Pioneering Parmenters of America (PPA) was a National Parmenter Family Association, established (Jun 1988); dedicated to tracing the descendants of  Dea. John Parmenter (c1588-1671).   PPA was a non-profit association with a membership spanning the U.S. and Canada. Membership was open to all Parmenters, including the various spellings of the family surname   Membership was divided into Family Groups, which are structured and named for the Ancestral-Head of each fifth generation down from Dea. John; including other branches of the Parmenter family.

First Parmenter (of this line) to the New World was John Parmenter, who in 1639, emigrated from the Sudbury area of East Anglia (England) to The Colonies (New England) with his wife Bridget and children; Mary and John Jr.. In his party were the widow Elizabeth Loker and her children. The name of the ship, its captain, or port of departure, are not known. John Parmenter was one of the original proprietor to Sudbury, MA, and was assigned lands May 1640 by the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony [Suffolk court files, vol. I, No. 304, microfilm #A360, Univ. MA, Amherst]. John was an early Selectman, Deacon, Commissioner, and made Freeman 13 May 1640. [NEHGS Reg. Vol 13, 261]

The Parmenter Name:  The name Parmentier is an occupation. Parer or Parmentier means to ornate, to embellish and/or a maker of facings and trimmings.  It is also is a technical term for working linen in order to soften it up so it is nicer to wear - something like stonewashing Levi pants. In French they are called Parmentier, in the English dialect it became Parmenter.  This may indicate that there is no single progenitor to search back to - just as with the occupational surnames of: Smith, Miller, Chandler, etc..  As surnames became the custom, it is very likely that there would have been both Parmentiers & Parmenters in any of the linen cloth producing districts.  Normandy (Nord) - Pas de Calais, Flanders and Holland, and the whole "foot" of England were of one economic region for centuries. Parmentiers and Parmenters are found today all along the coastline, and they all may well be related - if not by blood, by ancestral occupation and mutual economic interests.

The English Channel [French La Manche] was the main highway, not a frontier, in that economic region. One of the most important things to remember when studying history is that distance isn't measured in miles, but in hours. From Dieppe, Southampton is 12 hours away, Bruges (rather Zeebrugge the port of Bruges), a whole day - Paris is three days away, about as far as London. Therefore William Parmenter, Guillaume Parmentier, Willem Parmentier, Wilhelmus Paremment, etc. may well knew of each other, if not personally acquainted.  Dieppe was a Protestant strongholds in North France.

An internet site for the white pages of the telephone book gives the following number of hits:  3339 Parmentiers for France - 2084 Parmentiers for Belgium, mostly from Flanders - 339 Parmenters for Britain, mostly in Southern England. (data 10+ yrs old)

IThe Parmenter Blazon:  "Azure, a chevron or between three fleur-de-lis d'argent"  Which means; [a (Azure) blue blazon with gold chevron between three silver (d'argent) fleur-de-lis]  Pioneering Parmenters of America made no claim to the authenticity of this Parmenter Blazon; nor any sanction to display heraldic symbols.  The 'Parmenter Blazon' was displayed symbolically to honor all Parmenters, including the various spellings of the surname.  In heraldic law, one is only entitled to Arms by inheritance if one can prove a direct male line decent from an ancestor who is himself on official record as being entitled to Arms.

NOTE:  There is no such thing as a "Coat of Arms for a Surname.  Further, only English Heraldic standards are presented.

What was called 'preponderance of evidence,' is now referred to as Genealogical Proof Standard, which is described as follows.  Credible conclusions in family history rest upon five criteria:

"...the research should be reasonably exhaustive
evidence should be drawn from reliable records and correctly interpreted
contradictory evidence should be soundly rebutted
all statements of fact are to be scrupulously documented
all deductions should be carefully reasoned and explained in writing
however, any conclusion, or "proof" is subject to reevaluation,
if new and substantial evidence emerges to the contrary..." 

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9-20-09