Accoring to this death reg his father was Edward Stone and mother was Mary ????

Australia Death Index, 1787-1985
Name: Edward Stone Parker
Death Place: Victoria
Age: 63
Father's Name: Edward Stone
Mother's Name: Mary
Registration Year: 1865
Registration Place: Victoria
Registration number: 3776
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1802

Australia Cemetery Index, 1808-2007
Name: Edward Stone Parker
Death Age: 63
Birth Date: abt 1802
Death Date: 25 Apr 1865
Cemetery: Franklinford
Cemetery Location: Franklinford, Victoria

Did Edward Stone Parker and Mary Cook Woolmer marry in England or Australia ?

Did he go to Australia as a free man or convict, have you any idea where and when he arrived in Australia or where he was from in England ?

Well I think I have answered one question, they were married in England this looks like one of their children:

"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975"
Name: Samuel Woolmer Parker
Gender: Male
Christening Date: 03 Mar 1833
Christening Place: GEORGE STREET WESLEYAN,GREENWICH,KENT,ENGLAND
Birth Date: 25 Nov 1832
Father's Name: Edward Parker
Mother's Name: Mary Cooke Woolmer
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: C06836-1
System Origin: England-ODM
GS Film number: 0596909 (RG4 295)

Unfortunately the marriage does not give the fathers names:

"England, Devon, Parish Registers, 1538-1912"
Name: Edward Parker
Event Type: Marriage
Event Date: 1828
Event Place: Devon
Spouse's Name: Mary Cooke Woolmer
Digital Folder Number: 004634329

Another child:

"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975"
Name: Joseph Parker
Gender: Male
Christening Date: 13 May 1832
Christening Place: GEORGE STREET WESLEYAN,GREENWICH,KENT,ENGLAND
Birth Date: 25 Aug 1831
Father's Name: Edward Parker
Mother's Name: Mary Cooke Woolmer
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: C06836-1
System Origin: England-ODM
GS Film number: 0596909 (RG4 295)

The family must have arrived in Australia before Oct 1842. I have not found them on the 1841 census. This creates a problem because I am no sure where Edward and Mary where born they married in devon but the two children were born in kent.

Australia Cemetery Index, 1808-2007
Name: Mary Cooke Parker
Death Age: 35
Birth Date: abt 1807
Death Date: 11 Oct 1842
Cemetery: Franklinford
Cemetery Location: Franklinford, Victoria

I found another entry foe their marriage which state Edward was a Minister of the church

"England Marriages, 1538?1973 "
Name: Reverend Edward Parker
Birth Date: 1807
Age: 21
Spouse's Name: Mary Cooke Woolmer
Spouse's Birth Date: 1807
Spouse's Age: 21
Event Date: 17 Dec 1828
Event Place: St. Andrew Plymouth, Devon, England
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M01606-6
System Origin: England-EASy
GS Film number: 413276

These are the entries for Mary's birth which does not help much there are different birth/baptism date and places of birth. It would seem that Samuel and Jane were her parents.

Mary Cook Woolmer
England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 for Mary Cook Woolmer

birth: 14 August 1807
christening: 1 September 1809 SAINT PETERS DANIEL STREET-WESLEYAN,PORTSEA,HAMPSHIRE,ENGLAND
father: Saml. Woolmer mother: Jane


christening: 1 September 1809 Portsea, Hampshire
father: Samuel Woolmer mother: Jane Woolmer

birth: 14 August 1807
christening: 6 October 1807 WESLEYAN,FORTUNES WELL,DORSET,ENGLAND
father: Samuel Woolmer mother: Jane

christening: 6 October 1807 Weymouth, Dorset
father: Samuel Woolmer
mother: Jane WoolmerMary Cooke Woolmer

christening: 6 October 1807 Isle of Portland, Dorset
father: Samuel Woolmer
mother: Jane Woolmer Mary Cooke Woolmer

christening: 1809 Dudley, Worcestershire
father: Samuel Woolmer mother: Jane Woolmer

I found this which might help, if you need something else looking up after you have read it post a reply. There is also a photo of Edward.


