William Parker, Hartford Founder

Compiled by Timothy Lester Jacobs, SDFH Genealogist

WILLIAM¹ PARKER, HARTFORD FOUNDER was born in England, and died 21 Dec 1686 in Saybrook, CT. He married (1) MARGERY PRITCHARD? abt. 1636 in poss. Hartford, CT. She was born in England, and died 06 Dec 1680 in Saybrook, CT. He married (2) ELIZABETH CLARK bef. 1682 in prob Saybrook, CT, daughter of JOHN CLARKE and ____. She was born abt. 1622 in England, and died aft. 1682 in prob Saybrook, CT.

The ancestry, origin, and date of emigration to the American colonies of William Parker is unknown. He was in Hartford by 1637, having served in the Pequot War of that year. In the Hartford land inventory of February 1639/40 he held: two acres on which his dwelling house stood with other outhouses, yards and gardens, located on the west side of the road from Seth Grant’s to Centinel Hill; twenty-two perches in the Little Meadow; two roods and four perches on the east side of the Great River; four acres of swamp on the east side of the Great River; two roods and ten perches in the North Meadow; four acres, one rood and seventeen perches also in the North Meadow; three acres, three roods and thirty-two perches in the Cow Pasture; six acres in the Middle Oxpasture; two acres in the Pine Field; three roods and thirty-nine perches in the Neck of Land; and three roods and thirty-one perches also in the Neck of Land.

He removed to Saybrook before 1649, where he filled several town offices, was frequently a member of town committees, and was Deputy to the General Court in 1652, 1678, 1679, 1680, and 1681. He died in Saybrook 28 December 1686

Genealogy: “Family Records: Parker-Pond-Peck”, Edwin Pond Parker, Hartford, 1892 (many of the dates given for the early generations are incorrect or incomplete, as shown in the Saybrook, CT Vital Records)