Compiled by Clarence McDaniel
1726 Midd/NJ Apprenticeship to William Bradford, Printer of NYC, Jan 1st; witnesses: Elizabeth Denne, Jana Payne, Samuel Parker - New York Historical Society. Indentures of Apprentices, 1718-1727, Cornell University Library, 2007. p. 198-199. & Frasca, Ralph. "Benjamin Franklin's Printing Network: Disseminating Virtue in Early America", Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, p. 25. James "about age eleven".
1770 NY/NY Probate, Surrogate's Court. New York Co., NY, Wills & Administrations, Vol. 27 (1769-1771), p.267-270; had will; wife, Mary, exec'x; son, Samuel/dau, Jane and sister-in-law, not named; nephews, James Parker; Samuel Parker, d 1769, Cape Fear, NC, his will proved, Jul 21stBooks: (1) Greene, Richard Henry, ed. "The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record". Vol. XXXI, New York: NYG & B, 1900. p.1. (2) Dyer, Alan. "A Biography of James Parker, Colonial Printer". Troy, NY: The Whitston Pub. Co., 1982. (3) William B., ed. "The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, Vol. 16, January 1 through December 31, 1769" New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1972, pp. 72-78. (4) Bond, Gordon. "James Parker: A Printer on the Eve of Revolution". Garden State Legacy, NJ, 2010. (5) Benedict, William H. "James Parker, the Printer, of Woodbridge". Proceeding of the New Jersey Historical Society, n.s. Vol. 8. 1923, p.194-199.
Notes: (1) James (Jana's son) had a cousin namesake at the same place(Perth-Amboy) who was himself quite well known. For this reason writers often refer to this James as "James Parker, printer". (2) James is the famous 1st Printer of NJ; He was a partner of Benjamin Franklin. Jana's Bible was inherited by James' daughter, Jane, and ended up in 1871 at the Delaware Historical Society where it is today(2016)(lost?). Gordon Bond(2002) was the historian that made the announcement & published an account of the Bible. (3) James had many letters to/from his partner, Benjamin Franklin. Mostly explaining his business problems.
Compiled by Linda Stewart
Fradin, Dennis Brindell. "The Founders: The 39 Stories Behind the U.S. Constitution". New York: Walker & Co., 2005. p.8-9.
Compiled by Clarence McDaniel
1728 Midd/NJ signed Jana's Bible, (Feb ye 6, 1721 ?)
1730 Midd/NJ signed Jana's Bible, "born in the year of our Lord 1717, which is now 1730"
1743 Chow/NC Ct rec, Oath minutes, Bk 1, p.68, "proved his rights", 6 whites; by Weynette Parts Haun
1752 Chow/NC Marr rec marr Rebecca Warren on Nov 13; not him
1754 Chow/NC Militia list, Capt Miles Gale; 1 poll; not him
Note: Clarence indicates the 1752 & 1754 may or may not be our Elisha, but per the Franklin letter he was married twice.
1764 Curr/NC Seems like nephew,(Sammie), Samuel F, visited him per father, James' letter to Benj Franklin; Aug
1767 died Dec 27 1767, NC, (two sources) Dyer, Alan. "A Biography of James Parker, Colonial Printer". Troy, New York: The Whitston Pub. Co., 1982, p.114.William B., ed. "The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, Vol. 16, January 1 through December 31, 1769" New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1972, pp. 72-78. "To Benjamin Franklin from James Parker, 29 March 1769".
"You may remember I had a Brother who went to North-Carolina, whose Children by his first Wife, were lost, with my other Brother at Sea.2 This Brother got married again, and being a Ship-Carpenter by Trade, he had purchased a Tract of Cedar Land on the Banks of Currituck Inlet in North Carolina, where he made a Living by getting Ship Timber and selling it. It pleased God to take him away the 27th of December, 1767, leaving a Wife with 7 young Children, and his Wife pregnant with the 8th. On his Death Bed he saw he should leave his Wife destitute of the Means of living: and he could only recommend them to the Care of Heaven, and to me: As I was not born for myself, and all I have is the Gift of God, who has made me Steward only of it, when he Calls, I should obey: therefore looking on this as one of the Calls of Heaven, I sent for her, with a View to place them at my House in Woodbridge, where the Children might have some Education, to enable them to be something more than Savages. As she was with Child she could not come till she was delivered And accordingly she was delivered in the Summer following, and arrived here with all her Infants the 5th Day of October last, two Days before Sammy's Wife died. Full of Trouble on every Quarter, I blessed God, it was no Worse: I carried the Corps to Woodbridge to inter with her Family: at the same Time carried my poor Sister and her Children down there: There is House-Room enough: She is a good sort of a Woman, the two eldest are Daughters, whom I employ there in spinning, the 6 young ones are Boys, the youngest but a few Months old, and having not been named yet, I directed her to call it Franklin, in Remembrance of my Friend and Patron: The Boys I send to School: they are good-looking Children, brave and hearty, and I flatter myself they may possibly become good Members of the Community in Time,"
2"There were four Parker brothers, Samuel, John, James, and Elisha. N.J. His Soc. Proceedings, new ser., VIII (1923, 194. Elisha probably went to North Carolina, because a man of that name was married there in 1752; William M. Clemens, North and South Carolina Marriage Records from the Earliest Colonial Days to the Civil War (New York, 1927), p. 215. In that case Elisha was the Uncle Samuel visited in 1765 (see above, XIII, 412, 455, 491), but of the fate, or even identity, of Elisha's brother, wife, and children nothing is known."Note: Elisha's widow had 8 ch; 2 boys and 6 girls; boys were James and Franklin. A dau may have been Jana Parker, b NC? wit to will of Samuel Franklin Parker; she was worker in James printing shop? The only mem of James mother?
Compiled by Clarence McDaniel
1769 Named as nephew by James Parker, printer, in his will; son of bro,Elisha;
See James will in scrapbook. Was apprenticed to James to learn printing trade. May not had issue
Research by Clarence McDaniel
1769 Birth info written by James Parker in letter to Benj Franklin.
William B., ed. "The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, Vol. 16, January 1 through December 31, 1769" New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1972, pp. 72-78. "To Benjamin Franklin from James Parker, 29 March 1769". son of bro, Elisha.
Note: Grandson of Samuel Parker and Jana Inglis.
Compiled by C. McDaniel & L. Stewart
New Jersey Abstracts of Wills 1670-1817, Volume XXXIV, Abstracts of Wills, 1771-1780, Samuel F Parker, p. 378.
Jana Parker was a witness to will of Samuel Franklin Parker's will.
This supposes Elisha named a dau for his mother.