John Parmelee, Sr.

I. John Parmalee (d 1583)

Probably born before 1554, he was buried May 1, 1583, at All Saints, Lewes. He was married Jan. 11, 1572, at All Saints to Alice RUSSELL. She was born ? and died ?. No record to indicate that she ever remarried.

Their known children, all baptized at All Saints:

• i. Margaret baptized Oct. 22, 1573.
• ii. Catherine baptized Jan. 30, 1578, buried at All Saints on April 3, 1579.
• + iii. John baptized Sept. 27, 1584.(See next generation)

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• http://www.thefamilyparmelee.com/faq-conn1.html#johnsr

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Note:

"Lewes has been served by at least 15 parishes over the centuries; just seven remain. (See the table at left) One of the churches, All Saints, is no longer used as such, but as a community center. Although All Saints was rebuilt several times over the years, the tower at the entrance was part of the church our family belonged to in the late 1500s.

The earliest family entry at All Saints is the 1572 marriage of John Parmaly to Alice Russell; the last found there is the 1620 baptism of Marye Parmely, daughter of John. It looks like after that, our family changed parishes.

The first entry at St. Michael is the 1610 baptism of Elizabeth, "daughter of John Parminy of All Saints in Lewes." No other family entries come until 1632, and then they continue into the fall of 1638.

These later entries come just before 55-year-old John Sr.'s arrival in Connecticut in the spring of 1639. The unaccounted-for time between the last All Saints entry in 1620 and the bulk of those at St. Michael is 12 years -- and I'm betting that the family belonged to at least one more parish in this interim.

The good news is that this proves our family did, indeed, stay in Lewes right up until the year John Sr. set sail on the St. John. And the best news is that I was unable to find another Parmelee family entry in any of these church records after 1639 (I quit looking after 1700 in all registers).

For the time being, I've gone on the theory that there were three male Parmelees in Lewes from the 1550s through the 1630s -- our John Jr., our John Sr., and his father, yet another John. These men had several marriages and many children who died young. There could very well be another John, a cousin to one of ours, but if so, wouldn't there be some record of his father? And what happened to this man and his descendants? This appears unlikely.

The strangest record is the 1637 birth of John to John and Elizabeth Parmelee. By this time our John Jr. would be in America, so this must be John Sr. -- but why would he name a son John Jr. if he already had a son named John? One fellow genealogist has relayed to me that it was the custom in England at the time to name two sons John: one for John the Baptist and one for John the Evangelist--I don't know how much truth there is to this and would welcome any other ideas. The only other explanation I can come up with -- and this is a stretch -- is that the elder John figured he'd never see his grown son John again, so he named his new son John so there would still be a namesake in England. At any rate, this boy was buried a few months later.

And, after burying another wife and still more children at Lewes by mid-1638, John Sr. had decided during the winter of 1638-39 that he had had enough of England and made the voyage to Connecticut with the Whitfield party to meet his grown son. This also might explain why all these years researchers have never been able to find our family with the other families of Whitfield's congregation at St. Margaret's, in Ockley Parish in Surrey; his flock has been said to have come from Kent and Surrey. It looks to me like John Sr. may very well have gone to London and took the first boat to New England that he could find--and that it just happened to be with the Whitfield expedition..

Family records from the parish registers of All Saints Church at Lewes, through 1700. All dates are Old Style.

Baptisms

Oct. 27, 1573 Margaret Parmely

Jan. 30, 1578 Katherine Parmeler

Sept. 27, 1584 John son of widow Parmerye

Dec. 3, 1610 Elizabeth daughter of John Parmelet

Sept. 6, 1612 John Parmyne son of John

Dec. 11, 1614 George Parmely son of John

March 17, 1616 Anne Parmely daughter of John

June 5, 1620 Marye Parmely daughter of John

Burials

April 3, 1579 Katheryn Parmeley daughter of John

May 1, 1583 John Parmeley

Dec. 16, 1609 John Parmenie son of John

Feb. 16, 1612/13 Elies'th Pearmelie daughter of John

April 14, 1615 George Parmelye son of John

Marriages

Jan. 11, 1572 John Parmaly Alice Russell

May 15, 1608 John Parmelie Anne Howell"

-Researched and written by Jim Walters

http://www.geocities.com/mrjimwalters/pub.html

.John1 Parmelee was born Bef. 1554, and died Bef. May 1, 1583.He married Alice Russell January 11, 1571/72 in All Saints, Lewes, Sussex, England.She was born Bef. 1554, and died Unknown. More About John Parmelee: Burial: May 1, 1583, All Saints, Lewes, Sussex, England

Children of John Parmelee and Alice Russell are:

• i. Margaret2 Parmelee, b. Bef. October 22, 1573, Lewes, Sussex, England; d. Unknown. More About Margaret Parmelee: Baptism: October 22, 1573, All Saints, Lewes, Sussex, England
• ii. Catherine Parmelee, b. Bef. January 30, 1577/78, Lewes, Sussex, England; d. Bef. April 3, 1579. More About Catherine Parmelee: Baptism: January 30, 1577/78, All Saints, Lewes, Sussex, England Burial: April 3, 1579, All Saints, Lewes, Sussex, England 2. iii. John Parmelee, b. Bef. September 27, 1584, Lewes, Sussex, England; d. November 8, 1659, New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.