Francis Smith Brownlee published the following book in 1957 discussing the Parkers and Newmans of Crawford County, Illinois. You can't buy it and it is super hard to find online so I wanted to share the download link I found. You need an account on familysearch.org to get access.
"Antecedents and descendants of Margaret Ann Rhoades Smith"
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The note mentioned above is signed, not marked and witnessed. My recollection was that James was not literate which casts doubt that this is the correct James.