texas revolution – Texas History Notebook

Isaac Parker, Legislator

Isaac Duke Parker was a son of John and Sarah White Parker. He was born in Georgia on April 7, 1793 and came to Texas as an adult with his family, finally settling in a stockade fort near the current town of Groesbeck in the early 1830s. The circumstances of the raid are probably familiar to many. To summarize, the Parker family consisted of about two dozen people and there were numerous others living in the compound. Many names are similar, adding to the confusion, but below is a rough listing of the family members and close relatives in or near the fort at the time of the attack:

John Parker (“Elder John Parker”) – a widower
Silas Mercer Parker, Sr. – husband of Lucinda Duty Parker
Lucinda Duty Parker – wife of Silas Mercer Parker, Sr.
James W. Parker – son of Silas, Sr. and Lucinda
Cynthia Ann Parker – daughter of Silas, Sr. and Lucinda
John Richard Parker – son of Silas, Sr. and Lucinda
Silas Mercer Parker Jr. – son of Silas, Sr. and Lucinda
Orlena Parker – daughter of Silas, Sr. and Lucinda
Sarah Pinson Duty (“Granny Parker”) – mother of Lucinda and Clara Elizabeth
Clara Elizabeth Duty Kellogg – sister of Lucinda and recently widowed
Benjamin Franklin W. Parker – brother of Elder John
Isaac Parker – brother of Elder John
Sarah Parker Nixon – daughter of James William
Lorenzo Dow Nixon – husband of Sarah Parker Nixon
Luther Martin Thomas (“L. T. M.”) Plummer – husband of Rachel
Rachel Parker Plummer – wife of Luther, daughter of James William Parker
James Pratt Plummer – son of Luther and Rachel
James William Parker – father of Rachel
Abigail Parker – sister of Elder John
Daniel Parker – brother of Elder John
Martha “Patsy” Dixon Parker – wife of Daniel

Other settlers included Elisha Anglin, Abram Anglin, Seth Bates, Silas Bates George Dwight, Malinda Frost Dwight, Elizabeth Dwight, David Falkenbury, Evan Falkenbury, Samuel Frost, Robert Frost Oliver Lund and several others.

Of the residents, Elder John Parker, Benjamin Parker, Silas Parker, Robert and Samuel Frost were killed in the raid. Captured were Cynthia Ann Parker and her brother John Parker (children of Silas), Cynthia’s first cousin Mrs. Rachel Parker Plummer (daughter of James William Parker, her three year old son James Pratt Plummer and Mrs. Clara Elizabeth Kellogg. Survivors included Rachel’s husband Luther Plummer, Daniel Parker, Abigail Parker and Isaac Duke Parker. Isaac happened to be a short distance from the fort working in the fields with other male survivors. Of the dead, John Parker was his father, Benjamin and Silas were his brothers. The Frosts were father and son. Clara Elizabeth Duty Kellogg was a sister of Mrs. John Parker.

Mrs. Kellogg was ransomed some months later and Mrs. Plummer around one year later. In a military action led by future Texas Governor Lawrence Sullivan “Sul” Ross, Cynthia was recaptured in North Texas in 1860, twenty-four years after her capture by Comanche and other warriors. Cynthia is probably the best known of the Fort Parker residents. She was removed to Camp Cooper near the current town of Jacksboro. Isaac Parker went there to identify her as his missing niece. He brought her back to his cabin in Birdville near Fort Worth before relocating her to live with other close relatives. Cynthia never felt part of her Anglo family and died in early 1871 after the deaths of her two younger children of disease. Her oldest son, Quanah, was not discovered in the incident in 1860 and survived her another forty years.

In 1816, Isaac Parker had first married Lucy W. Cheatham who died in 1867 and in 1870 he married a much younger Virginia Hill Simms. Isaac and Lucy were married in Tennessee after which they moved to join other family members in Illinois. With Lucy he had four children who lived to be adults, born between 1821 and 1830 in Illinois. Several years after Lucy’s death, he was married to Virginia in Limestone County, Texas. With Virginia he had three children born between 1871 and 1877.

