Parker

On my Mother's side of the family, the Parkers have been traced back to the 17th century in Bentham - a small town in North Yorkshire, close to the borders of Lancashire and Cumbria.  At this time, they were Quakers (members of the Religious Society of Friends, a Christian movement founded in England in the mid-17th century).  Their trades ranged from farm labourer, hatter and shoemaker.  They eventually moved to Preston in Lancashire and around that time also conformed to the Church of England.  

Charles (b.1801, PRESTON, Lancs) a shoemaker, married Margaret (Peggy) Yates in 1822, and their third son, Charles,(b.1828 Walton-le-Dale, PRESTON, Lancs), initially a cotton carder, became a gardener at Grove House, Abbots Langley, the seat of the Earl of Clarendon.  He married Elizabeth PHYSICK (b.1826) - daughter of Thomas, a blacksmith - in PRESTON in1852.

Their son, Henry (b.1857. CONDOVER, Shropshire) was a seaman. At the age of 13, he sailed in a barque from FLEETWOOD, Lancs as an apprentice, and later claimed to be one of the first men to bring bananas into England. However, after getting married (Elizabeth WILSON (b.1859. FLEETWOOD, Lancs), he settled down and joined Manchester Fire Brigade.

His son Walter was my Grandfather. The WILSONS and related HOLDINGS came from FLEETWOOD and POULTON-LE-FYLDE, Lancashire