A.W. Parker

____________________________________________________________________________ 
                                                                             
A.W. Parker, farmer and sheriff, Murfreesboro, Ark. There are a number of    
men prominently identified with the agricultural affairs of this county.     
but none among them are more deserving of mention than A.W. Parker, a native 
of Mississippi, born in 1844. His father, J.C. Parker, and his mother whose  
maiden name was Elizabeth Clark, are both natives of Alabama. The paternal   
grandfather, Samuel Parker, was born in North Carolina, and at an early day  
moved to Alabama, thence to Mississippi, and in 1854 came to Arkansas,       
settling in what is now Pike County. His death occurred in Montgomery, in    
1865. This pioneer of several States kept ahead of the tide of emigration,   
and became a respected and esteemed in whatever section he made his home.    
His father was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. J.C. Parker was reared in 
Mississippi, married in 1843, and after his marriage removed to Arkansas in  
1854, settling in Pike County (then Clark), where he made a home. He         
received his final summons in 1878. The mother is still living, and resides  
on the old homestead. A.W. Parker was reared on a farm in the country,       
attended private schools, but had limited educational advantages. He         
remained at home until nineteen years of age, then enlisted in the United    
States army, and served until the close of the war. He then began farming    
for himself. In 1867 he was united in marriage to Miss Florinda A. Buchanan, 
a native of Tennessee, and to them were born nine children, six now          
living: Emily (died at the age of eleven years and six months), Marietta,    
Frances, Henry A., George A. (who died at the age of two years and six       
months), Jacob, Martha (died in infancy), Charley and Joseph. Shortly before 
his married, Mr. Parker purchased a farm in Antoine Township, of 200 acres,  
and to this he has since added enough to make 683 acres, in Antoine and      
Self Creek Townships, and has 150 acres under cultivation. The balance of    
his land is well timbered. Mr. Parker has always been quite active in        
politics, and served one term as justice under the appointment of Gov.       
Baxter. He was also elected to the position of sheriff of the county in      
1888, and he is the present incumbent of that position. He is a member of    
the Masonic fraternity, Sulphur Springs Lodge No. 100, at Amity, Clark       
County, Ark., and has held nearly all the offices in the lodge. Our subject  
and his father both served in the Federal army, in Company F, Fourth         
Arkansas Cavalry, and after the war returned to agricultural pursuits. Mr.   
Parker is quite active in politics and is independent in principle. He is an 
influential citizen, a good officer, and one of the foremost farmers. He has 
served fifteen years as school director of his district, and is an earnest   
advocate of education.                                                       
____________________________________________________________________________ 
                                                                             
Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Southern Arkansas, 1890, Pike County, 
pages 335-336.                                                               
____________________________________________________________________________ 
                                                                             
HTML file and design by David Kelley, 1997. All rights reserved.