The evolving scholarship regarding the gunsmith John Parks
The following table summarizes the John Parks-related material in those three books:
The Clay Township chapter of J. Simpson Africa's 1883 book "History of Huntingdon and Blair counties, Pennsylvania" includes a list of tombstone inscriptions that were recorded at the Cassville Cemetery on September 10, 1877. One entry in that list is "Park, John, died Dec. 10, 1851, aged 78 years, 1 month, 5 days, father of Joseph". Based on the birth and death dates given in the aforementioned three books, it is clear that they reference this John Parks.
The published scholarship regarding the gunsmith John Parks changed radically with the publication of the 2017 book "Gunsmiths of Bedford County, Pennsylvania by Vaughn E. Whisker, Sr. and James Biser Whisker. That book provides extensive biographical information for a John Park who was reportedly born in 1784, and hints at the difficulty of researching a person with a common name like John Parks. The biographical information in the 2017 book was reportedly provided by Mrs. Joanne Rogers.
In regard to gunsmithing, two key points about John Parks in the 2017 book are:
In my opinion, if he was a 66-year-old gunsmith in Clearfield county in 1850, then he would have probably been a gunsmith in the 1843 to 1846 timeframe, when he was reportedly living in Woodbury Township of Bedford County.
L. Dietle
In the 1983 to 2001 timeframe, biographical summaries in at least three gun collector-type publications identified John Parks as a Pennsylvania gunsmith. Those publications are:
