindy Freedman]

My grandfather was a Robert Parkinson.  Certainly there was a John Parkinson who was a Carter who was Thurnham way and this ties in with the Ostler ancestor of mine as a trade.  There was also a Parkinson possibly John who was a Gardener at Ashton Hall.  I think there was a Catholic marriage for one generation and that's my stumbling block.  I need to get past that somehow. It may be that my Parkinson line goes back to my other Parkinson line in Kirkham but without being able to get past my wall it's one or the other.

[Mariam82]

I have documents relating to Henry Parkinson from Accrington whose ancestor was the Accrington well wisher.   The family line goes back to featherstone castle.    Not part of my family but I’ve inherited my friends research

[Lindy Freedman]

The family seems widespread.  Someone made a comment about how the wealthier families had better survival chances than poorer families and it seems to be true in some cases.  Looking at male DNA it certainly seems that surnames have multiple male lineages under the same surname.  Obviously very easy to understand in many cases, lots of Johns, Peters and Richards etc had sons when surnames came into common use.  Similarly there were plenty of Smiths, Wrights, Masons and Turners (wood) and plenty of place name, geographical features etc.  However even Clan names can have men with Celtic, Slavic and Scandinavian or Germanic lines because many men took on the Clan leaders surname, even if they just worked on the land etc, they were not extended families.  Parkinson's do seem to have owned a lot of land though and land ownership is one of those tangible links to wealth and power when there is a record of a powerful person of that name being granted the land.  I would love there to be name study for Parkinson men to see what lines they had.  Ours is definitely Norman but I can't see any evidence that it is the same line as Featherstonhough and the first ones on their name study are a known Norman line haplogroup J.  I also wonder why someone would ditch the powerfully connected family name.  I wonder if young Perkin were not a powerful persons illegitimate son being raised in the Featherstonhough household.  Without lots of males testing we won't know the answer.