The Dunlop Family
I have mentioned many times on this blog about my
grandfather's death, and how it was his side of the family I was most concerned
with losing, particularly his mother's side. This is the dimmest line in her
family, and one that at this time I have no idea how to start finding.
For a long time, all I had was my grandfather's grandparents
further down on this branch. His grandfather, Robert park, was as far as I
could go in his line for a long time. Then I found the BC, Canada death records
on Family Search, and was delighted to find the information I had been looking
for for almost two decades. There on his death record were listed his parents'
names. Unfortunately, they get me little further. John Park is about as common
in Ireland as John Smith in England. And even more unfortunately, it only gave
his mother's surname. Dunlop.
Robert's mother is the only connection I have to this line,
though he named two of his children for this line. My great-grandmother, Mary
Dunlop Park (later Bordewick), and her younger brother, George Dunlop Park. My
great grandmother's name being Mary Dunlop leads me to believe there is a
possibility her grandmother's name was Mary as well—one of the two children Robert
and his wife lost in infancy was named for her mother—Jenny Curran Park—so it
leads me to speculate that my grandmother was named similarly for Robert's
mother.
At this time, of course, that is only speculation, and even
if it is true, it gets me little further, as Mary Dunlop would also be
incredibly common. Still, at this time, it is the only connection I have to
this family, so all I can do is keep looking.
My Dunlop line for those interested:
* Miss Dunlop may have been born in either Ireland (likely
Northern Ireland, as that is where the rest are from) or Scotland (as it's a
very popular name there). She married John Park sometime before 1851, when
their son Robert was born. I have no idea how many children they had, or when
she died.
* Robert James Park was born 1851 in Antrum, Ireland. He
married Elizabeth Curran in 1883, likely in Ireland before the two emigrated to
America. The two had at least 9 children in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, before
emigrating back to Northern Ireland in the early 1900s. Robert died in 1930.
* Robert and Elizabeth's children were all born in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:
+ Jennie Curran Park was born 1884, and died in 1885 in
Philadelphia.
+ Helen Brown Park is unconfirmed as the second child they
lost in Philadelphia. She was born 1885, but I am uncertain when she died.
+ Robert Curran Park was born 1887. He died 1912 in
Vancouver at the age of only 25. He never married or left any heirs.
+ Elizabeth Park was born 1889. She married Louis Phillips,
and died in 1966.
+ Mary Dunlop Park was born 1891. She married Bjarne
Bordewick 1917 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The two had two sons, George Robert
and Henry Norman. George married and had four children with his wife,
eventually settling in Seattle, Washington, where his descendants, including
two great grandchildren of his own, all still reside. Henry died during World
War II. Mary lived a great long life, and lived to meet both of her great
grandchildren, dying in 1982.
+ Rhoda Park was born 1893. She married Wesley Standlick.
She died in 1982 in Vancouver, BC.
+ Margaret Park was born in 1895, and never married. She was
the longest-lived of her family, living in Vancouver until she died at the age
of 106 in 2001.
+ George Dunlop Park was born 1897. He married Florence
Williams, and died in 1993, a few years after his nephew George.
+ Florence Park was born in 1903. She married Ross Sexmith,
and was the only one of the Parks to settle outside the BC area after their
move to Canada in the early 1900s. She and Ross had four boys, and I have
record of several grandchildren for her, but little else.
What I don't know:
* Robert Park's mother's name, though I suspect it may be
Mary, as I said.
* Anyone outside of her in her family.
* If and when this family may have come to Northern (?) Ireland
from Scotland, though it's likely during the period when a lot of Scots were
pushed out of their land by the nobility.
* Really, anything on this branch at all.
More on this line:
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