JAMES THOMAS PARKER

The following bio was taken from page 335 of the book entitled “Rusk County History” compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Claudia Schuster

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

 Emmanuel Parker and Mary Ann Austin married about 1805 in Greensboro, Georgia, and became the parents of six children.  One of these was our great-grandfather, Wylie Astin, who married Elizabeth Carson and moved to Shiloh Community, Rusk County, Texas in 1852, where they reared their thirteen children.

Our grandfather, Francis Marion Harris Parker, married Nancy Little.  Private Parker was a confederate soldier, Company A, 17^th Infantry, General Polignoco Division.  They had eight children.  Grandmother died in 1928; Grandfather in 1936.

James Thomas, our father, born in 1873, married Jennie Rousseau (born in 1874) on February 10, 1895.   Dad was a farmer, a deacon in the Baptist church, and a county clerk of Rusk County.  He was lovingly known as “Uncle Jim” by his hundreds of neighbors and friends. Mother was a homemaker supreme.  There were six children.

The oldest son, Curtis, born in 1896, lives in Shiloh Community with his wife, Inez Lewis.  He served in the Navy in World War I, farmed, ranched, and worked in industrial areas.  The couple have one child, Ina Sue, who married Gordon Roberts and has two sons.

Ethel, the first daughter was born in 1898.  She married Oscar Griffin (now deceased) and lives in Minden.  She has one daughter, Claudine who married Herman Shaw, a civil engineer and lives in Fort Worth.  The Shaws are the parents of James and Joyce.  James, an aeronautical engineer married Vicki Lee, and they have three children – Cody, David, and Andrea.  Joyce, who married Ronny Timmons, a management analyst, is the mother of four: Deana, Patty, Linda, and Danny.

Floyd, the second son, born in 1901, lived in Port Arthur and worked for Gulf Refining Company.  He married Mecca Sapp and after her death then married Velma Adams.  They lived in Port Arthur until he retired and built a home in Shiloh Community and returned to Rusk County.  Floyd died in 1980.  Their only child, Don, married Jane Blalock, who works for Gulf States Utilities in Port Arthur.  They are the parents of two sons, both employed at  U.S. Steel in Baytown.  Monty married Charlotte Hoffpauer and their children are: Shana, Troy, Monty, Jr., Brian, and Donny.  Rory married Rita Christopher and has a daughter, Krista.

Vera, the second of John Thomas, daughters, born in 1904, married Virgil Moon.  They both worked for Southern Pacific Railroad; she for twenty-three years and Virgil completed forty-seven years before his retirement in 1966.  Virgil was a deacon in the Baptist Church and a Mason.  He died November 11, 1973.  Vera lives in Minden.  They had no children.

A year after Vera’s birth, Forest Thomas, was born in 1905.  He became a commercial accountant, served in World War II, and married the former Ollie Mae Jones.  They live in Henderson where he is still actively employed and is a deacon in the Baptist Church.  They have no children.

The last John Thomas child, Arthur Roy, was born in 1910.  He is a graduate of Stephen F. Austin and was supervisor of Data Processing for Texaco Refining Company in Port Arthur until his retirement.  He and his wife, the former Dorothy Crawford of Appleby, built their retirement home in Minden, where he still lives.  He served as first lieutenant in the U.S. Army during World War II, including eleven months in the China, Burma, and India Theater.  His wife, Dorothy, died in December 1979.  They have one daughter, Penelope, who is married to Mike Clark and lives in Nacogdoches.

Submitted by Mrs. Vera Moon