My Genealogy Hound

J. W. Parr, president of the Bank of Dyersburg, was born in Caroline County, Va., in 1827, and is the son of Richard Parr, also a native of the Old Dominion, and of Scotch-Irish descent. The latter in 1835 came to Haywood County, Tenn., where he remained three years, after which he located in Lauderdale County, where he died in 1848. He was twice married, and was the father of seven children who lived to be grown. Rebecca Wright Parr, the mother of the subject of this sketch, was born in Caroline County, Va., in 1805, and died in Lauderdale County, Tenn., in 1847. J. W. Parr received a good academic education, after which he engaged in teaching for a few sessions, when he turned his attention to farming and other business pursuits. For a number of years, in connection with his brother, Dr. Richard C. Parr, he carried on the farming business quite extensively, and later, in connection with his brother, Dr. Richard C., and others, bought the Halespoint property and farm on the Mississippi River, and engaged in the commission shipping business. In 1859 Dr. Richard C. Parr moved from their farm in Lauderdale County, locating at Dyersburg, Dyer Co., Tenn., where he became the leading physician of the county, and, in addition to his professional labors, was extensively engaged in different business enterprises. He organized and was the leading member of the mercantile firm of Parr, Nolen & Co., and in 1879 organized the bank of Dyersburg; was elected its first president, which office he continued to fill until his death in 1882. R. C. and J. W. Parr were mutually interested in all their various enterprises, from the time that R. C. Parr became of age until his death, when their estate was equally divided. Having embarked in the commission shipping business at Halespoint, they were naturally led into the boating business. They became joint owners of several steamboats, some of which they personally superintended the building of, for the trade between Dyersburg, Halespoint and Memphis. The completion of the C. O. & S. W. R. R. interfered with the boating business to such an extent that about the year 1881 J. W. Parr sold out their interest in said business, rented out their shipping point and located in Dyersburg, and, upon the death of his brother, in 1882, he succeeded him in the presidency of the bank of Dyersburg, which position he has since held. J. W. Parr, like his brother, possessed untiring energy and remarkable business capacity. In the war between the States, he cast his fortune with the Confederate cause, serving as a private soldier under Gen. N. B. Forrest. Mr. Parr has been twice married. He chose for his first wife, Calidonia Tennessee Burke, who died in 1854—the year following their marriage. In 1865 he married Mrs. Maria P. Pendleton, a daughter of W. Sugg. She too died in 1880, and he now lives with his sister, Mrs. M. T. Wright.