Samuel Parker, Senior

Samuel Parker, Senior was born 6 January 1798, in King and Queen County, Virginia, a son of Gouldman Parker. About 1822, Samuel married Mary Dunn, also a native of King and Queen County, Virginia, and they settled in Lincoln County, Tennessee. He was well educated and a skilled accountant and, for a number of years, was a teacher and a clerk. Samuel and Mary had seven children Alexander Parker, John Parker, Samuel Parker, Junior, Frances Ann Parker, Andrew Parker, Milton Parker, and Benjamin Parker. In 1852, Samuel, Mary, and their seven children started for Texas. On their way, Mrs. Mary Parker and their son Alexander Parker died in Arkansas. Mr. Parker came on with his five sons and one daughter and settled in Burleson County, Texas where he purchased land and began farming. Mr. Samuel Parker, Sr. married a second time on 25 July 1856, in Brazos County, Texas, his wife being Mrs. Eliza Montgomery, of Brazos County, born 21 November 1810. Samuel Parker, Senior died 16 September 1857, leaving no children of this marriage. Mrs. Eliza R. Parker died 5 July 1861, and is buried next to Mr. Samuel Parker, Senior in the Boonville Cemetery in Brazos County, Texas. In the few years that he was a citizen of Texas, he laid a foundation of a handsome fortune which subsequent descending to his children helped them far along in their lives. The six children of Samuel and Mary Parker all grew to maturity in Burleson County where most of them married and had families.

1.      John Parker, Junior was born in Lincoln County, Tennessee on 5 March 1826, and died in Burleson County, Texas, on 15 January 1861.  He was appointed guardian of Milton Parker and  Benjamin Parker, minors, by the Burleson County Court during the November Term of 1859. On 17 July 1860, John, Andrew, George W. and Benjamin Parker were living together and receiving their mail at the Brazos Bottom Post Office in Burleson County.  John is buried in the Old City Cemetery in Caldwell, Burleson County, Texas.

2.      Samuel Parker, Junior was born on 8 July 1832, in Lincoln County, Tennessee. He married Corrilla Jackson on 30 September 1856 in Burleson County, Texas. He died 22 December 1856, and is buried in the Old City Cemetery in Caldwell. Corrilla married Amos Persons on 25 August 1858, and resided in Milam County, Texas. Samuel and Corrilla did not have a child.

3.      Frances Ann Parker was born on 29 September 1836, in Lincoln County, Tennessee. She married Elijah James Chance, a son of Joseph Bell Chance, on 18 April 1855, in Burleson County, Texas. Their children are: John Parker Chance born 7 December 1859, James Otis Chance born 9 February 1862, Francis Alexander Chance born 10 December 1863, and two children named Willie Chance and Wilton Chance who died in infancy. Mr. E. J. Chance was a successful lawyer and served in the Texas State Legislature in 1857.  Mrs. Frances Parker Chance died on 21 December 1863, from complications resulting from the birth of Francis A. Chance eleven days earlier, and is buried in the Old City Cemetery in Caldwell, next to her husband E.J. Chance who died on 6 October 1868, at the age of 42. The three orphan children were taken by two families. Milton Parker, Mrs. Francis Chance’s brother, raised James Otis Chance and John Parker Chance, while Charles Coleman Chance, E.J. Chance’s brother, raised Francis Alexander Chance. John Parker Chance was killed in a hunting accident leaving a family in Bryan, Texas. James Otis Chance was a very successful business man, forming the Chance Plantations in the Brazos Bottom in Burleson County and the Chance grocery stores which were at one time spread throughout the Brazos River Valley.

4.      Andrew Parker was born in 1839 in Lincoln County, Tennessee.

5.      Milton “Mit” Parker was born 28 October 1840, in Lincoln County, Tennessee. He married Mary Jane Johnston on 25 October 1864, in Burleson County, Texas. She was born about 1844 in Virginia, a daughter of Captain George Johnston, who for many years was a steamboat captain on the Mississippi River before coming to Texas in 1859. Milton and Mary Jane Parker had seven children: George S. Parker; John K. Parker; Mary W. Parker, who married Allen B. Carr, Jr.; Katie B. Parker; Winnie L. Parker; Fannie Parker; and Milton B. Parker.

6.      Benjamin Parker was born 17 January 1842, in Lincoln County, Tennessee. He died 22 December 1868, and is buried in the Old City Cemetery in Caldwell. His brother Andrew Parker was the administrator of his small estate and did not indicate that Benjamin was married or had any children.

Andrew, Benjamin, and Milton Parker were Privates, George W. Parker was a 4^th Sergeant, and Elijah James Chance was a 2^nd Lieutenant, in Company G, 2^nd Texas Infantry, C.S.A, from Burleson County, Texas, during the Civil War. George W. Parker and Milton Parker were wounded in battle at Vicksburg, Mississippi.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas; by John Henry Brown; pages 578 & 579; 1880.

Joseph Bell Chance and His Family; by J.E. Chance; January 1979.

Parker Genealogical Forum; Gen Forum; Genealogy.com; by David Parker; 9 November 2009.

1860 and 1870 Census of Texas.

Cemeteries of Burleson County, Texas; Burleson County Historical Commission; May 1988.