Page:History of the Fylde of Lancashire (IA historyoffyldeof00portiala).pdf/181

 Elizabeth, and Katherine. Ralph, the eldest son, espoused Jane, the daughter of Richard Cross, of Cross Hall, in Chorley parish, but further than this fact, we have no information concerning him. The family of the Crosses, into which he married, belonged to Liverpool, and their old country seat, Cross Hall, is now converted into cottages and workshops. Thomas Longworth, the second son, born in 1622, resided at St. Michael's Hall, and married Cicely, the daughter of Nicholas Wilkinson, of Kirkland, by whom he had one son—Richard Longworth. The latter representative, having succeeded in course of time to the Hall and estates, was a justice of the peace for the county of Lancaster, and on terms of intimacy with Thomas Tyldesley, of Fox Hall, Edward Veale, of Whinney Heys, William Hesketh, of Mains Hall, and a number of other leading gentry in the district. He married Fleetwood, the daughter of Edward Shutteworth, of Larbrick, and Thornton Hall, and left at his demise one son—Edward Longworth, who became a doctor of medicine, and resided at St. Michael's Hall until 1725, about which time he removed to Penrith, in the county of Cumberland.

PARKER OF BRADKIRK HALL.

The Parkers, who inhabited Bradkirk Hall for over a hundred years, were relatives of the Derby family, and came originally from Breightmet Hall, near Bolton, where they had lived for many centuries. William Parker, of Bradkirk Hall, who died in 1609, and was buried at Kirkham, is the first of whom we have any authentic account, and he is stated to have married Margaret, the daughter of Robert Shaw, of Crompton. The children springing from that union were—John, who inherited Bradkirk Hall; Thomas, of Bidstone, in the county of Chester; and Henry, who espoused, in 1609, Alice Threlfall, and became the founder of the family of Parkers of Whittingham. John Parker, of Bradkirk Hall, married Margaret, the daughter and co-heiress of Anthony Parker, of Radham Park, Yorkshire; and after her decease he espoused Alice, the daughter of Richard Mason, of Up-Holland, near Wigan, by whom he had three sons and one daughter—William, Richard, John, and Margaret. The offspring of his first marriage were Anthony, Elizabeth, Jennet, Anne, Alice, and Christopher. Anthony died unmarried, and Christopher, the