Edward Stone Parker was the son of a Printer. He was born in London on 17 May 1802. In his early life he was an apprentice printer. He became a Teacher in London at the Methodist Day School in Greater Queen Street and was studying to become a Methodist Minister. He met and married his first wife Mary Cooke Woolmer born 14 Aug 1807 at Fortuneswell, Weymouth, Dorset (the daughter of Revd. Samuel Woolmer and Jane Woolmer (nee Gray). They married at St.Andrews Plymouth on 22 Dec 1828. Her father was a Wesleyan Minister on the Circuit. Edward & Mary had 6 sons in the next 10 years. He was active in the English Anti-slavery movement.
The family came to Australia in 1838 arriving as unassisted passengers on the ship 'Elizabeth'. They arrived in Port Jackson (Sydney) on 24 Sept 1838. He had been appointed by Lord Glenelg, then minister of Colonies as a Protector of Aboriginies. At the time of arrival there were several young children: Edward Stone Parker Jnr aged 9, Joseph Parker aged 6, Samuel Woolmer Parker aged 5, Richard Parker aged 2, Theophilus Henry (named after her brother) aged 1. In their early years in the colony they had another 2 children - William born in 1840 and Emma Mary in 1842 (the ancestor who married a Williamson). Their early life was tough arriving in Victoria with a young family and camping at Jackson's creek in 1839 and 1840.
Edward Stone Parker was the Assistant Protector of Aborigines for the Loddon district of Port Phillip Protectorate from 1839 until it was abolished on 1 Mar 1850.
Mary Cooke Woolmer died on 11 Oct 1842 aged 35 yrs, leaving behind 7 children the youngest, a daughter Emma Mary, being an infant. Their eldest son Edward Stone Parker Jnr died in 1847 aged 18 yrs. Edward Parker married for a second time Hannah Edwards (Annie), a friend of his wife who was employed as a steamtress for the family before his wife's death. The second marriage in 1843 went on the produce a further 6 children: three boys and three girls, although 2 of the girls died in infancy.
Edward Stone Parker became a Victorian Parliamentarian, a Magistrate, a member of the Royal Society of Victoria and a member of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria. When the Aboriginal Station was abolished in 1850 Edward Stone Parker took up a licence for the Reserve (sixty two sq miles). The family established a homestead at the foot of Mount Franklin at Franklinford where his occupation was farming and grazing. In 1860 he was still leasing 10,000 acres for grazing. He died on 29 Apr 1865 aged 62 years.
Joseph Parker gave his recollections of the family's voyage from England to the Castlemaine Assoc of Pioneers & Old residents in 1891 when he was 60 years old.

Thanks noggin. I know they came to Australia in 1838. I have quite a lot of information after this time through a family book. What I have been unable to find is more information about his and Mary's life before coming to
Australia. According to the book I have he was training for the ministry and had to retire as he got married during his probationary period. He supposedly opened up a school in London but that is about all I know.

Looking further into the book I have Mary was born in Fortunes Wells, Portland Is, England, so that rules out the other entries you found.

Thanks for that....I now have a date of birth for Mary! Just to clarify my previous remark, what I meant was that I can now sort out which of the entries you wrote is her.

Do you know about the cairn honoring Edward Stone Parker at Franklinford, opened in 1966 if I remember correctly? If not,you'll find a picture of it somewhere,perhaps Wikipedia. It's at the junction of the Newstead road and the track that went up to the old school (now the community hall)and can be seen on Google Earth. You might find my Frankinford journal about the school,Edward Stone Parker etc. of interest.

Thank you itellya. I have just found out about this and apparently a building named the ES Parker centre, so my husband and I are off to see this sometime this month. My husband is a descendent of the grand daughter of ES 1st marriage who married the grandson of ES 2nd marriage. How could I access your Frankinford journal?