Author: John E. Sweeney
Jonathan Parker, Jr. was born on 19 April 1744 in the town of Lunenburg, Worcester County, Massachusetts (MA).1 He was the eldest son of Jonathan Parker, born 1 June 1722 in Groton, MA, and Eleanor Hunt, born 10 August 1718 in Littleton, MA. 2 They relocated to Rindge in 1760 with one son, surely Jonathan Parker, Jr.. It is believed that the family may have gone to Jaffrey, NH soon after 1780 because their names disappear from the records in Rindge. 3 The Parker family was at that time comprised of Jonathan Parker and his wife, Ellen, nee’ Hunt, Parker and their three sons, Jonathan, Jr., Benjamin, and Samuel.

On 6 July 1769, at Rindge, NH, Jonathan Parker, Jr. married Hannah Stanley, born 1 Dec 1751, 4 daughter of Capt. Jonathan Stanley and Abigail Gould of Rindge, New Hampshire (NH). 5 Jonathan Stanley was an American Revolutionary War patriot. The details of his service are detailed in a separate SAR patriot biography.

Some of Jonathan Parker, Jr. activities prior to the American Revolution included the following public service enterprises: In 1768, Jonathan Parker, Jr. was chosen to be Surveyor of Highways. 6 Also, by 1769, there was the first instance of “warning out” for newcomers to Rindge, thought to be likely burdens to the community because of questionable economic means and intentions. Jonathan Parker, Jr. as Constable for the Town of Rindge, was charged with the duties of issuing and enforcing the law in this matter. 7

Following the Declaration of Independence and the beginning of the American Revolution, the Parker men, to include the elder Jonathan Parker, were quick to sign the loyalty oath or Association Test for Rindge, New Hampshire (NH). The penmanship of Jonathan Parker, Jr. was remarkable for beauty and plainness, and his signature was invariably traced I fair, bold characters. His signature on the Association Test document is somewhat comparable to that of John Hancock subscribed to the Declaration of Independence, and is perhaps equally significant of courage. 8 Additionally all three of the Parker brothers, Jonathan Parker, Jr., Benjamin, and Samuel served in the Revolution in uniform. 9 Rumors of the steady approach of British General John Burgoyne s forces, in May 1778, an alarm was raised that Fort Ticonderoga was again in danger. Out riders had carried the intelligence from town to town and the men in the area of Rindge hastily left their fields to march in relief of their fellow citizen soldiers at Fort Ticonderoga. A company of fifty one men, including Jonathan Parker, Jr., was raised. On 6 May 1778 this company marched for Fort Ticonderoga where they remained until 21 Jun 1778 when all fears of an immediate attack were quieted. 10

Jonathan Parker, Jr. and Hannah Stanley had a total of seven children who survived birth. Four were born in Rindge, NH: Abigail, born 16 May 1770, & died 13 Sep 1770; an unnamed infant born 14 Jun 1771 who died the same day, Ellen, born 15 May 1781, & married Eleazer Flagg; and Sarah, born 2 Jun 1783 and unknown life or marriage & not named in later references to her father’s heirs. The four others were: Prudence born on unknown date in Clarendon & married Thrice Arnold;, Rufus born 10 Oct 1786 in Clarendon. Died 1852/58 in Clarendon & married in 1807 Eunice Titus, daughter of Revolutionary War veteran Abel Titus; and Jonathan born about 1790 in Clarendon and married Sarah Ann Whitney; and Hannah born on an unknown date in Clarendon who married William Pierce. 11

In 1776, Vermont held a convention and declared its independence from New York State. The next year a constitution was approved making Vermont an independent republic. Vermont remained an independent republic until granted status as the 14th U.S. State in 1791. 12 At the institution of the republic, Vermont had to deal with three separate claims on its lands by New York from the land west of the Connecticut River, New Hampshire for that west of that river to within 20 miles or the Hudson River to its source, and Massachusetts claiming a goodly portion of the southern part. By Oct 1779 the U.S. Congress resolved the issue of the various claims with a broad stipulation that lands not previously encumbered with a legitimate individual claim by citizens of a particular state, are to be declared vacant and under the jurisdiction of Vermont. 13

