George Parkhurst 11th great grandpa on RootsMagic tree

George Parkhurst was born in 1588 in Ipswich, England. He married Phebe Lette and they had 9 children. Their daughter Phebe was baptized, “1612 Pheby Parkhurst the daughter of George Parkhurst of the Key Parish and fo Phebe his wiffe 29 November”. This church, St Mary at the Quay (Key), is Quay Place now, their website has a timeline featuring George and Phebe Leete Parkhurst’s 1610 marriage, about 30 years after Queen Elizabeth’s 2nd visit to the church. In 1948 the church was officially closed, then remodeled and reopened as Quay Place. Quay Place has a Facebook page with photos of the remodel. https://quayplace.co.uk/quay-place-history/quay-place-history-timeline/.

George was mentioned in his dad’s will of 1610. “The will of John Parkhurst of the parish of Saynte Marye Keye in the town of Ipswich co. Suffolk, clothier 29 Mar 1610. To son George Parkhurst all shopstuff, all my implements of trade as a shearman, all my books of what title and print, and all the rest of my goods and stock, movables and immovables.”

By 1642 George had left Ipswich, England and was in Massachusetts. He was a freeman on May 10 1643 in Boston. George’s first wife Phebe could have arrived with him or could have died in England, it’s unknown. George remarried in Massachusetts and he and 2nd wife had a few more children. His 2nd wife was Elizabeth the widow of John Simson. Both George and John were original English land owners in Watertown. On the map of Watertown, they’re neighbors, No. 12 right in between Strawberry Hill and the Meeting House. George has land at the top right too, No 16 above Sherman’s Pond

On June 13, 1655 George sold his last piece of land in America land, his 2nd wife and younger children were back in England, George joined them. George died and was buried June 18, 1675. He was buried at St Lawrence Church about 1 mile from St Mary at the Quay church. St Lawrence Church built in is also still there and now a restaurant, public center. Ipswich has lots of medieval churches.

Sources

• The New England ancestry of Alice Everett Johnson 1899-1986 at Archive.org, a loaned book.
• A report of the record commissioners of the city of Boston at HathiTrust Volume 29 page 143
• Quay Place at Facebook
  https://www.facebook.com/quayplace/
• Suffolk Churches with each church indexed, St Lawrence at Ipswich
• The New York Public Library Digital Collections. A map of the original allotments of land and the ancient topography of Watertown, 1855. Accessed December 27, 2019.