Grandpa Parker was born at Versailles, Kentucky, September 16, 1828, dying one day before his 68th birthday. His parents were Jane Logan Allen Parker and Dr. John Todd Parker, an eminent physician of Lexington, Kentucky. On the maternal side he was the grandson of Col. John Allen who was killed in the War of 1812, and on the paternal side he was the grandson of Major Robert Parker who fought with the Virginia line in the Revolutionary War. His great grandfather, General Benjamin Logan, won fame in this same war.
Major Robert Parker, Grandpa’s grandfather, married Elizabeth R Porter, eldest daughter of General Andrew Porter, also a Revolutionary War hero. The couple built the first two-story house in Lexington in the late 1790s.The husband died shortly afterwards (in 1800), and his widow and six children lived on in the imposing house (a drawing of which was shown on your invitation-letter to this re-union). This home was where our grandfather Parker’s father (Dr. John Todd) was reared. Our great grandfather’s (Dr. John) sister, Eliza, married Robert Todd. They were the parents of Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of President Abraham Lincoln. So our grandfather Parker and Mary Todd were first cousins. In their childhood they each played in the yard of this old Parker home in Lexington.
Our Grandpa Parker was college educated. He was widely known in Kentucky, and later in Texas, for his warm-hearted generosity and hospitality. He was a man of strong convictions and indomitable energy, bravery, and kindness-doing many charitable deeds of which the world knew nothing. His large size make him a conspicuous figure in any crowd, his being about 6 1⁄2 feet tall and weighing 360 pounds. Notwithstanding his size, he was a very active man.
He married Sarah Ann (also called Sallie) Clarke in 1851. She was the daughter of Harriet Julian Clarke and Joseph Clarke, who fought in the war of 1812. The parents of Sallie lived in Franklin County, Kentucky. In 1860 the couple moved the Texas with three children-they had lost one of their two daughters, Mary Jackson Parker, at about 2-1⁄2 years of age. The Parkers settled on a farm near McKinney, Texas. This is where their other eight children were born later.
When the Civil War broke out Grandpa Parker enlisted in the Confederate Army, serving in the Commissary Department. After the war he engaged in stock-shipping from Shreveport to New Orleans for a short time. They returned to McKinney. Here was where their son, Joseph, was accidentally killed. In 1883he moved his family to Abilene on the last day of the year. At first Grandpa worked for the only lumber company in this new town. A short time later he established his own company.
About 1884 the Parkers built the first two-story frame home erected in Abilene. It was built at 2nd and Butternut a few hundred yards from the Parker Lumber Company. This is where Grandpa died in 1896 and where his wife continued to live until her death 28 years later.
Our grandparents had a part in building the First Presbyterian Church at 3rd and Cedar. They had the pulpit furnishings made to order in the East, and gave the seven pieces to the new church. (You will see these lovely walnut articles on our tour.)
Written by Lavinia McDaniel Ward in 1984 for the Parker-Willis reunion.
SARAH "SALLIE" CLARKE PARKER
Grandma Parker was born December 3, 1832, at Frankfort, Kentucky. She was one of 11 children born to Joseph and Harriet Julian Clarke. The mother died when Sallie was six years old. Later Joseph married a cousin of his first wife. Harriet’s father, Charles, and her grandfather, John Julian, were both physicians. They had been educated at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Dr. John Julian (a Revolutionary War physician) had married Margaret Isabelle Lounds of Scotland. Her father and brother were both physicians in Scotland. The Julian family members, (known as “St. Julians” in Paris, France), were Huguenots in the home country. They settled in Scotland after the persecution in France, later coming to America and making their home in Virginia.
On November 20, 1851, Sallie Clarke became the bride of Robert H. Parker in Frankfort. After living in Frankfort several years, the couple moved to Burlin, Missouri, and later back to Kentucky-at Lexington. Then they moved to Texas, as stated in Grandpa’s sketch.
The Parkers reared three grandchildren and an orphan boy, besides their own large family. They were the grandparents of 35 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren. Most of their children were reared in a country home, remote from churches in their early years. Grandma taught them the catechism (from memory), and brought them up by the strict rules of Christian living. She had been raised in a Presbyterian home, her father having been an elder in the Kentucky church and her grandfather (Mathew Clarke) likewise before that. She joined the church in Frankfort when she was eleven years of age.
Grandma was the oldest member of the First Presbyterian Church at the time of her death April 9, 1924. She was a Sunday School teacher for many years, and was an active worker in church activities and in the “Ladies Aid Society”.
Just one week to the day before she died (at age 91) she visited the new church building at 4th and Orange accompanied by Mag and Vene. While there, she dropped to her knees and offered a prayer. The previous Sunday she had attended services as usual in the Carnegie Library Auditorium, where the congregation worshipped while the new building was under construction. This was her last attendance at church. Two weeks later her funeral service was in the new church sanctuary-the first to be held there. At her last request, favorite songs of hers were sung, and eight grandsons were pall-bearers-four each from the Willis and McDaniel families. She was buried April10, 1924, beside the grave of her husband on the family plot near Roberta (her daughter), and Nellie’s baby son.
Our Parker grandparents came from good “stock” on both sides. They left us a fine heritage of which we should be proud.
Written by Lavinia McDaniel Ward in 1984 for the Parker-Willis reunion
