Parks, Josiah Orton (1841-1866)

Ministry

A transcription of obituary published in the Primitive Methodist Magazine by Robert Parks is attached. (It is one of the longer ones that I have come across!) The obituary gives an extensive summary of his early life and work on his stations.

In a letter to Robert Parks, Thomas Mays writes- “You mourn the loss of one who was a good son, a kind brother, an affectionate husband, and a loving father. Above all these, he was a devoted Christian, a diligent student, and a laborious, intelligent, faithful, and successful minister of Christ. God was gracious to him and to you, for he never dishonoured himself, nor you, nor the Church, nor his brethren in the ministry, nor Christ. His sun was shining clearly, and increasing in brightness, but it went down ere it was noon, because his Lord and ours required his presence within the inner shrine.”

Family

Josiah was born on 31 January 1841 at Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, to parents Robert Parks and Rebecca Robinson.

He married Sarah Tingle Thornton (1840-1909) in the summer of 1864 in the Ashby de la Zouch Registration District, Leicestershire. Records identify two children.

• Bertha Thornton (1865-1866)
• Ada Tebbutt (1866-1938) – married Thomas Tingle in 1902; married Ernest Walters in 1927

Josiah died on 30 October 1866 Alfreton, Derbyshire.

Circuits

• 1860 Horncastle
• 1861 Burton on Trent
• 1862 Rotherham
• 1864 Derby
• 1866 Ripley

References

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1867/230

PM Minutes 1867/8

W Leary, Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits, 1990

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers