A Maitland Genealogy - Parkes Section.
Issue date: 2/7/2004
Parkes is an uncommon name except in the English West Midlands, where it
abounds. The Parkes were a family associated with early industry in the English
Midlands. This branch were, in the middle of the 19th Century, the founding
family of Josiah Parkes and Sons, manufacturers of the Union brand of door
furniture and locks in Willenhall (England) the centre of lock manufacturing in
England.
The other families came mostly from Worcestershire and Warwickshire.
Includes:
Fryers who were latterly decorators in Birmingham and the midlands, but
originated from around Evesham and Stratford.
Staits from Temple Grafton in Warwickshire and owned a small farm there.
Wilkes, (stonemasons) & Hemmings from Bidford on Avon, Warwickshire,
Duntons of Dudley.
Turners from Bobbington, Staffordshire and Willenhall.
Copes who were from a family in Polesworth, in northeast Warwickshire,
some of whom were Canal boatmen.
Parkes families -
Parkes, Turner, Cope Duntons etc
Fryer Family - includes Staits, Wilkes &
Hemmings
The known line starts with Richard Parkes (abt 1742-1808; before this,
there are too many options), a baker from Dudley. He married, as his 3rd wife,
Jane Dunton (1752-1779), who came from a Dudley family of shoemakers stretching
back to the early 17C.
This line descends from their 3rd child and 2nd son, Josiah.
Josiah Parkes (1778-1845), a sometime schoolmaster in Bobbington and
dyer in Bilston, married as his 2nd wife, Beatrice Turner (1799-1864). Most of
his 6 sons went into the metalworking industry in the Bilston & Willenhall
areas. This line descends from his son Josiah. We have no information of
Josiah's first family (5/2002).
Josiah Parkes (1823-1899) was the founder of the family lock business:
he married Catherine Cope (1822-1903), daughter of William & Sarah Cope,
from a Polesworth, Warwickshire, family. They had 9 known children, 5 sons and
4 daughters. All the sons except the youngest, Thomas Ebeneezer, went into the
lock and related businesses. The eldest, William Edmund, built up the lock
business further.
William Edmund (1855-1920) married Elizabeth Fryer (1853-1927), from a
Warwickshire family. His two sons, William Cyril and Arthur Josiah (my
grandfather) built the business further. Arthur married Ethel
Lister.
AJ Parkes family
Changes:
23/7/2002: minor editing
2/7/2004: revised file layout - Fryers separate.
17/3/2007: Reformatted