The Whole Parker Lineage
by John Watts
My e-mail address is jwatts@nas.com
and I live in
Bellingham, WA.
At age 59 and retired, I finally began
doing something about researching my family genealogy, at a time when
most of my relatives knowlegable in this history were gone. I bought
computer software, got on the internet and began to input information
left me by my mom and her cousin, a volunteer family historian.
This was
relatively easy work since it was already researched; the tough part
began when I tried to learn more about other lines of my ancestry. After
six months of this effort, my sister sent me a book called "Palatine
Progeny", which detailed the immigration to NC from Germany of my Great
Grandmother. Buried deep in this text was a brief reference to her
mother's parents, Richard Parker and Priscilla Parker.
Shortly after
reading that I paid my first visit to the local LDS Family History
Center, where I was given basic instruction on the use of their PC's and
CD ROM records. My first entry, without supporting dates, was Richard
Parker & Priscilla Parker.
To my great surprise, a family page was opened
and I was able to establish a link to the past with some degree of
certainty! Not only that, but a Pedigree showing 4 generations was
available, and another and another, until I reached back about 42
generations to the year 0775! My reaction to this bonanza was to ask the
woman on duty how to print out the Pedigree charts.
Hearing the repeated
printing of these 11 pages, the attendant checked on me and was also
flabbergasted at the result!
As one might expect, to go back this far, my ancestral line needed to
pass through landed and literate people, meaning royalty. Whether or not
this line can be proved is not particularly important to me, but it is
interesting - as in reading a Michener novel.
To top it off, a few weeks
later the LDS website was brought online, and I was able to verify my
findings via internet. In checking the Pedigrees further, I was able to
go back an additional 22 generations - to the year 0069 A.D! Now, with my
mind thoroughly blown, I'm trying to concentrate on extending my other
lines - without such unrealistic expectations!
Submitted: Mon Jun 19 16:19:43 2000
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