John PARKE (c. 1818-1889)

Emigrated to U.S.A. in 1846. They were in New York City in the 1850 Census but, according to deeds, were here in Durham by 4th October 1856 - "John Parks of NYC purchased 130 acres of land in the town of Durham for 500 dollars". On 20th November 1856, John Parks was a resident of Durham when, for 15 dollars, he purchased 1 acre of land with a house that had belonged to Abraham Maybee (The Book of Deeds, pp. 478-479, Greene County Office Building Records). On 9 May 1866 John Parks purchased, from George Blakeney, an additional parcel of land (65/456) of about 40 acres or more, mostly in Durham and part in Wyndham. The full transcript is lengthy and this is a brief summary of the items of genealogical interest. According to Beer's History of Greene County, this brought the Parks farm to approximately 200 acres. The spring on Ken Mabey's property, near the south side of Cunningham Road, is referred to as "John Parks Spring" in my deed, he likely had possessed this parcel, which is about 17 acres.