William Parker (1618–1686) was an early

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...

settler in the Connecticut Colony and one of the founders of

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

. He arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the summer of 1635 after sailing from

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on May 21, 1635 aboard the ship Mathew. He settled in Newtowne, the community that is now

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, and became one of the members of

Thomas Hooker Thomas Hooker (July 5, 1586 – July 7, 1647) was a prominent English colonial leader and Congregational minister, who founded the Connecticut Colony after dissenting with Puritan leaders in Massachusetts. He was known as an outstanding spea ...

's congregation. He was one of the

founders of Hartford, Connecticut The History of Hartford, Connecticut has occupied a central place in Connecticut's history from the state's origins to the present, as well as the greater history of the United States of America. Founders Here is a partial list of the 163 men an ...

Life

William was an original proprietor and land owner in Hartford, Connecticut in 1636, where his name is on the west face of the Founders Monument. Here his home–lot in 1639 was on the west side of the “road from Seth Grant’s to Centinel Hill,” now Trumbull St. He too part in the Pequot War (an armed conflict in 1637-1638 between an alliance of Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies, with Native American allies - the Narragansett, and Mohegan tribe), against the Pequot tribe.) in 1637 and moved to Saybrook about 1643. He was a pillar in the church in 1646 and a Deputy of Connecticut General Court during the sessions in September 1652, May 1672, May and October 1673, October 1680, May and October 1681, May and October 1682, and May 1683. William was a Sergeant in the Saybrook Train Band, owned land in Saybrook, and he was one of the three appraisers of the estate of George Fenwick in 1660. He was also involved in the inventory of the estate of William Carmackle in 1666. The History of the Parker Pen Company says: “In the autumn of 1633 William Parker left Dover, England with his wife Margery, aged 17, and eventually set sail from London on the ship “Matthew” departing May 21, 1635. Their ambitious journey no doubt may have been inspired by tales of the great migration in the prior few years by the Wellington Fleet, and several other convoys of ships carrying over thousands of settlers to the New World and The Massachusetts Bay Colony. His home lot in Hartford in 1639 was on the west side of the "road from Seth Grant's to Centinel Hill" which is now Trumbull Street. The location of his lot is evidence that he was with

's party in 1636. He is also listed as an inhabitant who had a right to undivided lands. He was one of the Hartford settlers who served in the Pequot War and attained the rank of sergeant. He received 36 acres of land in the division of upland in East Hartford in 1666 that he sold to William Pitkin and William Goodwin. He sold his share of land received in 1674 on the west side of Hartford to Thomas and Samuel Olcott. William Parker's six acres were sold in 1684 to Joseph Collier. William Parker fathered ten children by his first wife. Prior to 1682 he married a second wife, Elizabeth Pratt, the widow of Lieutenant William Pratt. His daughter, Margaret, born about 1650, married Joseph Pratt in 1671, who was the son of Lieutenant William Pratt and Elizabeth (Clark) Pratt. William Parker moved from Hartford to Saybrook in 1649. He was a large landholder and also had land in

Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after Eas ...

that he had acquired from Joshua, the third son of

Uncas Uncas () was a ''sachem'' of the Mohegans who made the Mohegans the leading regional Indian tribe in lower Connecticut, through his alliance with the New England colonists against other Indian tribes. Early life and family Uncas was born n ...

. Edward Johnson in his work published in 1654 wrote of him: "Mr. William Parker, a man of pregnant understanding, and very useful in his place." William Parker was Deputy to the General Court at the special session of 1652, at the May sessions in 1679 and 1681, and at the October sessions of 1678, 1679, 1680, and 1681.Parker-Pond-Peck, by Rev. Edwin Pond Parker, D.D. Hartford, Conn. 1636-1892. (Hartford, Conn., Press of the Case, Lockwood, and Brainard Company, 1892), pp. 7, 8, 9

References

External links

Biographical sketch
Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford website {{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, William 1618 births 1686 deaths American Puritans New England Puritanism Founders of Hartford, Connecticut Kingdom of England emigrants to Massachusetts Bay Colony People from Cambridge, Massachusetts