PARKER - THOMPSON FAMILY. 
Effie Katherine Parker was born on June 25, 1883
                                     to:
William Henry Harrison Parker 
                                  and
Julia Ann Tennessee Thompson
           (see Parker and Thompson family histories  
         below)            
A Family Story
The night before Effie moved to Texas with her husband and young children, she and her sister Annie decided to trade hats.  That way, the sister that was staying, Annie, would have a different hat to wear and Effie would have a new hat also in Texas.  During the night a mother cat got in the hat that was staying in Arkansas and had kittens.  We're not sure if Effie still got to take the other hat to Texas. 
      Story related by her daughter Ned Gentry 
      and  submitted to this website by her   
      granddaughter Kay Wiseman
PARKER FAMILY
Row 1 (left to right): Clarence Young, Jesse Leach, Claude Young, William H. Parker, Nellie P.Young, Julia Tennessee Parker, Bill Leach, Carl Parker, Ralph  Leach
Row 2: (Unknown couple -boarding schoolteachers), Aunt Olive Parker Stevens, Uncle Walter Leach, Ila Leach (baby), Aunt Annie Leach, Julia Frances Young (1yr in father's arms), Charley Young, Effie Katherine Parker Young, Aunt Jessie Parker, Uncle Edward (Eddie) Parker, Uncle Mid (Millard Fillmore) Parker
The family story below was written by Charley Thompson, nephew of Julia Tennessee Thompson Parker, in 1956.  Some of this information he learned from reading a geneology book about the Thompson family at the Library of Congress. 

Julia Tennesee Parker was the daughter of Y.L. Thompson, Young Littleton or Lit for short.  
Young Littleton Thompson was a cousin to Andrew Jackson's mother.  He came from middle Tennessee to Arkansas on a kind of wager about 1851.  He had six sons, the youngest was only about 2 years old when they moved.  The other 5 sons ,being older, helped him to erect the old log house Homestead near the banks of Isabel Creek about a half mile north of the present Moreland (Old Cross Plains), cleared a lot of land and settled. 
After 10 years the Civil War broke out, 1861, and these 5 older sons joined the Southern Army, the youngest by his father's consent (Uncle George), not yet of age, who went with General Caball as his courier.  The oldest son, Uncle Jimmy, was killed during the war, not in battle, but in a train wreck, as they were shipping mules for the army.  The other 4, Uncle Abner, Uncle William (Bill, who died while County Judge of Pope County), then Uncle John who settled near the little inland town of Jerusalem in Conway County and those 3 reared large families.  The youngest of the 5, Uncle George, married a girl in the northeast part of Arkansas.  He and his wife and 2 or 3 young children died in that community, wiping out that fine family.
My father, Silas Young Thompson, the youngest, was only 16 when the war closed, had no education and went to work for whomever he could find a job and a place to stay so that he could make bread for the 3 little sisters, until they married.  All of them married while rather young.  Julia Ann Tennessee Thompson  married William Henry Harrison Parker.  The next older girl, Adeline married John Wyatt and they reared a large family.  The oldest girl, Betty, married Americus Jones.  They had only 2 sons who lived to be grown and married.  Jimmy Jones was living up near Fayetteville, Arkansas in 1956.
Y.L. Thompson was murdered during the Civil War by the so-called "scouts", who were too cowardly to join either side, but murdered any man with sympathy for the other side, claiming to be aiding their chosen side.  Y.L. wanted to volunteer along with his five sons, but the recruiting officers said he could not join that he had better stay at home and take care of the little Post Office in his old home and run the watermill to grind corn for the women and children who were having a hard time at home.  So he did.  
When his sons got home from the army at the close of the war, they knew who murdered their father, and he soon came up missing.  There was no one in the community to bury him except his wife and children and the neighbor women and children.  He sleeps among the hills not so far from his old homestead.

Information furnished by Aunt Olive Stevens, daughter of Julia Tenneseee Thompson, indicates that Y.L. Thompson married a lady with the maiden name of Scott.  This information was given in 1956 to Jolene Welch Mershon.



The following Thompson and Parker family information was found in the History of Pope County Arkansas by the Pope County Historical Association published by 1979.  The author of each article is noted after each.

YOUNG LITTLETON THOMPSON
Y.L. Thompson was born in Tennessee about 1811.  On November 2, 1834, he married Julia Ann Scott, born about 1817 in Davidson County, Tennessee.  By 1850 they had a rather large family.  Their children were Alburn 15, James 13, William 11, John 9, George 6, Elizabeth Norvaline and Silas Young 1. Littleton was engaged in farming in Tennessee until after 1850.  According to family legend, he became upset when the Whig Party passed over Henry Clay for the presidency backing Zachary Taylor, who then carried the state of Tennessee in the election of 1848.  Perhaps this, with other considerations, brought about the move to Arkansas.
The family made the trip overland with oxen, enduring the many hardships and privations found when traveling at this time.  They settled in Pope County and bought land in the Gumlog Township at $1.25 per acre.  He cleared the land and in time had one of the most prosperous farms in the community.  Littleton was a great hunter and much game was to be found in the vicinity of their homestead.  He was a good citizen and helped in every way possible to further the development of the community.
Littleton and Julia aided in the organization of a Baptist church in their community and were its most consistent members!  He was also a staunch supporter of the Democrat Party and for some time was post master.  
Their children were Alburn (1836-1915), James H. (1837 -died during  civil war), William (1839), John T. (1842), George H. (1844), Elizabeth Norvalene (1846), Silas Young (Jackie) (1851), Amanda Adaline (1852), Julia A. Tennessee1855-1915).
When the civil war came 4 sons left to serve in the Confederate Army, Ab, William, James & John.  Littleton became a member of the Home Guard of Minute men of Pope County in 1861 in the Gumlog Township.

In 1862 Julia Ann Thompson died.  Littleton was bushwhacked on returning home from russellville in 1864.
by Kathleen Bell

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JOHN PARKER   - (Grandfather of William Henry Harrison Parker)

John Parker was born in Maryland in 1780.  He married Rachel (Shipley?), born in Pennsylvania in 1784.  About 1822 they moved to what is now eastern Alabama where they were allowed to live and farm in Indian territory, for reasons unknown.  In 1832 the Indians were driven out and the territory was divided into 5 counties with John and family living in Chambers County, Alabama.  John and his family of 5 boys and 3 girls were still living there in 1840.
Sometime between 1841 and 1844,  John chose to move his family west, stopping in Pope County, Arkansas. It is believed some of his older boys and neighbors proceeded on to settle in Texas.  However, John and his wife Rachel, sons Joshua M, Meredith w and daughters Louisa E., Jemima and Mary A., (born in Arkansas) remained in Pope County.
In 1850, we find Joshua M, age 27, married to Nancy J. Vincent, age 23, born in Tennessee.  This marriage took place January 5, 1845.
by Emery J. Parker


JOSHUA M PARKER -  (father of William Henry Harrison Parker)

Joshua M. Parker was born in Alabama in 1823.  He was married to Nancy J. Vincent, born in Tennessee (23 years old in 1850).  In 1860 they had the following children, John C., age 14, Meredith W, age 12, William H. Harrison, age 11, Thomas, age 5, Louis N., age 3, George R., age 2; and in 1870 there were 2 more; Mary age 9 and Katy, age 7.
by Emery J. Parker