At first sight, the data extracted from the Registry of Deeds appear to be very confusing. If we carefully go through each memorial in chronological sequence, we are able to gradually discern family relationships within and between Sligo and Leitrim. Although the original Roger Parke’s sons William and Robert appear to have both been born in Sligo, by 1635 Robert Parke bought Newtowne, the castle on Lough Gill, some land and two islands. Thereafter, his branch of the family appears to have been based in Leitrim, whilst William’s branch was centered on Sligo.
After very careful analysis and consideration of ALL the information from the various researchers and data presented in this website, it has been possible to prepare descent trees for 7 generations of descent from the original Roger Parke to families in Sligo and Leitrim:
Sligo: Deduced Descent from Roger Parke
Leitrim: Deduced Descent from Roger Parke
Confounding Information from Sir William Parke
This must be balanced with information presented in a document that appears to have belonged to Sir William Parke:
In 1847, Sir William Parke completed and dated a form that he did not appear to sign or send, but which was clearly obtained for forwarding to the offices of “Burke’s Peerage”. This form purported to show some of his lineage. This lineage differs from opinions developed by more modern researchers (and the Registry of Deeds?). It could be assumed that that he was able to access sources that were later destroyed in the Dublin fire at the Four Courts, and one would have to accept that he had the details correct for i) his parents, ii) his siblings and iii) his children, but he may have relied on uncertain knowledge or family tradition that was not entirely correct when detailing his grandparents and paternal great-grandparents. His version of his lineage is recounted, below:
The form, itself, can be seen in the following images:
It should be noted that other researchers have deduced that that Lucy Colles married William Parke. This difference leads to crucial changes in descent, from Roger Parke, for a great many of the persons who have been uncovered to date, with several possible versions of descendant tree:
Sligo families (adapting/incorporating Sir William’s document)
Leitrim families (incorporating Sir William’s document) version 1
Leitrim families (adapting/incorporating Sir William’s document) version 1a