The Parker surname

From SurnameDB.com:

This great and noble surname is English. Borne by the Earls of Morley and Macclesfield; the Barons of Boringdon and Monteagle, and having more than sixty Coats of Arms, it is ultimately of French occupational origins. It described an official in charge of the extensive hunting parks of a king or wealthy landowner. The derivation is from the words "parchier" or "parquier" meaning "park- keeper". The surname was first recorded in Englnd in the latter half of the 11th Century following the 1066 Norman Invasion, and as such was one of the very earliest surnames on record. Only five percent of the entries in the great Domesday Book of 1086 show people having surnames, and this is one of them. Amongst these very early recordings are examples such as Geoffrey Parchier, in the book of 'Seals' for the county of Northumberland, dated 1145 a. d. and Adam le Parker in the Hundred Rolls of the county of Norfolk for the year 1273. The surname was one of the very first into the new American colonies. William Parker, aged 20, who arrived in the ship Charles of London, in the year 1616, is shown in the records for January 23rd 1624 as being in the "muster" of Susan Bush, of 'Elzabeth Cittie'. Quite what his situation was is far from clear, as Susan Bush herself arrived in 1617, and was only aged 20! The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Anschetil Parcher, which was dated 1086, in the Domesday Book of the county of Somerset, during the reign of King William 1, known as "The Conqueror", 1066 - 1087.

New blog, please contribute!

After consultation with my wise husband, I have determined that I will create one blog for each of the four main ancestral lines of our family. There will be links in the sidebar to a blog for the Horn family, the Walker family, the Parker family, and the Britton family. That way, you can each contribute to the blog which pertains to your relatives, and you won't have to deal with all those other people you've never heard of!

Please bookmark those blogs which pertain to you. I feel like we all have a responsibility to contribute to these family histories. It is easy to comment and share your memories or corrections, and I will then post them to the pertinent posts.

I'll post my latest efforts on each blog, and I hope you'll share any information you may have as well. I'll use it as a place to post pictures so you can all have copies. All you need to do is click on the picture and download it onto your computer. Then you can save and print it, or bring it to a photo shop to have to made for you.

Also, please feel free to make corrections. Many of you are more familiar with your specific ancestors than I am, and I may have some information wrong. Anyway, enjoy!