No doubt I will ruffle some feathers by writing this story but I don’t know what else to do to slow down the tide of incorrect information that keeps multiplying on many trees. Folks seem to be in such a frenzied hurry to enlarge their trees that they copy and/or transfer information from others’ trees without verifying it or even reading it! That’s why we see tree after tree that lists children being born before their mother or when she was way too young to give birth … or we see an unproven death date and then the dead individual showing up in the next census and also … and, one of my favorites, we see the same child listed numerous times on the family group sheet all with the same name and the same year of birth!
Yes, I have errors on my tree and since it is fairly large, I probably have many errors. To keep my errors from becoming others’ errors, I try to label data that I have doubts about as “UNPROVED”, “NOT VERIFIED” … or, “BEWARE, UNPROVED”. I’ve even merged data from some one else’s tree and inadvertently recorded the same child several times …. BUT, I eventually come back and find these duplicates and correct them accordingly. Unfortunately, the longer I, or you, leave obvious errors on a tree then it becomes that much more likely that it will turn up, again in error, on someone else’s tree.
Now comes the underlying reason for this story … The name Samuel Parker was fairly common in the 1800’s and there were hundreds (maybe thousands) of men with that name. Three individuals in particular seemed to be constantly confused and the purpose of this story is to resolve, or at least lessen, that confusion. So, let’s focus on three men named Samuel Parker and their families and hopefully everyone, after reading this, will go away knowing who’s who and who’s not!!!
#1 is my GGGGrandfather, Samuel Parker b. 1795 NC, d. 1865 Montgomery Co., AR His migration trail was NC to St. Clair Co. & Fayette Co., AL to McNairy Co., TN to Choctaw Co., MS and finally to Pike Co. & Montgomery Co., AR. The name of his first spouse is currently unknown; from censuses we deduct that she died after 1840 and before 1850. With spouse #1, Samuel had nine children, all sons. We know that seven lived to adulthood and two (unknown names) probably died young prior to 1850. The seven sons are as follows:
1. James Calvin b. 1822 in St. Clair, AL, d. 1878 in Pike, AR
2. Andrew Calvin b. 1824 in Fayette, AL, d. 1896 in Pike, AR
3. Thomas Cicero b. 1827 in AL, d. 1870 in AR
4. Rufus b. 1831 in AL, d. 1882 prob. in AR
5. Samuel Jr. b. 1832 in McNairy, TN, d. 1878 in OK
6. John b. 1838 in Choctaw, MS (possibly a twin; poss. d. young)
7. William b. 1838 in Choctaw, MS (poss. a twin), d. 1864 Prairie, AR
It is known that at least five of Samuel’s sons fought in the 4th Ark Cavalry, Union Army.
Between 1850 and 1853 Samuel married a second time to a woman named Nancy who was born abt. 1813 in GA. They had two daughters:
1. Clementine b. 1853 in MS, marr. Samuel Babbitt, d. aft. 1900 prob. in AR or OK
2. Leander b. 1855 in AR, lived in Pike, AR in 1860 & 1870
#2 is Samuel Parker b. 1792 NC, d. 1878 in Jackson, KY. In addition to NC, he lived in TN and then finally in KY. This Samuel Parker was married to a Sarah Sally Beckerdite. They appear in several census records including 1850 Hancock Co. TN, 1860 & 1870 Jackson Co. KY. They had ten children:
1. Faith b. 1819
2. James Hanson b. 1820 NC
3. Doctor Raford b. 1821 NC
4. Cynthia Ann b. 1823 NC
5. William Henry b. 1825 NC
6. Ezra b. 1826 NC
7. John b. 1832 NC
8. Anna b. 1833 NC
9. Nancy b. 1834 NC
10. Patterson b. 1838 NC
(Please take note…because this family IS NOT in my tree, I have not verified this information so consider it UNPROVED!)
#3 is Samuel Washington Parker b. 1810 TN In addition to TN, the family lived in MS, and finally Arkansas Co., AR. This Samuel Parker marr. Nancy Mariah Pipkin, 14 Apr 1839 in Marshall, MS. Nancy Pipkin was b. 1818 in Wayne, NC. They had ten children as follows:
1. Sarah J., b. 1832 TN
2. Marion, b. 1835 TN
3. Jesse, b. 1839 MS, lived in Prairie, Arkansas, AR in 1860
4. Isabella, b. 1842 MS, lived in Prairie, Arkansas, AR in 1860
5. Hereley H., b. 1845 MS, lived in Prairie, Arkansas, AR in 1860
6. Asa G., b. 1846 MS, d. 1898 Cass, TX, marr Sally Dees
7. Benjamin F., b. 1848 MS, lived in Prairie, Arkansas, AR in 1860
8. Susan E., b. 1852 MS, lived in Prairie, Arkansas, AR in 1860
9. Mary E., b. 1855 MS, lived in Prairie, Arkansas, AR in 1860
10. Babert B., b. 1857 TN, lived in Prairie, Arkansas, AR in 1860
(Please take note…because this family IS NOT in my tree, I have not verified this information so consider it UNPROVED!)
It is easy to see where much of the confusion comes ….. first, all three have overlapping geographical and migration similarities, and second, all three share very similar family timelines. Regardless of all the similarities and all the erroneous information in all the many incorrect, although well-intended trees, the fact remains that these are three different Samuel Parkers with three different families.