Isle of Ely

[susieq618]

I am researching the Parke family at the Isle of Ely, particularly, Thomas Parke and a son Richard Parke. There are some women by the name of Isabel in the family. Does anyone have any info on this family?
Thanks for your help.
susie

[CaroleW]

Hi

Could you give some idea of the timescale please (ie) birthyears etc

[susieq618]

Richard Parke was born about 1602 and married a Margery, last name possibly Crane, daughter of Jasper Crane. There are several Richard Parkes but nothing matches very well except the Thomas in Isle of Ely because Richard named his first son "Thomas". He named his first daughter "isabel" and I'm pretty sure I saw something, somewhere that mentioned an Isabella at Isle of Ely. Obviously, I have no hard evidence of this.
Thank you very much!
Susie

[bedfordshire boy]

Who is the oldest member of this family that you can document ie for whom you have  a baptism or a marriage entry in a parish register, and which parish was it?

OK, now I see the problem. Isabel, and her parents too, emigrated to Massachusetts where she married (if online trees are to be believed). Some trees show her as being born in London, or Suffolk or Surrey or Middlesex (England), others in Plymouth Massachusetts (in which case she didn't emigrate at all). What's the evidence that the Parkes were from Cambs, Isle of Ely? When there are so many divergent theories my gut feeling is that there's no hard evidence, and it's all guesswork.

It strikes me as pretty tenuous if you're trying to see whether, on the strength of a Richard Parke whose birthplace in England you don't know naming his first son Thomas, he was the son of a Thomas in the Isle of Ely. I always find it difficult to prove that someone baptised in one parish in England is the same person who married two parishes away. Proving that Richard Parke in Massachusetts is the same Richard Parke whose baptism you find somewhere in England is far more difficult!

David

[susieq618]

As you have obviously seen there is nothing with any decent documentation on any of the online family trees I have found which made me analyze what I know for sure. I have the passenger list where Richard and his family came to Massachusetts in 1635 aboard the Defence, which states he was 33 years old at the time. That makes him born in 1602 +/- a year depending on actual date of birth. He was a miller by trade, so that doesn't sound like the rich folks, large landowners, etc. put forth online. When I ran across the name Thomas Parke of Isle of Ely, especially after I saw an Isabella in the same article, I took a look at the description of the area and found that it is largely agricultural and is known for a high quality wheat produced there. Along with the fact that there is no name repetition in the children from the online trees, I thought I would pursue the Thomas Parke of Isle of Ely and maybe be fortunate enough to find a real fact.
I do appreciate your help.
Susie

[anneb]

The Isle of Ely does produce good wheat now and there are quite a few  old windmills around but in 1602  it would have been mainly marshland.The main drainage of the fens started in the 1600s.