The earliest male Parker in my line that I can trace back to, with 100% certainty, is my 2nd great grandfather, D. B. Parker. He was born 1833 (or 1845?) in AL, and died before August 1886 (probably in Anderson Co., TX, although I can find no record of his death). He married Jane (“Jennie”) T. Mullins 19 December 1866 in Anderson Co., TX. His occupation was listed as “Physician” on the 1870 and 1880 censuses, and there is evidence he was nicknamed “Doc” (as this name was given on the death certificate of his son, Webb D. Parker).
I recently submitted a sample of my own dna to AncestryDNA, and I'm currently awaiting the results, which should be available within the next few weeks. Until then, there are a couple of things I’m researching to pass the time:
- Where was D. B. Parker living during the 1860 U. S. Federal Census?
- Who was D. B. Parker’s father?
I cannot find D. B. Parker on any U. S. Federal Census in 1860, despite having viewed all the images for Anderson Co., TX, page by page. Maybe I overlooked him. Or could D. B. have been skipped?
There is circumstantial evidence that points to D. B. Parker being the son of Moses Parker born in either SC or TN, but I’m having trouble fitting it all together.
On the 1870 U. S. Census of Anderson Co., TX, D. B. Parker and wife Jane did not yet share a dwelling with Moses Parker (they do in the 1880 census—more on this later). At that time, only Moses's daughter Mary Burk and her husband, Decatur Burk, did. Note that on this census, the birthplace of Moses Parker is SC:
1870 U. S. Federal Census, Anderson, TX
(Family #220):
PARKER, D. P. (should be “D. B.”), b. 1845, AL
Jane, b. 1845, MS
Cora L., b. 1868, TX
Daniel B., b. 1870, TX
(Family # 1102):
PARKER, Moses, b. 1802, SC
Elizabeth, b. 1810, TN
Nancy L., b. 1847, AL
Eliza C., b. 1848, AL
BIRK, Mary, b. 1850, AL
Decatur, b. 1848, AL
In the 1880 U.S. Census of Anderson Co., TX, Moses Parker is still sharing a home with his daughter Mary Burk (who is now divorced), and now my D. B. Parker and his family are living there as well. Note that the birthplace of Moses Parker has changed—it is now TN:
1880 U. S. Federal Census, Anderson, TX
PARKER, Moses, b. 1802, TN
Elizabeth, b. 1806, TN
Lenora, b. 1855, AL
Victoria, b. 1857, AL
BURK, Mary, b. 1854, AL
Annson, b.1872, TX
PARKER, D. B., b. 1833, AL
Jane T., b. 1845, MS
Cora L., b. 1867, TX
Lem M., b. 1872, TX
Lillah, b. 1875, TX
Rufus, b. 1876, TX
Webb D., b. 1879, TX
The problem I’m having when trying to tie these families together is that some of the names and birth years are not consistent from one census to the next...
I tried working backwards from Moses Parker. In the 1860 Anderson Co., TX census, there is a Moses Parker family listed with a daughter, “M. A.” who was born in 1845, and it looks like this could be our Mary (Parker) Burk:
1860 U. S. Federal Census, Anderson, TX
PARKER, Moses, b. 1802, SC
Elizabeth, b. 1806, TN
N. L. W., b. 1841, AL
E. V., b. 1843, AL
M. A., b. 1845, AL *Could this be Mary (Parker) Burk?
Going back another ten years, I found in the 1850 E.C. River, Bibb, AL census, and there is a Moore (Moses?) Parker family listed, and they have children named David and Mary, among others:
1850 U. S. Federal Census, E. C. River, Bibb, AL
PARKER, Moore (Moses?), b. 1803, SC
Elizabeth, b. 1806, TN
Sarah J., b. 1829, AL
John J., b. 1831, AL
David, b. 1834, AL
Lucy S., b. 1838, AL
Nancy L., b. 1840, AL
Eliza C., b. 1842, AL
Mary, b. 1844, AL
Penelope, b. 1848, AL
At first glance, it looked like this David could be my D. B., and that his sister Mary could be the Mary Burk in later censuses… but the birth year discrepancies are causing me to doubt the connection. While I am pretty sure the census-taker made a mistake in 1870 when D. B.'s birth year was marked 1845 (instead of 1833/1834), I can't explain the various birth years given to Mary. Is it possible this IS our Mary Burk, and perhaps she lied about her age on the censuses?
And finally, the name discrepancies: On the 1880 census, Moses Parker’s daughters are named Lenora and Victoria, but on the previous 1870 census, they are (presumably) Nancy L. and Eliza C.! And on the 1860 census before that, only the initials “N. L. W.” and “E. V.” appear. These names and initials are almost the same--they could be a match, but it's possible they are not. This is all very confusing!
I’ve been stuck at this point in my research for a long time. If only I could tie the Moses Parker in Bibb, AL to the Moses Parker in Anderson, TX! Sometimes I think I’m seeing a connection where there isn’t a real one.
If anyone could offer some help or advice, I’d appreciate it very much!
Replies
Hello, Amanda Tafolla Welcome to Parker Heritage
I spent most of the evening cruising through Bibb Alabama and the familiar grounds of Anderson Co. Texas looking at your people. It looks as if the Alabama Moses and the Anderson Co. Moses are well and truly the same man. I think you have all of your ancestors pretty well pegged (easy for me to say, they are not my ancestors:) )). It is a very rare event when most of a line's census data is correct and/or repeats neatly decade after decade. Moses and Elizabeth, their children, son D. B. and his children, on and on, all seem to fit quite well. The names even fit using very little imagination. D. B.'s spinster sisters Lenora and Elizabeth may have simply decided to stop growing older, but the other variations in birthdates are within bounds.
I would suggest that you look into Alabama and before that into NC for Weeks - both given name and surname as it appears frequently along with Parkers on that path to Texas. The name appears in Anderson Co., Pct. 3. I would not be surprised if Moses' wife Elizabeth was nee Weeks or if there were Weeks back earlier in Moses' Parker line. It also looks possible that D. B.'s youngest son in 1880 was named Weeks, not Webbs. Or maybe it was just bad handwritng.
Anyway, see what you can find, and if the people you identify do not turn out to be the right ones, that is okay too. New information comes in all the time, and family trees are easily updated.
Good luck in your research.
Patricia Ross Parker, Family Group #7 researcher