Sampson PARKES is the best candidate for being the father of
Sampson married Ann GOLD in 1740 in Cauldon, Staffordshire, and they had five children, with John being their youngest.
No compelling baptismal record for Sampson has been found to date. Assuming Ann GOLD was his first wife then he might be expected to have been born in about 1715.
Having researched all the Sam(p)sons PARK(E)S born in the area around Waterfall, Ellastone and Ashbourne over the preceding century, there are four possible Sampson PARK(E)S families that this Sampson may have descended from.
- Family A - A Sampson who married Elizabeth and then Alice SHAW in 1634. No children have been identified from these marriages. N.B. Few baptismal records were kept during the English Civil War and Commonwealth period, so this does not mean this family was childless.
- Family B - A Sampson and Elizabeth baptized a Sampson PARKES (B2) in 1627. Sampson junior lived until 1718 leaving a will naming his surviving children including a Sampson (B3) bap. 1660 who would have been too old to be this Sampson. No child of this youngest Sampson was named (unlike his older brother's), but this is inconclusive.
- Family C - The only available fact is that a Margaret PARKS wife of Sampson PARKS died in 1638. This is marriage inconsistent with the other families known spouses.
- Family D - A Sampson PARKS' will was probated in 1684 which mentioned a wife, Ann, and a son, Sampson (D2). No baptism for Sampson (D2) has been found.
It is thought (most likely) that this Sampson PARKES was the son of Sampson (D2). This is based on there being no other known Sampson PARK(E)S, locally, of the right age to father a son in c.1715.
Sampson (D2) was a husbandman, lived in the Ellastone area, and was married at least six times. The last of these marriages was with Elizabeth PARKS in 1714 (as confirmed in a marriage licence). Elizabeth is thought to have died in August 1738, two years before this Sampson (D3) married Ann GOLD. Sampson (D2) is thought to have died in 1746.
The alternative hypothesis is that there were other unrecorded children from Families A-C who also had unrecorded children.
Preferred hypothesis
Sampson PARKES was the son of Sampson PARKES (-1746) of Ellastone (and his sixth wife, Elizabeth PARKS) who was the son of Sampson PARKES of Waterfall (-1784) and his second wife Ann PARKES.