In the post-American Revolution period, Jonathan Parker, Jr. had become a member of “adventurers” who, as Revolutionary War Veterans, sought grants of land in a type consortium. A Vermont Secretary of State grant, publicized in the Rutland Herald newspaper, shows the names of two of the members of this group: Gideon Olin and Samuel Williams. 14 “On 4 Nov 1796 a charter was issued to Jonathan Parker, who then lived in Clarendon, for a 3,000-acre tract that was given the name of Parker’s Gore. Then in 1804, according to Child’s Gazetteer for Rutland County, there occurred a piece of classic skuduggery. Some of the land in Parker’s Gore and Mendon was to be put up for tax sale and the account says, Parker made it worthwhile for the county sheriff to start the sale at midnight of the appointed day. Parker was, of corse, the only bidder present, and he bought the land for a purely nominal sum; when the scandal became known the sheriff had to leave the state. The name of the combined Parkers Gore and Medway became Parkerstown on 7 Nov 1804. Apparently Parker’s influence was of more than a passing nature, because the town retained his name until 1827, when it was changed to Mendon by the legislature.” 15

An astute business man, Jonathan Parker, Jr., as he was before and during the Revolution, appears to have been appropriately involved in the community to include the local Masons Lodge No. 6, Rutland’s first formed on 15 Oct 1794. He was the Junior Warden. 16

A patriot during the American Revolution, an exceptional entrepreneur, good father and husband, Jonathan Parker, Jr., son of Jonathan Parker and Eleanor Hunt, on Thursday, 16 Jun 1808 17died in his 65th year of his life. He is buried in the East Clarendon Cemetery, Clarendon, Rutland County, VT. 18 The monument at his grave site vears and inscription that reads, This monument erected in memory of Jonathan Parker, Esq. who departed this life June 16, 1808 in his 65th year of his age. He bore his _?_ with great patience and closed his eyes in death without a moan; Lamented as a good neighbor a worthy citizen and a human parent. 19



ENDNOTES:
1 NEHGS Database, Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850
2 Ezra S. Stearns, History of the Town of Rindge, NH, 1736-1874, Boston, Press of George Ellis, p. 622
3 Ibid
4 Daniel B. Cutter, Town of Jaffrey, New Hampshire 1749-1880, Concord, NH,1881, p. 480
5 State of New Hampshire Certified Abstract of a Certificate of Marriage, issues 26 Sep 2007
6 Augustus G. Parker, compiler & editor, Parker in America 1630-1910, Buffalo, NY, 1910, p. 212
7 Ibid
8 Ibid, p. 213
9 Ezra S. Stearns, History of the Town of Rindge, NH, 1736-1874, p. 622
10 Augustus G. Parker, compiler & editor, Parker in America 1630-1910, Buffalo, NY, 1910, p. 213
11 State of VT Rutland, Co., 13 Feb 1809, Notice of Estate Sale to named heirs of deceased Jonathan Parker, Jr.
12 The Handybook for Genealogists, United States of America, 11th edition, 2006, Everton Publishers, Utah, p, 767
13 State Papers of Vermont, Vol. 5, Petitions For Grants of Land 1778-1811, VT Sec. of State, 1939, p. 5
14 Legislative Acts or Legal Proceedings, The Rutland Herald, 1 Apr 1796, Vol II, Issue I, page 4
15 Esther Munroe Swift, Vermont Place-Names Footprints of History, 1976, The Stephen Greene Press, Brattleboro, Vermont, p.400
16 Dawn D. Hance, The History of Rutland, Vermont 1761-1861, 1991, The Rutland Historical Society, p, 629
17 State of Vermont Death Record – Jonathan Parker Jr.
18 The Rutland Herald, Death Notices, 18 June 1808, Vol. XIV, Issue 25, page 3
19 Margaret R. Jenks, Clarendon and Shrewsbury Cemetery Inscriptions, Rutland County, VT, 1991, p. 17