John & Ellen Heskin Parker Family – Life in England, meeting an Apostle and coming to Nauvoo
Compiled by Wendy Kay Smith
John Parker Sr was born on August 17, 1775 in Mitton, Lancashire England to
Richard Parker and Alice Kenyon. He was the third of nine children.
Ellen Heskin was born on January 31, 1779 in Ribchester, Lancashire England to Robert Heskin and Margaret Watson she was the fourth of seven children.
On January 14, 1799 John and Ellen married in Mitton, Lancashire England. They had 10 ten children (Isabella, Robert, Richard, Rodger, Ann, John, William, Alice, Ellen and Mary). Below are pictures of the children that we have pictures of.
 Richard Parker |  Rodger Parker |  John Parker Jr |
 Ellen Parker Corbridge |  Alice Parker Corbridge |  Mary Haskin Parker Richards |
They lived in Chaigley, Lancashire England on a small rented farm and had very little money. “Their small farm lay at the foot of Mount Longridge, between two mountains and near the River Hodder, which flowed through the valley and joined the River Ribble. The main road skirting the Parker farm connected the two nearest towns of Preston and Clitheroe.” (1)
Mary Haskin Parker, John & Ellen’s daughter, described in her journal what Chaigley was like. She said “My Father occupied a small farm near the foot of Mount Longridge. In one of the most beautiful valleys that my eyes ever beheld. It lay between 2 mountains that extend east and west from the summit of one to the summit of the other forming a half circle. In the center of the valley is the river Hodder which ran the same direction with the mountains (spelling and punctuation updated) (2)
They attended Church at the Walkerford Chapel where John Richards (Jennetta Richards Father, Jennetta married Willard Richards) was the pastor. John Jr played the violin and was the choir director at the church.
The Parker’s lived on a small rented farm in Chaigley. They did not have much money and did what they could to survive and provide for their needs of their large family.
They gathered willows and wove them into small brooms called besoms to sweep streets and stables with to sell.
The boys worked on the farm and herding the sheep. The girls learned to wind bobbins and weave on a fly shuttle loom in their home. Below is a picture of a hand loom of the time period and one that could have looked like their loom. On the right is a picture of a fly shuttle and bobbin. It is the bobbin in the middle that the girls would wind.
There were cotton factories near the Parker home where many worked including young children who were “cheap labor”. Mary, the youngest daughter of John and Ellen was sent to the factory to work winding bobbins at the age of 6 she worked there until she was 8 when she was released from that work. Her brother, John Parker told his children about having to wake his sister Mary up at 3:00 am when she was 6 years old to go to the factory to wind bobbins. (3) In her journal Mary records that she would earn 4 shilling a week for her work winding bobbins in the factory which was equal to a dollar and she continued to that until she was 8 years old. (4) The factory workers worked long hours in buildings that were hot and humid because that helped with the spinning of the fabric. They were not the best of conditions but it helped to provide needed money for the family.
“It is believed that more than fifty percent of the workers in the textile industry were under the age of eighteen and often worked 12-14 hours a day, with increased hours during busy time periods. Conditions in the mills were required to be hot and humid for the spinning of fabric, making the employees sweat profusely, giving rise to the term “sweat shop.” (5)
In 1838, Joseph Smith called Apostles Heber C Kimball and Orson Hyde to go to England as missionaries along with several others including Willard Richards. When they arrived in Chaigley they were given permission to preach at the Walkerford Chapel. The Parkers were in attendance.
The Parker family embraced the gospel and John & Ellen as well as some of their children (John Jr, Ellen, Alice and Mary ) were baptized by Heber C Kimball in the River Ribble in March 1838.
John Jr was the first to be baptized after hearing the missionaries preach a couple of times. He was one of 6 people baptized by Heber C Kimball in March 1838. The next Sunday, John Sr and Rodger were baptized and soon after Ellen and Alice were baptized. A few months later in July 1838 Mary was baptized.
John’s daughter would later recall him telling this incident of his baptism: “It was a cold, frosty night. There were going to be some baptisms. Father, with others, went to look on. He and a young man stood together. They wished that they had brought clothes so that they could be baptized. The young man said, “We can borrow Mag’s dress.” They did so. Father said that getting into that wet dress was worse than the ice water (6)
Many church meetings were held in the Parker home and many missionaries including Heber C Kimball, an apostle and Willard Richards who would soon be called as apostle, frequently stayed at their house. How would be to have an Apostle in your home and to have them hold a church meeting. Can you imagine the spirit that would be in your home? When Heber C Kimball was sick, he came to the Parker home to stay and have them help nurse him back to health. (7) Any mention of “Old John Parker’s Home” was talking of John and Ellen’s home
Church leaders talked of the importance of gathering to Zion and the John and Ellen had a strong prompting they needed to heed that counsel. John was 65 and Ellen was 60 when they left the hard life in Chaigley, as well as their children and many friends and decided to join the Saints in Nauvoo. How hard that must have been to leave their children and grandchildren not knowing when or if they would see they again. They knew that they needed to follow their leaders and the prompting they have received.
