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The Parke Society Newsletter Issue 2007 - Vol. 43 No. 2 |
On behalf of the approximately 800 Chattanooga/ North Georgia Park family cousins, I extend a hearty welcome to the Parke Society for the 44th Convocation here, September 27 through 30 this year. Many of us look forward to participating with the Convocation and this will be a first chance for most of us to do so.
The Chattanooga vicinity is renowned for its river, railroads, geography, and epic Civil War legacy. The host hotel, the Chattanooga Choo Choo, is the very site of Chattanooga’s rail terminal, complete with its 1909 Victorian themed building, featuring an 85-foot dome. The grounds include 24 acres of restored buildings, rail cars, shopping, and connection to the free downtown electric bus system. Visit their official site at www.choochoo.com for more information.
The convocation agenda is still under development, but for now I can tell you that Chattanooga has a paddlewheel riverboat where one can enjoy a scenic river front cruise with fine dining from the parlor. (Having been scolded—by Arizona attendees—for not including this with our 2005 reunion here, I am covering my backside this time!) The city also boasts an excursion rail line with rebuilt authentic steam engines (bring your cinders jacket!). Chatta- nooga also has a very significant Civil War history, with the Chickamauga Battlefield Park just 15 miles south of the hotel, and the Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge battlefield sites within clear view of the hotel. The Battle of Chickamauga was the third costliest struggle of the war in terms of human casualty. Some area cousins are direct descendents of those whose farms became the battlefield.
The majority of Park cousins here are decended from
Moses Park (1738-1828), and are therefore of the
Roger Parke of New Jersey line (lineage key K).
Moses’s son James settled in nearby Lafayette,
Georgia along with his large family, about 1834.
Ninety percent of our local cousins have descended
from James. We still get confused who is who and
who’s descended from whom. Please, come.
... (page 17)
Will they be around when we need them?
While this is not an article about the Clean Air Act, endangered species, or tree hugging there are some similarities between ecology and genealogy. Like natural resources, there is a general assumption that our various genealogical resources will always be there.
Not necessarily true, in either case. Like natural resources, much of the material, records, and data resources that are the touchstone of our genealogical work, do not naturally renew themselves. There are any number of events that could (and do) permanently destroy these genealogical resources. And once gone, they are usually irreplaceable. While there is a lot of steps that can be taken to physically protect these resources, there is no technology to protect these resources against politicians, tight budgets, and the need to appease the voting taxpayer.
I realize that our individual interests lie in "doing" genealogy, and that for most of us this is an avocation, a hobby, and not our life’s work and livelihood. We need to be as efficient as possible with our available time. But we also have a responsibility to help preserve and protect these resources for other researchers and future generations. That may mean taking some of your time to help in the preservation effort. Any efforts on behalf of the avocation will be in the very best interest of all.
...
So, lets argue first, why I don’t believe that libraries and societies will go away completely. Witness the range and variety of materials that you might find in a library, or at a historical/genealogical society. You will find that it is far more than just books and magazines. These places are the repository of all kinds of materials. Much of which you will not find anywhere else, period. Not in the Internet, that’s for sure. And they have been collecting this material, cataloging it, and preserving it from the beginning, for users today and tomorrow. A vast majority of libraries will have a local history and/or genealogy room that is dedicated to those areas, with individuals who know the materials and can direct you to what you need.
I believe that these libraries are so important to our research efforts that we must not let them reduce their services, collections, or even worse, close them. This is especially true when they have good collections in our area of concern.
How can we help to prevent these possibilities? Here are three ways to show our support: physically, financially, and politically.
...
... (page 19)
The Roger Parke (LK=K) line is fortunate to have two new books on CD available for sale. This lineage has grown to include over 170 Parke Society members.
Cecilia Parke (PS#535), retired Lineage Leader for the Roger (LK=K) line, is offering her updated book: Descendants of Roger Parke Immigrant England - New Jersey 1648-1738 for sale. The price for this 466 page "read only" CD is $25. DNA results have provided added confirmation to the John and Roger Jr. lines. However, DNA also shows that the John and Mary (Gordon) Park lineage, as well as his related line, Robert Park of Chemung Co, New York, are a separate lineage; they have been re- moved from this book. The book begins with a chart showing the early English ancestry of Dr. Roger Parke. I enjoyed reading through the interesting early history of this Parke family which is found in the notes for Dr. Roger Parke. This CD is very easy to follow because its Bookmark style on the left margin lists all the pages—simply click on the page that you want to read. Cecilia suggests that the reader consult (and perhaps print out) the Index first, then bring up the section of interest. Remember this book is under copyright, so paper copy is limited to the reader’s own use. Order this CD by Email: davcel080@aol.com or snail mail: Mrs. Cecilia Parke, 7162 Cambridge St, Springhill, FL 34606- 4201.
Doug Park (PS#1305) has announced the official release of his new 650-page historical volume (CD- ROM) entitled Ancestors & Descendants of Ebenezer Park, Sr. (1747-1839) & Tabitha Mills (1752-1826): History of a Remarkable Pioneer Family (1530-2006). This electronic book comes complete with a 500-digital photo gallery collection including nineteenth-century family portraits; ancient and remote cemeteries; old uninhabited Parke and allied family homesteads; and other historical sites, particularly in the Eastern United States.
This volume retraces the steps of twelve generations of this Park family (LK=K) to Eastern Kentucky; beginning in Lancashire County, England during the Quaker persecutions, through subsequent migration to Hopewell, New Jersey in 1682 with William Penn.
...
Cost: $25.00 includes postage & handling. Checks
should be made out to William D. Park. Order this
CD-ROM from Park Family Heritage House, c/o
William D. Park, 104 Rodeo Dr., Hurricane, WV 25526. ...
