7.
Isaiah PARKER
RECORD:Hinds County, MS Marriage records.
Isaiah Parker married Dicy Calcote March 15, 1831, in Hinds County, Mississippi. Isaiah's brother, Anderson, his father, Benjamin, and Dicy's father (not named) consented to the marriage.
RECORD: Ouachita Parish, Louisiana Census - 1840
Isaiah Parker - Males 2,1,0,0,1----
1 - white male 20-30 (Isaiah, age 28)
1 - white male 5-10 (Josiah, age 5
2 - white male 0-5 (Miles, age 3; John W., infant)
Females 0,2,0,0,1,0----
1 - white female 20-30 (Dicy, age 24)
2 - white females 5-10 (Harriet, age 7 and ? )
RECORD:McManus, Jane Parker, Pioneers West of Appalachia, 1976, 1984; Page 69 (1984);
The following account of the history of Isaiah and Dicy Parker was recorded by Jane Parker McManus:
By 1840, Isaiah and Dicy Parker had moved to Ouachita Parish, LA, with his brothers, Anderson and Benjamin and their families, and their parents, Benjamin and Nancy Parker (1840 Census - Ouachita Parish, LA). According to Bienville Parish deed records, Isaiah bought 79.48 acres from Daniel Low on 15 Sep 1850, for $600.00, described as East 1/2 of NE 1/4 of Section 10, Township 16, Range 5 West. Robert A. Parker (relationship unknown) witnessed the deed. The property was sold on 22 Feb 1851, to William F. Bond of Jackson Parish for $612.10. The property was located slightly north of Driskill Mountain which is the highest point in Louisiana. After the sale of this property, Isaiah and Dicy Parker moved to Rapides Parish where he filed a new land patent.
Isaiah's children were instrumental in establishing schools and were involved in the political arena when the new parish of Vernon was founded. Isaiah taught the first school lessons in the community.
Details are sketchy about the remainder of Isaiah and Dicy's life after the Civil War started. Several of their sons enlisted and fought for the Confederacy.
Because of an incident in which the "Jayhawkers" (a band of renegades) killed two of the Parker sons, allegedly because one of the sons (Benjamin) illegally left his military unit to return home, Isaiah and his son-in-law, Elias Haymond, took the family by night to Alexandria and put them on a boat headed for Illinois. At that time the South still had control of the Mississippi river, and many people were fleeing to the North. When the boat reached Vicksburg, it was reported that Isaiah died and was buried there. Mr. Haymond and Dicy Parker along with the remaining children proceeded up the river to Cairo, Illinois. The steamboat on which they had passage was towing a small houseboat that Dicy used to put the children to sleep each night. One day her small son, Jim, overheard the officers of the boat whispering that the houseboat was leaking and they expected it to sink. Little Jim refused to sleep there that night and told his mother what he had heard. Dicy kept the children with her that night, and the boat did sink.
The Parkers and Elias Haymond remained in Cairo for about two years. During this time, Dicy, Amanda, and Mary Alice Parker died and were buried there. At the end of the war, Mr. Haymond took the remaining members of the family back to Louisiana and settled on his old place. Shortly afterward, Harriet Parker Haymond died and was buried on the old Haymond homestead. The grave was fenced with pickets.
After the war no trace of Isaiah and Dicy Parker were found.
On 13 Jan 1869 the heirs of Isaiah and Dicy Parker sold the homestead to Samuel A. Kirkpatrick. The property was described as: SW 1/4 of SW 1/4 of Section 36 and SE 1/4 of Section 35, Township 4, Range 6 West, and NW 1/4 of NW 1/4 of Section 1, and NE 1/4 of NE 1/4 of Section 2, Township 3 North, Range 6 West (consisting of 160 acres).
This ended the account by Jane Parker McManus of the history of Isaiah Parker.
Because of the flight of the family to Cairo, Illinois, a search was made of Cairo, Illinois records, hoping to find some trace of the Parkers during their two-year stay. Following are some interesting but HIGHLY SPECULATIVE findings:
RECORD: City Directory for Cairo, Ill. for 1864 through 1880
RECORD: Commissioners Court Record Book 3 Dec. 1861-Nov. 1870
Shown in these city directories and court records are several Parker names, including Benjamin F. Parker and Miles W. Parker, names that sound strikingly familiar to the Louisiana Parkers. Could it be that Isaiah sent his family to stay with relatives in Cairo?
