Hi to all Parkin family and other vistors

This site is dedicated to those wanting to know more about the Parkin family in South Africa and also provide a forum for all descendants of John Parkin to share information about the family.


John Parkin, an 1820 settlers, was the first Parkin to set foot in South Africa, in Algoa Bay on 20th May 1820. He was accompanied by his wife Elizabeth Abraham (nee Howard) and his first four children, William, John, Jane and Robert. Initially settling on the farm designated by the British Government to the Parkin party, some 14km south west of Bathurst in the Eastern Cape, he moved into Port Elizabeth soon after and during the early years of the cities existence, quickly acquired a large portfolio of the Port Elizabeth real estate.


Today, not much (if any) of his original land remains in the Parkin name, with only a few items in the city remaining as an acknowledgement of his input into the beginnings of Port Elizabeth, namely Parkin Street in North End and a memorial plaque in a park in Stella ave Fernglen, close to where his original homestead was.


Marrying a second time, John Parkin's offspring could have made up a rugby team, all of 15 kids. Upon his death in 1856, his estate was never settled as a number of his children had moved on from Port Elizabeth and some thought to be dead. In the years that followed, some of his property was purchased from the estate by the government of the day for in order to build the Port Elizabeth Railway Station, where it still stands today. In the 1960's, a descendant of John Parkin, (N.P. Sellick) interested in determining who still had a claim to the estate, researched the Parkin genealogy in conjunction with the HSRC and wrote a book "John Parkin of Baakens River farm and his family, 1820 to 1970", which gave the basis for the family tree that can be found on another site.


The editor of this blog also manages this comprehensive Parkin family tree starting with John Parkin's parents in Exeter, Devon England which links to some of John's sibling's descendants still living in Exeter. It contains the names of over 3700 of William's descendants and their spouses. If you are a descendant of William Parkin born 1745 in Exeter, Devon England and would like to see how you fit into the tree and/or willing to share some details about your close family to add to the tree, please make contact through the details on this blog page.

Monday, March 16, 2026

Robert Parkin the Boer Part 1

 Most of the followers of this page would know by now that John Parkin the 1820 Settler and his family played a huge role in the development of the city, Port Elizabeth and was considered a property mogul in the early years of the town's development.

John's property portfolio at the time of his death in 1856 had prime properties in the old Main Street (including the property where the station stands today) and the farms Baakens River and Hartbeesfontein which today make up a substantial portion of suburban Gqeberha.

But not many would know that his son Robert (b1817) was not far from a land baron himself, albeit some distance from Port Elizabeth.

Robert abandoned Port Elizabeth to trek with the Boers inland sometime between 1840 and 1843. Like many of the Boer settlers in the Eastern Cape, he was seeking better pastures and perhaps disapproving of the British govt imposing laws and curtailing freedoms.

En route, he met a young woman by the name of Johanna Christina van den Berg. The van den Berg family hailed from Graaff-Reinet in the Cape and were also moving further north, stopping in Colesberg where in January 1844, Robert and Johanna married and in April the same year, Johanna's parents had their last child. The newly married couple temporarily settled in and around Rietrivier area with there first 4 children baptised in the NG Kerk. Robert and the van den Berg family then moved further north / east from Colesberg / Rietrivier area to the Orange River Sovereignty (Free State) around 1850 and settling close to the newly established Bloemfontein (founded in 1846).

Robert was the only one of John Parkin's 15 children to marry into a Boer family and trek northward. There are two of his grandchildren, James, son of John (Jnr) who married Anthonetta Marthina Van Niekerk and Isaac, son of Cradock who married Helena Anna Rudolphina Wilhelm but both stayed in the Eastern Cape. The majority of Afrikaner Parkin family in South Africa are descendants of Robert. It is worth noting that James Parkin and his wife Anthonetta were Transvaal based around this time with descendants predominantly Afrikaans speaking, but this discussion is primarily about the Free State Parkin family. A number of James Parkin's descendants have provided significant input into the family tree and it is thanks to those like Garnet and Louis. (Part of this side of the family emigrated to South America as farmers in more recent decades.)

This decision of Robert Parkin to join the Boers provided an interesting juxtaposition in the family because Robert's side of the family integrated with the Boers and resulted in a number of Parkin family having their first language as Afrikaans. Just over Fifty years after Robert's arrival in Orange Free State Sovereignty, there was of course the 2nd Anglo Boer War and British Concentration Camps, which will be discussed in other parts.










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