Parrish

Elizabeth Parrish b. 1691

/ Kirstin Miller

Elizabeth Parrish: 8th great grandma on RootsMagic tree.

Elizabeth Parrish was born March 19, 1691 in Groton, Massachusetts.  Elizabeth was the 2nd of 10 children of John and Mary Waddell Parrish. Elizabeth’s dad John and mom Mary Waddle were both born in Massachusetts, their ancestors were from England and Scotland. Elizabeth had 9 bothers and sisters and 4 half siblings.

Sometime before 1704 Elizabeth and her family moved to Preston, Connecticut where the family was admitted to the First Congregational Church, “Nov 15, 1704 John PARISH & Mary, his wife, by letter from Ipswich”

Also in Preston, CT Elizabeth married Francis Tracy, grandson of Thomas Tracy, on January 6, 1714. The Tracy family of England were original settlers, founders of Preston. “Thomas Parke, Thomas Tracy, and others established Preston … Owaneco, son of the Mohegan sachem Uncas, gave a confirmatory deed for the land in 1687”.

The Parrish and Tracy families were interconnected. Benjamin Parrish married a Tracy sister, Elizabeth’s sisters Mary, Sarah and Lydia married a Tracy brother.
And in my family tree Elizabeth Parrish and Francis Tracy are 6th great grandparents on my mom’s family side.
Elizabeth’s sister Lydia P. and Francis’s brother Christopher T. are 6th great grandparents on my dad’s family side.
In Elizabeth and Lydia Parrish’s lives, from 1680s on, the chances not taken, choices made, relationships built, risks taken, all led to my descendants in Iowa connecting. I don’t think about it for too long- it makes my head spin.

Parrish to speedy

Elizabeth and Francis’s first Iowa ancestor was Delia Angell, age 15, she came to Iowa after her dad Dexter died and she lived with older brother Charles Angell . Delia would marry William Flood, the great grandparents of Elizabeth Speedy, my grandma.

Parrish to miller

Lydia and Christopher’s first Iowa ancestor was Leydia Connable Gaines, age 59. Leydia and husband Obed Gaines traveled by wagon from Indiana to Waverly, Iowa to live with son William Gaines and his wife Sarah Swain, the great grandparents of Faber Miller, my grandpa.

Sources

Lydia Parrish b. 1687

/ Kirstin Miller

Lydia Parrish 8th great grandma on RootsMagic

Lydia was born in Groton, Massachusetts on April 20, 1687, the daughter of John Parrish and his 2nd wife Mary Wattles.

Parrish, Lydia 1687 birth register

Lydia’s family moved from Groton to Ipswich, Massachusetts, then to Preston, Connecticut. In Preston on May 20, 1705 Lydia married Christopher Tracy.

Lydia’s brother and sisters also married into the Tracy family. Benjamin P. married Mary T., Sarah P. married David T. and Elizabeth P. married Frencis T. All these Tracy and Parrish families stayed in the Preston, New London Connecticut area. Lydia and Christopher had 9 children. Lydia was a widow in 1725 and the executor of her husband’s estate. After her husband’s death Lydia probably lived with a daughter and family, and probably died around 1745.

Sources

John Parrish b. 1640

/ Kirstin Miller

John Parrish 11th great grandpa on RootsMagic tree

John was born in 1640 probably near Braintree, Massachusetts. He first married Hannah Jewell, she died before 1685 when John married Mary Waddell. John and Mary were active in Groton, John holding many elected positions: selectman, town council, surveyor, constable.

  • 1669: Original proprietor in Groton, granted 5 acres of land
  • 1676 Mar 13: The couple lived in Groton when it was destroyed by Indian wars
  • 1677: John was on the committee to rebuild after the town evacuated then returned months later. The record from October 12, 1677, Pages 52, 53, The Early Records of Groton, Massachusetts: 1662-1707 at HathiTrust, “This is the last record of any meeting held before the destruction of the town by the Indians, March 13, 1676. The inhabitants then were compelled to forsake their homes, and did not return until the spring of 1678. …that those present would go up in the spring following, and begin to repair our habitations again… which agreement he signed”.
  • 1685 John received 10 acres of land in Groton. After rebuilding the town, John and probably Mary, both played a big part in getting a pastor and church to Groton.
  • 1691 Dec 21, “At the same day thay did apoint and by uoat daclare that sd Josiah parkar and sar John parish & Wiliam longly & sam James parkar should go down & fach up som meet parson to preach to us & the town is to bare the charg”.
  • 1692 March 21, “Groton at a genaral town meting legally warned the town did then by uoat datannan that thay would giue to master hancock the full som of sixtey pound one fourth part siluer for a yers salarey for Preaching in order to ordnation in dew time and the other three parts in pay corn or prouishon at comon pays and mr hancocock bored himself:  John Parish was chosen to dascors with mr hancock to see if he wil acs apt of the towns profr”.

groton-first-parish-meeting-house

Sources
Groton (Mass. : Town). The Early Records of Groton, Massachusetts: 1662-1707. Groton: [Town of Groton], 1880.

Parish, Roswell. New England Parish Families: Descendants of John Parish of Groton, Mass, And Preston…  Rutland, Vt.: The Tuttle Publishing Company, inc, 1938.

And some $ Ancestry sources, Marriages, North American Families.