My Genealogy Hound

J. T. Parker, planter, Cotton Plant, Ark. Mr. Parker is a typical Arkansas citizen, substantial, enterprising and progressive, and such a man as wields no small influence in the community where he makes his home. He came originally from St. Francis County, where his birth occurred in 1838. His parents, Archie and Mary (Adair) Parker, were natives respectively of Alabama and Kentucky and were married in St. Francis County, Ark., in 1835. Of the five children born to this marriage, only two are now living: J. T. and Prudy A., who is one of a pair of twins and who is now the wife of William Moore, of Kerr County, Texas. Archie Parker came to this State from Alabama with his parents at an early day, and became a very enterprising and substantial farmer. He was justice of the peace for a number of years and was deacon in the Baptist Church. He died in St. Francis County in 1843 and his widow afterward married William Dobkins in 1848, by whom she had three children: Samuel L., William A. and Robert P. Mrs. Dobkins died in St. Francis County in 1861 and had been a member of the Baptist Church for at least thirty years. Mr. Dobkins died in 1863. He was in the Confederate army during the late war. J. T. Parker passed his youthful days in assisting on the farm and in attending the common schools, where he received a fair education. He was married in 1861 to Miss Elizabeth Jones, a native of St. Francis County, born in 1843, and the daughter of Mrs. Richard Jones of Arkansas. Twelve children have been the result of this union, five daughters and seven sons, six of whom are still living: Nellie J., Margaret A., Sarah R., George T., Richard and Benjamin. In 1861 Mr. Parker enlisted in the infantry and served until 1864, when he was released on account of ill health. Politically he is a Democrat. After the war he bought a steam saw and grist mill in Woodruff County, Ark., and this he ran for three years, after which he resumed farming on 160 acres of land which he had purchased. He now owns 800 acres of good land, with 350 acres under cultivation and is one of the most practical and progressive farmers in the county. At the close of the war, Mr. Parker was, like many of his comrades, left without any of this world’s goods, and what he has accumulated since is owing to his hard labor and good management. The parents of Mrs. Parker were natives of Tennessee and immigrated to Arkansas in 1820. Her father, Richard Jones, died in 1853 and her mother in 1884.