Sarah Parke

John Parke's first wife Sarah Smith was born 28 Nov 1675 in Burton Bank, Monk Bretton, West Riding, Yorkshire, England.

Her parents were Andrew Smith (1650 – 1704) and Sarah Foster (1653 – 1689). She may have been the daughter of Andrew’s second wife Olive Pitt who was the mother of all Andrew’s other children.

Sarah died before Nov 1756 in Hampshire Co., Virginia Colony [estab. 1754]

Children were:

1. Andrew PARKE
2. John PARKE II
3. Roger PARKE
4. George PARKE
5. Anne PARKE
6. Abigail PARKE

Notes

SARAH SMITH, b. November 28, 1675 [28th day, 9th month, 1675] perhaps West Riding, Yorkshire, England, d. about 1759 Hampshire County, Virginia [now West Virginia]; md. before January 16, 1703/04 (date of father’s will), JOHN PARKE, b. about 1676-1680 probably Northumberland, England, d. about 1757 Hampshire County, Virginia [now West Virginia], son of ROGER PARKE and ANN PATTISON.

In 1731, John Parke together with his brother-in-law Thomas Smith became litigants in a land lawsuit with Colonel Daniel Coxe effecting the residents of Hopewell Township, popularly known by historians as the "Coxe Affair.” As a result of this suit, many Hopewell residents were dispossessed of their land. On the evening of July 7, 1735, a group of twelve unknown men entered the homes of Duncan O’Guillon and John Collier (formerly in the possession of John Parks and Thomas Smith) and assaulted the inhabitants. The August 21-28, 1735 edition of The American Weekly Mercury contained a proclamation issued by New Jersey Governor William Cosby calling for the arrest and punishment of the offenders and their accomplices. Parke and Smith fled Hopewell following this incident.

Researcher Ethel Stroupe gives an excellent and detailed overview of these events in her article entitled “Jersey Settlement Origins” [Rowan County Register, February, 1996, Volume 11, No. 1, pp. 2413-2434]. It is believed that both John Parke and Thomas Smith migrated with their families to Frederick County, Virginia (present day Hampshire County, West Virginia), settling near the Cacapon River. In 1747, a Frederick County, Virginia road order contains mention of both John Parke and Thomas Smith serving on a jury to build a road from “Park’s Grave Yard near the Capon Water over Dillings Run into the Waggon Road” [Frederick County, VA Court Order Book 2, 1745-1748, p. 208]. The survey book of George Washington contains an entry for a survey made for John Parke, Sr. on April 11, 1750 for 400 acres on the Cacapehon River in Frederick County, Virginia [George Washington Survey Book, 1749-1750, p. 53]. His son John Parke, Jr. also received a survey for 250 acres on a branch of the Cacapehon River dated March 31, 1750 [George Washington Survey Book, 1749-1750, p. 38]. An entry in Washington’s survey book of 1752 shows that John Parke, Jr. and his father John Parke, Sr. requested survey for 200 acres each on April 1, 1752 [George Washington Survey Book [List of Entries], 1752]. It is believed that early members of John Parke’s family may be buried in Kale Cemetery on the northern end of Parke’s 400 acres tract near Capon Bridge, Hampshire County, West Virginia. Some early Parke family members are also buried in Parks Hollow (Lovett) Cemetery near Capon Bridge, West Virginia. [Research of William Douglas Park].

Links

• http://minerdescent.com/2010/05/19/roger-parkes-sr/
• http://www.smithsworldwide.org/tng/getperson.php?personID=I18758&tr...
• http://llake.users.50megs.com/d107.htm#P2220