The earliest Parker confirmed in my ancestry was born about 1674 in the parish of Knarsdale, Northumberland in the South Tyne valley. Back in 1717 John Parker ("Randy's John") married his second wife Martha Dixon in Knarsdale and they raised ten children in the hamlet of Eals in the north of the parish. Of these my 5x great grandfather, Thomas Parker 1739, was the youngest and some of his descendants could be found in Eals almost to the present day. My line then runs through a series of John Parkers born in 1777, 1819, 1849, 1881 and to my mother's brother John 1918. John Parker 1819 and some of his family left Knarsdale in 1871, moving to Chipchase Mill in the North Tyne valley and then further east later to Kirkheaton. John 1849 gave up on farming  before this, taking an opportunity in 1869 to move directly to Newcastle upon Tyne where he worked as a wharfman on the quayside. In this branch of Thomas 1739 the Parker name still survives in England today, albeit only just.

Two of the female lines, those of Martha Parker 1728 (m Armstrong) and Tabitha Parker 1731 (m  Dixon) also became populous, Martha's family initially also in Knarsdale and Tabitha's around Castle Carrock in Cumberland. However, by far the strongest survivors are the descendants of the ninth child, Robert Parker 1737. Unlike his farming siblings, Robert became a lead miner, taking his family off to Alston and Garrigill in Cumberland. By 1830 the lead mines were becoming less viable and the family dispersed, some to the coal fields of south east Northumberland, or to County Durham around St Helen Auckland; others elsewhere in Cumberland before emigrating to Canada, Australia or USA. Almost all of today's surviving Parkers belong to Robert's line. My thanks go to two Canadian cousins in particular from that line, Glenn Parker and Bill Forrest, both now deceased, for their invaluable partnership throughout this project.

The purpose of this website is two-fold in that, apart from Parker lines, it also represents the non-Parker branches of my family, most of whom had migrated from Scotland (or Ireland) to Northumberland by the beginning of the 1800s and further to Newcastle by 1900. Direct ancestors include Armstrong, Buck, Cathro, Dunbar, Gregg, Liddell, Middlemiss/mas, Neish, Rodham, Tait and Young. Thanks go also to many people who have contributed their own twigs to the project - sources are not included here, but in most cases are available on request. Visitors are invited to make comments, corrections or contributions.

Enjoy your visit.
Kath