On Sept 8, 1840, John Parker and Ellen Heskin Parker joined a group of 241 saints headed by Theodore Turley. The group left Liverpool harbor aboard the “North America”. The “North America” was a Black Ball, 611-ton square rigger packet ship. The 34 day voyage was not an easy one they dwelt with storms, shortage of water and unsanitary conditions but that did not damp their faith and desire to come to America and to Nauvoo in search of a better life for their family.
William Clayton, another passenger, wrote in his journal of the journey: “Soon after the steamer returned the mate came down and ordered all boxes fast as they expected a good rocking that night. It was even so. The wind blew hard the vessel rock and many were sick all night. This was a new scene. Such sickness, vomiting, groaning and bad smells I never witnessed before and added to this the closeness of the [berths] almost suffocated us for want of air.”(8)
They landed in New York on Oct 11. William Clayton, in a letter written back to the Saints in England said of the journey, “I can assure you brethren and sisters, that if you will be faithfulyou have nothing to fear from the journey. The Lord will take care of his Saints. We had some old people in the company and they are equally as healthy as the young people. We left England about 6 weeks too late, and this was considerable worse for us. It cost more money and was not so pleasant traveling. We remained at New York, a few days and then took steam boat to West Troy, hence by canal boats to Buffalo, about 460 miles from New York. We remained at Buffalo a few days, and we were obliged to be separated. The fare to Chicago was double the amount we expected (on account of its being late in the season) & we were forced to leave some behind. The Lord sent the presiding Elder from Kirtland to Buffalo just in time to meet us and he immediately offered to take all who were willing to go to Kirtland. We felt it hard to part yet it was all well for there are as many here as can get into houses this winter.” (8)
“We then proceeded to Chicago which is something above 1000 miles from thence. We went to Dixonville about 110 miles. At this place we purchased a boat bottom, and after it was ready we floated down Rock River into the Mississippi, and down the latter river to Commerce. We were about 11 days coming from Dixon to Commerce, and it was in this distance we suffered most from the cold.” (9)
Sources:
- Richards, Mary Haskin Parker, 1823-1860. Winter Quarters: the 1846-1848 life writings of Mary Haskin Parker Richards / edited by Maurine Carr Ward. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1996, page 2.
- Richards, Mary Haskin Parker, 1823-1860. Winter Quarters: the 1846-1848 life writings of Mary Haskin Parker Richards / edited by Maurine Carr Ward. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1996, page 53.
- Isom, Alice Parker, “The Life of Great-Grandather – John Parker from the memory of Alice Parker Isom”, FamiySearch Memories, https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/K2Q6-NPG
- Richards, Mary Haskin Parker, 1823-1860. Winter Quarters: the 1846-1848 life writings of Mary Haskin Parker Richards / edited by Maurine Carr Ward. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1996, page 55
- Graff, Jenna, “Textile Workers”, LONDON’S PULSE PROJECTS, https://londonspulse.org/textile-workers/
- Isom, Alice Parker, “John Parker Jr Life History”, FamiySearch Memories, https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/K2Q6-NPG
- Richards, Mary Haskin Parker, 1823-1860. Winter Quarters: the 1846-1848 life writings of Mary Haskin Parker Richards / edited by Maurine Carr Ward. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1996, page 57
- Clayton, William, 1814-1879. Manchester Mormons: the journal of William Clayton, 1840 to 1842 / edited by James B. Allen and Thomas G. Alexander Santa Barbara: Peregrine Smith, 1974, page 173
- Allen, James B., ed., “To the Saints in England: Impressions of a Mormon Immigrant (The 10 December 1840 William Clayton Letter from Nauvoo to Manchester),” BYU Studies 18:3 (Spring 1978) pp. 477-79, https://saintsbysea.lib.byu.edu/mii/account/1080
List of Illustrations:
Figure (1) File:Longridge Fell 229-03.jpg. (2021, April 12). Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. Retrieved 22:14, August 15, 2021 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Longridge_Fell_229-03.jpg&oldid=552214894.
Figure (2) Walkerford Chapel, Mays, Kenneth, “Picturing history: Sites connected to Jennetta Richards”, Deseret News, Feb 7, 2017, https://www.deseret.com/2017/2/7/20605714/picturing-history-sites-connected-to-jennetta-richards#the-home-and-chapel-of-john-richards-jennettas-father-walkerfold-lancashire-england-jennetta-lived-here-at-the-time-of-her-conversion
Figure (3) File:Broom.jpg. (2021, April 20). Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. Retrieved 22:11, August 15, 2021 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Broom.jpg&oldid=554203052.
Figure (4) Fly Shuttle and Bobbin, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_640517
Figure (5) Hand Loom, Phelps, Andy, Gregory, Richard, Miller, Ian & Wild, Chris “The Textile Mills of Lancashire: The Legacy”, Historic England, https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/textile-mills-lancashire-legacy, page 36
Figure (6) River Ribble, Mays, Kenneth, “Picturing history: Sites connected to Jennetta Richards”, Deseret News, Feb 7, 2017, https://www.deseret.com/2017/2/7/20605714/picturing-history-sites-connected-to-jennetta-richards#the-home-and-chapel-of-john-richards-jennettas-father-walkerfold-lancashire-england-jennetta-lived-here-at-the-time-of-her-conversion
Figure (7) Ship “North America”, Saint by Sea website, https://saintsbysea.lib.byu.edu/mii/voyage/304