FAMILY HISTORY AND STORIES
Journey From
England - 1634
We do not have documentation about the Parker family life in England. We do have documents showing that two brothers, Robert and Elisha (age four), came to America "using the seal of John Parker of Sibertsworld, Kent, England." (See "Our Ancestors" in menu above)
Rev John Lothrop's voyage from Kent in 1634 is well documented. We had always assumed that if we found the ship on
which Rev Lothrop sailed, then we would find John Parker and the two brothers. Records show that Rev Lothrop sailed with his family on
the Griffin in 1634. The ship sailed with about 100 passenger. However, after extensive searching on both sides of the Atlantic, the only documentation available lists 41 passenger. The rest of the passenger list has been lost. No Parker name is shown on the remaining manifest.
The author of "The Planters of the
Commonwealth" has compiled from all sources the passenger list of ships sailing to Massachusetts
between 1620 and 1640. Neither Elisha, or Robert Parker's name is on any of these passenger lists.
This same book provides a remarkable discussion
about the life on board these ships and about the motivation for leaving England. Following are 2 excerpts including
names of interest from the passenger lists of the Griffin and
the Hercules.
(page 19 - quoted)
The second great character in local influence
in England was the Reverend John Cotton, then vicar of the
magnificent Church of St. Botolph in Boston, Lincolnshire. He was
responsible for the early and important group of emigrants from
his flock in Boston as well as from many surrounding parishes.
For one devoted follower, Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, who set the
Massachusetts Colony by the ears, Cotton is chiefly responsible
and she came near converting him to her cause. The Reverend John
Lothrop, who had been vicar at Edgerton, Kent, and later
in London conducting Separatist services surreptitiously,
was undoubtedly the inspiration for the emigration of a large
contingent from the Weald of Kent who settled in Scituate (MA).
(page 41 - quoted)
It is a puzzle to imagine what things occupied
the time of these emigrants for ten weeks on the crowded decks of
the small vessels which took them across the three thousand miles
that lay between the continents. Even to-day with our many
permitted diversions timehangs heavily. Certainly those
residents of the rural hamlets left nothing of interest behind
them, and so missed nothing in their drab lives when exchanging
their pithless parochial existence ashore for the monotonous
doldrums of a swaying deck at sea. Ships carrying religious
groups, like the Mayftower or the Arbella, indulged
in daily services when their spiritual leaders 'exercised' the
Godly in prayer and sermon. We can readily believe that Mistress
Anne Hutchinson furnished enough excitement aboard the Griffin when she engaged the Reverend John Lothrop and the Reverend
Zachariah Symmes in theological bouts, but these were exceptional
ships, as the vast majority of emigrants came without ministerial
leaders to entertain them. If the voyage were stormy, they were
obliged to go below decks and kill time in the darkness.
Doubtless they went to bed at sundown, as there was no way to
light the decks. They rose at the break of day to begin another
round of nothing in particular.
Passengers and Ship GRIFFIN
This ship arrived at Boston September 18
(1634), with about one hundred passengers and cattle for
the plantations.
Rev. JOHN LOTHROP London-Scituate
Mrs Lothrop
Thomas Lothrop
Samuel Lothrop
Joseph Lothrop
John Lothrop
Benjamin Lothrop
Jane Lothrop
Barbara Lothrop
WILLIAM HUTCHINSON of Alford, county
Lincoln - Boston
Mrs. Anne Hutchinson
Edward Hutchinson
Faith Hutchinson
Bridget Hutchinson
William Hutchinson
Samuel Hutchinson
Anne Hutchinson
Mary Hutchinson
Susanna Hutchinson
Rev. ZACHARIAH SYMMES of Canterbury,
county Charlestown Kent
Mrs. Sarah Symmes
William Symmes
Mary Symmes
Elizabeth Symmes
Huldah Symmes
Hannah Symmes
Rebecca Symmes
HERCULES of Sandwich, John Witherley, Master,
sailed in the spring of this year, and is probably the Hercules
'of Dover' mentioned by Winthrop as being here in the
summer."
NATHANIEL TILDEN of Tenterden - Scituate
Mrs. Lydia Tilden
Joseph Tilden
Judith Tilden
Mary Tilden
Sarah Tilden
Lydia Tilden
Stephen Tilden
Thomas Tilden
Thomas Lapham
George Sutton
Edward Ford
Edward Jenkins
James Bennett
Sarah Couchman
Mary Perien
JONAS AUSTIN of Tenterden - Cambridge
Mrs. Constance Austin
Jonas Austin
Mary Austin
Lydia Robinson
End of excert from the "The Planters of the
Commonwealth."
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