In the March 1863 commissioners court records is the following: "Monday, March 2, 1863. Ordered by the Court that M[iles]. W. Parker be allowed the sum of Eighteen & 50/100 dollars ($18.50) for groceries furnished paupers, in full as per bill". The April 1863 court record had another entry: "Monday 20th. Ordered by the court that M. W. Parker be allowed the sum of $10.00 for groceries furnished paupers as per order of overseer of the poor." Interestingly, several paupers died and were buried: In the Sept. 7 term, R. G. Jamison was allowed $10.00 for burying a pauper on Aug. 11, 1863, and P. Corcoran coroner was allowed $18.75 for holding inquest and burying a pauper. P. Corcoran was allowed $8.75 for holding inquest Aug. 31, 1863. Martin Egan was allowed $8.75 for holding inquest on dead body Aug. 11(?), 1863. R. J. Jameson was allowed $28.00 for burying pauper. R. J. Jameson $10.00 for burying pauper. Taylor & Parsons trustees & c. $7.50 for ground furnished to bury pauper. R. J. Jameson received $192 in January 1864 for burying paupers. Were these paupers refugees from the fighting in the South? Could some of them perhaps be our Louisiana Parker family?
The Miles W. Parker who fed the poor and was reimbursed by the commisioners court was apparently prominent. He was named security of the County of Alexander by the Commisioner's court on January 14, 1864., as was a Thomas J. Parker. Miles W. Parker was appointed a grand juror on Sept. 12, 1864. Richard Parker was named supervisor of roads the same day. At the June 1864 court, Thomas Parker received $7.50 for serving as a bailiff in the Circuit Court.
The 1864-65, 1866, & 1868 city directories of Cairo showed the following Parkers: Dyas T. Parker (Parker & Gibbon; later Parker & Hubbard; later Parker & Phillips), produce, auctioneer and commission merchant; M. A. Parker (widow); T. Parker & Miles. W. Parker, proprietors of Eldorado saloon; D. S. Parker, picture gallery; Benjamin F. Parker & George E. Parker (Parker & Co.), family grocery and produce store, dealers in white lead, oils, varnishes, etc.; Fannie Parker (widow); Frank Parker, pilot; Georgiana Parker; Henry Parker, Machinist; Miss Hulda Parker; Mary Parker, servant at Goodwin's Levee; Thomas J. Parker, (Parker & Hewitt), saloon & billiard room; Thomas Parker, foreman, Fox, Howard & Co.; John H. Parker.
This Miles W. Parker of Cairo, IL, had a short biography in "History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, published Chicago, 1884: "Miles W. Parker, Treasurer and Assessor of Alexander Bounty, was born June 12, 1826, near the site of the village of Sandusky, in Alexander County, Ill. His father was born about 1772, in the State of Maryland, where he grew to manhood, and married Ellen Guerten, who was also a native of same State, and was born perhaps in 1782. After a brief residence, they moved to Virginia, thence to Kentucky, and in 1818 removed from Kentucky to Illinois and settled inthe western part of Alexander County. The father died in Pulaski County, Ill, in 1833, and the mother in Alexander County in 1837. They had a family of sixteen children; of these Miles W. is the fifteenth. ..."
RECORD: 1976 Research by Jim Ashe of Clinton, MS, manuscript given to Billy H. Parker of Simpson, LA (undated), prior to 1976.
Researcher, Jim Ashe, believed Dicy to be the child of William Cade Calcoat, based on census record of 1820, Franklin Co., MS: "I imagine that Dicey Ann Calcote is the oldest daughter of William Cade calcote and Mary Ellison... I also believe that Dicey Ann was actually born in 1816. This would tie in with the marrige of Wm C. Calcote and Mary Ellison on May 4, 1815. It would probably be the first half of 1816. The 1860 census seems to support this. The 1820 census of Franklin county shows William Cade had two daughters under 10 and 1 son under 10 in 1820. The son was William Cade Calcote, junior who lived in Madison County, Mississippi in 1840. The only Mississippi Calcote who had any daughters in Dicey's age bracket in 1820 census was William Cade. His three brothers (John, James, and Stephen) are listed in the census with 4 sons for John, 4 sons for Stephen, and 3 sons and one daughter for James but the daughter of James was not Dicey Ann as his daughters were Della (Mrs David Barksdate) and Mahala (Mrs Waller Overton. Della seems to have been the eldest and Mahala the youngest. Mahala was too young to appear on the 1820 census. ..."
RECORD: Calcote Family Journey, Francis Calcote Brite, Gateway Press, Baltimore, MD, 1997, page 98.
Dicy Ann Calcote, daughter of William Cade Calcote and Mary (Ellison) was born in Franklin Co., MS in 1816. She married Isaiah Parker on 15 March 1831 in Hinds Co., MC.
16.
Harriet E. PARKER
17.
Josiah M. PARKER
19.
John W. PARKER
20.
Benjamin F. PARKER
21.
Amanda J. PARKER
22.
Columbus PARKER
23.
Henry Clay PARKER
24.
Mary Ann Polly PARKER
25.
James Jefferson PARKER
26.
Mary Alice PARKER
27.
Celia PARKER