Park Placeline

Just a year ago, this post would have been two generations shorter, as the g-g-g grandfather I had in this line was wrong. And I had literally nothing for him and his wife but names, and only a surname in this case. Now thanks to my cousin Kate, who kept digging and pushing until she found more information and got us a whole other generation back in the Park line. So thank you, Kate, for helping to expand our family tree. This family line was why I started my search. And aside from the above, I've made very little headway with them, so having that expansion was quite exciting. Who knows what we'll find now that we have more names.

As always, bold are important places for birth, marriage, and death records, and italics are other locations they lived in for at least a year.

1. Mary (May) Dunlop Park

A. Des Moines, Washington. When Granny grew too old to live on her own, my grandfather found a place for her here in Washington at a Masonic nursing home. My grandfather was a Mason, and used his connections to get her a very comfortable and pretty place to live. Despite that, she wasn't happy to be here. She remembered her youth in the US poorly, and hated how her father had been treated at that time. If she'd had her way, she never would have lived in the US again. But we were glad to have her close by, where we could see her, and I have fond memories of visiting her here several times before she passed away.

B. Vancouver, BC, Canada. My great-grandmother lived the majority of her life here in Vancouver. She moved here in her twenties, and lived here until late in her life. Here she met her husband, Bjarne, and here she had her two boys. I would venture to say it was the place she felt was her home.

C. Belfast, Ireland. At the time, it was before Irish independence, so I will call it just Ireland. For a short time before the Parks moved to Canada, they lived in Belfast.

D. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This is where Mary and all her siblings were born. Their parents came here from northern Ireland in 1883, and only left when it became too difficult to be immigrant Irish in the Eastern US, when they returned home to Ireland.

2. Robert James Park

A. Vancouver, BC, Canada. This is where my great-great grandparents settled finally with all their children, and lived until they passed away, which for Robert was almost twenty years, a good, long time. 

B. Belfast, Ireland. After no longer wanting to be in the US, the Parks returned to Belfast before moving again to Canada. The only reason I have this confirmed is because they were there long enough to be in the Irish Census for 1911.

C. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After Robert and Lizzie married, they emigrated to the US, settling in Philadelphia. According to the work my cousin Kate has done, it seems they had at least one if not several family members and friends from Ireland in their community. Robert made a living as a cabinet maker. It was only when the push against Irish immigrants began in the US in the 19-teens that they left and returned to Ireland.

D. Belfast, Ireland. I do not know at all how long Robert lived in Belfast, only that this is where he was when he married Lizzie. And I know this is where they left for America from.

E. Ballymena, Ireland. Robert was born in Ballymena, which is also in Northern Ireland. I know almost nothing about his life there, though he had at least two sisters and two older half brothers.

3. David Park Esquire

A. Ballymena, Ireland. I know almost nothing about David or his father. They are very new in my tree thanks to my cousin. I only know that David married twice, and had at least five kids between those wives. Nearly all the locations I currently have for him are Ballymena, so I presume he lived most if not all his life in or near the city of Ballymena.

4. John Park

A. Antrim, Ireland. I know even less about John than I do about David. I have four sons for him, but no spouse, and all his locations are in Antrim. 

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We do have one more generation back, but no specific locations attached to him, so I will not include him here at this time. Six locations for this one. Very little information once I get back to Ballymena, unfortunately, but at least that is beginning to grow thanks to all the digging my cousin is doing.