ParkerJohnWesleyPeavyMaryCivil

Benjamin Franklin Parker was an illustrious man who was a Justice of the Peace, surveyor, and very active man of his community. He was born in 1807 in Putnam County, Georgia and came to Cleburne County in 1844. Not long after his arrival, his ability was discerned by his neighbors and he was elected to the office of Justice of the Peace and served in that capacity for twenty years.

Benjamin F. Parker married Sophia A. Lane, daughter of Allen and Rebecca Lane of Virginia. Around 1800 they moved to Morgan County, Georgia where Sophia was born in 1806. Allen Lane was born in 1766 in Virginia. His parents were William Lane and Nancy Allen. William was born in Hanover County, Virginia, on August 30, 1740 and the couple married in 1762.William died in 1808 in Elbert County, Georgia. Nancy Allen Lane died in 1801.

William Lane's parents were Thomas Lane, born in 1715 and married a member of the Benjamin Dumas family of Hanover County, Virginia in 1735. The parents of Thomas Lane, born in 1715, was another Thomas Lane, born in Kent County, Virginia in 1683. No wife's name has been learned.

Thomas Allen was the father of Nancy Allen, wife of William Lane. The latter Thomas Allen died in 1743 in Spotsylvania, Virginia. His wife, Elizabeth, died in 1754. The Lanes were all ardent Methodists and Mississippi was mentioned in a Lane biography found in the Birmingham Public Library. Reverend John Lane, a brother to Allen Lane, was a pioneering evangelist in Alabama and Mississippi as mentioned in Wilson Parks Howell's autobiography.

Benjamin F. Parker and Sophia Lane Parker had the following children: James B.(killed in the Civil War); Ann Rebecca, married Calvin Steed; Harriet Virginia, married Wilson Parks Howell; John A. Allen married Martha E. Grubbs (sister of my great grandfather, Zachary Taylor Grubbs); Samuel A., married Annie Bowman; Jane, died in her teens; Dige, died most probably as an infant.

In his autobiography, Wilson Parks Howell states that Benjamin Franklin Parker, in his later years, developed some kind of mental illness that incapacitated him and that his death came as a great relief. Reading the symptoms would cause one to think that the disease was very closely related to Alzheimer's disease which tormented Mr. Parker for about ten years.

John Wesley Parker was an equally prominent man and one who commanded the utmost respect from his fellow citizens. He married Mary Civil Peavy and they belong to the lineage of Cleburne's prime citizen, Ewell Parker, through their son, Benjamin Asbury Parker and his wife, Harriet Elizabeth Moore.

Benjamin Asbury Parker and Harriet Elizabeth Moore Parker's son, William Doss Parker, was the father of Ewell Parker. William Doss was born on January 26, 1882 and died May 25, 1975. He married Arizona A. Hines on January 14, 1909 in Cleburne County. She was born March 7, 1888 and died March 22, 1948. ("Doss" is short for "Dawson.")

Ewell Parker and Arizona (love that name!) had two children, one of which was Erle Parker of Heflin, and Erle's sister. It was Erle who recently made a laborious trek into the Talladega Forest to find the remote grave of his great grandfather, John Wesley Parker I. He is called, for some reason, John Wesley I and his son is called John Wesley II. I don't know why the son is not called John Wesley Parker, Jr. Hope you like the picture of Erle and the grave. Someone recently sent me a great picture of John Wesley Parker II and his wife.

John Wesley Parker I was born in Virginia in 1797 and died 8 May 1876, Piedmont, Calhoun County, Alabama. He married Sivil (Savilla) Peavy on October 5, 1829 in Morgan County, Georgia. Their children were Mary Lavinia, Benjamin Asbury, John Wesley, Elizabeth Jane, Martha Virginia, James Franklin, Richard Montgomery, Nancy Harrison, William Dawson (nearly every Parker family had a William Dawson and this one was killed in the Civil War), Johndijah Ann, Sivil Saphronia, and Benjamin Asbury. The 1850 census shows all of the children born in Georgia except Benjamin Asbury.

I know this is getting long but I just want to give you one more thing — the obituary of Nancy Harrison Parker who married John M. Coleman: "Mrs. Nancy H. Coleman was born June 26, 1860, and died September 8, 1907. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Wesley Parker and was married to John M. Coleman on September 19, 1859. To them were given ten children, four of whom have gone on to the blessed Home. Her husband died May of 1905. She had been a sufferer for six months before God said, "It is enough, come up higher." Her old age was beautiful. We do miss her so much. Her chair is vacant, her smiles and sweet voice are hushed.

"During the long weeks of suffering she would often speak of how she wished she could go and live with grandpa. She was ready and waiting for the summons. She would tell us not to weep for she was going home and would be so much better off where no sorrow and sickness ever comes. As the sun of her life was sinking in the west, it was light. She felt no uneasiness as to her destiny. She knew Him to whom her life's trust was placed and found that through the valley of the shadow of death His guiding hand was sure. May God's blessings abide with the grief-stricken ones until all tears shall be wiped away. We say to the children to try to live so as to meet dear grandma in heaven, for her greatest desire was that her children might live as true Christians. Grandma has gone to live with her blessed Savior. Help us all to live so as to meet her in heaven." (Written by Nanny Walker) The husband of the deceased was a very highly-regarded minister. He was the son of Robert and Sallie Coleman and was born January 23, 1833.

Congratualtions to Mr. Erle Parker for his wonderful family heritage, and from what I've seen of him and his family, they are carrying on a very admirable tradition of service and kindness to their community and are giving allegiance to their background and family ideals. Cleburne could use more people of such high quality.