If your PARKER family has roots in the Carolinas, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, and/or Texas, then there’s a fair chance that Wayne Parker’s online tree may be a valuable resource for you … it is located at http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=REG&db=parker_2008&id=I16149 … Wayne is a very serious, very effective researcher … he updates his tree at least weekly. Wayne is part of the Parker Y-DNA Project Family Group #7 and utilizes DNA evidence in his tree. More about the Parker Y-DNA Project can be found at: http://web.utk.edu/~corn/parkerdna/

Andrew Calvin Parker (ACP) is believed to have been born 27 Apr 1824 in Fayette Co., Alabama. His father may have been Samuel Parker (1795-1865) and his mother’s given name may have been Eleanor (1802-1849).

ACP married Mary Elizabeth Mcknight abt 1848 and we find the couple living with her parents in the 1850 Choctaw Miss census.

ACP & Mary haven’t been found on the 1860 census. Although of age, no Civil War service record has been found for ACP. It is interesting to note that five of Samuel Parker’s sons (possibly ACPs bros) all fought for the 4th Ark Union Cavalry.

ACP & family are living in Antoine Twp, Pike Co., AR in both the 1870 and 1880 censuses.

According to censuses, ACP & Mary had eleven children: John (1848-1890), Ellender (1850-), Samuel (1853-1918), Malinda (1855-), James (1858-), Melvina (1860-), Francis(1861-1926), Mary J(1863-1929), Sevilla(1868-1903), Thomas(1872-1955), Julia A(1875-1906).

Although unsourced, some trees state that ACP died 10 Sep 1896 in Pike Co., AR. (Mary is listed as a widow in 1900).

Can anyone help by providing sourced information about Andrew Calvin Parker? Especially: (1) Date of birth & location, (2) date of death & location, (3) Civil War record, and last and most important (4) confirmation of his parentage.

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.

In 2008 another PARKER FAMILY researcher wrote a report entitled, HISTORY OF THE FAMILY: PARKER OF PIKE COUNTY ARKANSAS.

He puts forth the idea that the spouse of Samuel Parker (1795-1865) was one ELEANOR PARKER b. abt 1802 in SC who appears on the 1850 Mortality Census for Choctaw County MS as having died of dropsy in December 1849.

Let’s look at the regular census for 1850 Choctaw County Mississippi and determine how many men born between 1775 and 1815 DID NOT have spouses when the census was taken. There are only three possibilities ….

1) Samuel Parker living in Western Division b. abt 1793 in NC

2) R J Parker living in Subdivision 23 b. abt 1797 in NC

3) Samuel Parker living in Subdivision 23 b. abt 1800 in NC

Now let’s closer examine each of these individuals…..

#1 is well documented in Wayne Parker’s online tree at

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=parker_2008&id=I00060

This Samuel Parker had only one spouse, Frances Miller, so he can be eliminated as a possible husband of Eleanor.

#2 is also documented in Wayne Parker’s online tree at

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.c gi?op=GET&db=parker_2008&id=I00984

He is Robert J. Parker and had only one known spouse, Nancy, so he can be eliminated as a possible husband of Eleanor.

#3 is my ggggrandfather, Samuel Parker. He is well documented in my Ancestry.com online tree as well as Wayne Parker’s tree at

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.c gi?op=GET&db=parker_2008&id=I00373

Up until now, we knew that Samuel had two wives. The first, name unknown, bore him nine known children between 1822 and 1838. Samuel’s second wife was named Nancy and she bore him two daughters, one in 1853 and one in 1855.

If the process of eliminating possible Parker husbands for Eleanor Parker is valid, then Eleanor (1802-1849) must have been Samuel Parker’s (1795-1865) first wife! Since Eleanor died in 1849 then it is reasonable to assume that Samuel married Nancy within the next year or so and they then had their first child, Clementine, in 1853.

Samuel Parker was born abt 1795 in North Carolina. He and his family were probably living in Alabama for awhile since he had sons born in St. Clair county in 1822 and Lamar county in 1824 and then two other sons were born in Alabama in 1827 and 1831. In 1832 a son was born in McNairy county Tennessee. By 1837 he had moved to Choctaw County Mississippi because he is listed there in the State Census Index. He is in Choctaw county for the 1840 and 1850 federal census of the state. By 1855 Samuel and his family had moved to Pike County Arkansas as he is found there on the 1860 federal census having a daughter born in AR in 1855. A Goodspeed biography states that Samuel died and was buried in Montgomery County Arkansas in 1865.

About Spouses:

Samuel had at least two wives … the first, name unknown, bore him at least six known sons and probably a seventh between 1822 through 1838. Other trees say this spouse was named Nancy Beckerdite but that is incorrect because enough factual data is available online to eliminate her even though she was married to a man named Samuel Parker.

We have only a first name for his last spouse … Nancy. She was born abt 1813 in Georgia and may have married Samuel shortly prior to 1853 when their first daughter was born in Mississippi. Most trees claim that this Nancy was Nancy Pipkin but this is incorrect because enough factual data is available online to eliminate her even though she was married to a man named Samuel Washington Parker.

About Children:

Samuel had at least six known sons and probably a seventh all between 1822 through 1838 as follows:
James Calvin Parker b. 4 Jun 1822 in St. Clair, AL, d. 8 Apr 1878 in Pike, AR
Andrew Calvin Parker (UNPROVED) b.27 Apr 1824 in Lamar, AL, d.10 Sep 1896, Pike, AR
Thomas Cicero Parker b. 1 Nov 1827 in AL, d. 3 May 1870 in AR
Rufus Parker b. 21 Dec 1831 in AL, d. 1882
Samuel Parker b. 25 Mar 1832 in McNairy, TN, d. abt 1878 in OK
John Parker (twin) b. 1838 MS
William Parker (twin) b. 1838 MS, d. 3 Nov 1864 in Prairie, AR

With his wife Nancy, he had two daughters:
Clementine Parker b. Sep 1853 MS, marr. Samuel Babbitt
Leanner (?) Parker b. 1855 in AR

This is basically everything I know about Samuel Parker 1795-1865. If anyone has any information about him and/or his family, I would be most grateful to hear from you. I can be contacted either through my RootsWeb site or my Ancestry.com tree.

UPDATE NOTE!! Since writing this post in Oct 2012 I have developed a lot more information about Samuel and his family. This latest data appears in both of my online trees and some is contained in new posts. jt 12/08/2013