This small quaint seaport has roots back to April 7, 1730 when Isaac and Jonathan Green Sr. purchased from Ebenezer Harker "a certain plantation and track of land containing by estimation 441 acres situate lying and being in ye Carterett in ye county of province of aforsaid being ye west side of ye mouth off White Oak River." By 1771 Theophilus Weeks started a town on his plantation, laying out a plat and selling lots. Formerly known as Bogue, Week's Point, The Wharf and New Town, the town was officially designated by the North Carolina General Assembly on May 6, 1783. Above photo courtesy Jack Dudley . Swansboro - A Pictorial Tribute . North Carolina State Archives. The above links open SPECIAL PAGES; please SEE SIDEBAR to navigate to specific posts.

JAMES ELDRIDGE PARKIN HOUSE circa 1873

NATIONAL REGISTER of Historical Places: 218 Water Street – Three-bay center-hall plan I-house, with decorative one-story front porch, two-story ell, front gable, elaborate interior tongue-and-groove sheathing, mantel and stair detail. Parkin was a steamship pilot, and after 1900 a Swansboro merchant. NR (House images to follow)

Sarah Jane Whitehurst
Thomas Parkin 1833-1906
Thomas Edmund Parkin 1833-1906 arrived in Beaufort, Carteret County, North Carolina in 1856 from Hull, Yorkshire, England. The next year blacksmith Parkin married Sarah Jane Whitehurst 1842-1917, daughter of Elijah Whitehurst and Lydia Piver of Beaufort. Their children: Lydia, Julia, Edmund, James Eldridge, Mary Catherine (died at birth), Herbert Vernon, Harry Mommoth, Cecil Warren and George Wilbur Parkin.

James Eldridge Parkin 1867-1952 married Maryland Virginia Hill 1873-1945 daughter of Edward Moore Hill and Armecia Willis of New River, Onslow County on December 24, 1890. Their children: Mary, Nellie, James E., Neta, Bessie and Thomas Parkin. Son James E. Parkin 1901-1931 married Olivia Isabel Rouse

In the 1900 census James Eldridge Parkin was noted as a marine engineer. In the 1920 census he was a retail merchant.

Family trees confuse James Eldridge Parkin and James Elijah Parkin, for whom the house is named. James Eldridge Parkin 1867-1952 death certificate, information provided by Neta Parkin Littleton, documented her father’s name. 85-year-old James Eldridge Parkin died from severe burns caused by an accident due to senility where his clothing ignited due to smoking in bed. James Eldridge Parkin was buried in Ward Cemetery, Swansboro.


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