(page 23)
John Russel Parks/Parkes Missing Link LK=XQ
Nancy Sorensen (PS# 1415) has provided information on John Russel1 Parks (LK=XQ), who was born
between 1790 and 1800 in either Pennsylvania or
North Carolina. His wife Sarah -?- was born in 1803
in North Carolina and died between 1857 and 1861
in Clinton Co, IL. They had five children:
Charles2 Parks (1825 NCÐbef. 1857)John E. 2 Parks/Parkes married Sarah Caroline Brewster on November 16, 1848, in Illinois. Sarah was born February 22, 1826 in McMinville, Warren Co, TN and died Aug. 31, 1907 in Jefferson Co, Illinois. John died February 27, 1899 in Jefferson Co., IL. John and Sarah had nine children, of whom five died without issue. The four remaining are:
John E. 2 Parks/Parks (1816 NC or ILÐ1899)
Mary 2 Parks (1836 IL-? ) m. Thomas J. Herrin
Elizabeth2 Parks (1839 IL-?) m. Jacob Phillips
James2 Parks (1841 IL-? )
I suspect I am not the only Parke Society member who wonders, when happening upon a reference to an individual with the Park/e/s surname, what that individual’s particular lineage might be. Are they a descendant of Roger (NJ 1682), Robert (MA 1630), or a more recent line, perhaps?
Having trained as an actor and singer, I have always made note of others in the arts who bear the Park/e/s surname. This led to the idea of a series of articles featuring some of these individuals. If members have suggestions for individuals to include in this series, I will be happy to research them for future articles. I hope to include all areas of the arts, but will begin our series in the musical world.
In addition to looking at the individual’s artistic career, I hope to trace their Park/e/s genealogy so far as is possible. If anyone has more information on their lineage, I would love to hear from you. We begin our series with this article on composer and music publisher, James Asher Parks (1862-1945).
Setting the scene—musically, of course!
I have a particular fondness for American popular song from the era before the advent of the phono- graph and the radio. The history of vocal music in America is a fascinating story, but far too rich a subject for the limited scope of our article here. However, we will provide a bit of historical context before we begin.
The importance of the piano in American life had a large influence on American song, and there was a time in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when the piano could be found in a great many American households. Music was something to be "home-made," with family members or groups of young people gathering around a piano to sing the latest songs from recently purchased sheet music.
...
James Asher Parks was a prolific composer and arranger, with over 90 book titles to his credit, over 1,700 choral pieces in addition to many sheet music titles. On his 75th birthday in May of 1938 (the year of his birth was at the time thought to be 1863), he was honored on a nationally broadcast radio program by the York Male Chorus.
...
Our research took us back as far as the grandparents
of James Asher Parks, with limited success. We are
not able to identify the grandfather by name with
certainty, but his name may have been John. We
know his grandmother’s name was Elizabeth, who
was born c1787 in Pennsylvania. We also know from
later census information provided by a number of his
children that the grandfather was born in Ireland.
Since the family appears to have been of the Protestant faith, we will also assume for the moment that
this would indicate a location in Northern Ireland.
Though John? and Elizabeth Parks may have had
daughters and additional sons, these are the sons we
can be fairly certain of:
John Parks (23 February 1816 PA - 9 January 1894 Snyder Co. PA)
James L. Parks (June 1818 PAÑ1900-1910 Snyder Co. PA)
Robert Parks (1821 PAÑ1 May 1876 Elkhart Co. IN)
Levi Parks (March 1823 PAÑ1900-1910 Noble Co. IN)
...
There is one possibility in the descendant line of Jerome L. Parks, and I will follow up on that in the coming weeks. Again, I welcome hearing from anyone with information on this particular Parks family, and will be happy to share the census and other information I have gathered in this search.
... (page 24)
Your Society is recruiting for a new Registrar, to take office as soon as possible to fill the vacancy created by the recent death of R. Dan Park, PS#1422 (see Obituary, p. 28). The Registrar is the first official point of contact for people interested in joining the Society. As such, he or she has significant impact on the Society’s future. We’re seeking an interested volunteer to fill this essential position.
Because this is an officer’s position, the incumbent’s annual membership dues are waived. The President will make the appointment of the interested member to fill the unfinished term, which runs to the annual convocation, to be held this year at Chattanooga, TN, in September. At that time, the Board of Trustees will elect the appointee to the normal term of office, which runs year to year. As is the case for all the Officer’s positions, except that of the President, this position has no term limitation; Registrars usually serve for several years running. The Society reimburses all ordinary and necessary expenses incurred by the Registrar on behalf of the Society, upon submission of the proper form.
Duties: the Registrar receives and answers inquiries about membership in the Society; sends application forms and instructions to applicants; receives and proceeses completed applications; assigns membership numbers; prepares certificates as necessary; and forwards information to designated individuals within the Society.
Volume of work: currently the Registrar can expect to receive from 40 to 50 inquiries, and to process from 20 to 25 new members each year.
Skills: the Registrar needs communication skills sufficient to enable him or her to write tactful letters or e-mails (this can sometimes be a challenge). He or she must be able to pay attention to details in processing applications, and to be organized in maintaining tickler files of those who have requested application papers, but have not yet returned the completed forms. While not mandatory, it is very highly desirable for the Registrar to be computer literate, and to have an e-mail address.
At present, the Registrar’s work has been transferred to the Society’s Milwaukee office. Interested persons are invited to contact: Fr. Michael (Tad) Parks #425H, Executive Director, P. O. Box 590, Milwaukee WI 53201-0590. E-mail: 70741.2122@compuserve.com
(page 27)