Parker family tradition includes the story that during the Revolution the British sent out foraging parties along Cape Cod's undefined south shore for chickens, garden greens, piglets, and lambs to feed the crews aboard their vessels which were harrassing the colonists' ships. At the same time the foraging parties picked up men and boys and transported them to Long Island NY for labor. Among those taken was young James Parker of Osterville.
Some years later a rescue party, led by Lt Col Return Jonathan Meiggs of Sandwich, freed Parker along with about 100 others. The rescue party of whale boats crossed Long Island Sound from Connecticut adn brought the young people back from Montauk Point to Hartford CT where James' nephew, Nehemiah Parker, had taken up land that Daniel Parker Esq had inherited from Judge Daniel Parker when he was a member of the Massachusetts legislature.
Col Meiggs was related to the Parkers through Mercy Meiggs of Sandwich who had married, as his 2nd wife, Ansel Crocker. James Parker, while making his way back to his Osterville home, stopped at Edmund Nye's tavern in Sandwich. There he met Sarah, the tavern keeper's daughter, married her, and brought his bride home with him to Osterville.