Isaac is said to have served in the company of Elisha Clapp during the Texas Revolution. Some articles may state that Isaac served in the Civil War, but at that time he would have been in his 60s. Accordingly, it does not appear likely that he would have served in any combat related position during those years, although he could have served in some local capacity. His son, Isaac Duke Parker, Jr. was born in 1821 and did serve in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Isaac, Jr. also actively helped defend against Indian raids.

In addition to his connection with Cynthia Parker and the Parker family, Isaac Duke Parker is most often remembered for his political service. Parker began his long political career in Houston County by serving as a representative in the Texas Congress in its Third, Fourth, Sixth and Seventh sessions, spanning the years 1838 to 1843 with a one year break around 1840. He was then elected to the Texas Senate for the district that included Houston, Nacogdoches and Rusk counties in the Eighth and Ninth Texas Congress during the years 1843 to 1845 and was a delegate to the Convention of 1845, the convention that voted to accept the annexation of the Republic of Texas to become a state of the United States. After Texas became a state, Isaac served four more terms in the Texas legislature representing Tarrant and Ellis counties.

Parker was a key individual in submitting the 1855 petition of about 225 individuals in favor of creating Parker County, named for himself, out of the northern portion of Tarrant County. After approval of the formation of Parker County by the Texas Congress, Parker lived out the remainder of his years near Weatherford. He also said to have served as a judge for a time, though this is unconfirmed and definitely not to be confused with federal judge Isaac C. Parker who is unrelated to the Isaac Duke Parker family.

The community of Birdville, where Isaac once lived, was located east of Fort Worth and became part of it in the late 1900s. Parker’s 1848 Birdville cabin is historically significant and around 1960 it was removed to a location in Fort Worth known as Log Cabin Village, a collection of historic structures southwest of downtown. Parker’s cabin is built in the “dog trot” style and is thought to be the oldest surviving structure in Tarrant County.

Isaac died on April 14, 1883 at the age of 90 in Weatherford and is buried in Turner Graveyard there along with his widow Virginia and several other family members.

Isaac Parker’s former Birdville cabin, courtesy of Sarah Reveley:

Elizabeth Powell

As San Jacinto Day, April 21, approaches it is interesting to reflect on the events of those days and the people who participated in them. Author Gregg J. Dimmick has written several books about that time. In his recent volume, “Sea of Mud: The Retreat of the Mexican Army After San Jacinto, An Archaeological Investigation,” he described the days that followed April 21, 1836 as they pertained to the Mexican Army. The author noted that General Vicente Filisola was second in command to Santa Anna when the Mexican leader was captured. Filisola was camped elsewhere, to the west and near the current community of Thompsons, near the Brazos in Fort Bend County. Thompsons got its name from a crossing and ferry that once was operated by a Thompson family there. Filisola’s forces were to serve as a rear guard for Santa Anna. The General had just been informed of Santa Anna’s defeat, though the whereabouts of Santa Anna were yet unknown. Filisola decided to gather his troops even further west near the current community of Kendleton, more than half the distance between Richmond and Wharton.

Charles Bellinger Stewart

Charles B. Stewart was born February 18, 1809 in Charleston, South Carolina to Charles and Adriana Bull Stewart and was the second of their two children. His full name was Charles Bellinger Tate Stewart. Charles was about eleven years old when his father died in Georgia in 1817 and was not quite twenty years old when his mother died in 1825.

James Kerr

James Augusta Kerr was one of the more interesting people in the early days of Texas. He was born September 24, 1790 in Boyle County, Kentucky to Reverend James Kerr II (1749 – 1811) and Patience Wells Kerr (1759 – 1799). He was the seventh child and second son of the couple’s ten children born over a twenty year period from 1777 to 1797. The father, James, was a farmer and a Baptist minister, more accurately described as a circuit riding preacher. A descendant, James Kerr Crain, writes that Patience, the youngest of a large group of children, had eloped with her husband to be after her parents objected to the relationship, but the union lasted until her untimely death. The mother, Patience, died in 1799 after taking ill on a horseback trip to visit one of their older children. Her husband preached the funeral, which was said to be the first Protestant sermon preached in the sparsely populated Upper Louisiana Territory. Rev. Kerr married a widow by the name of Phoebe Bonham one year after the death of Patience. The family moved to St. Charles County, Missouri in 1808 and Rev. Kerr passed away there in 1811.

Margaret “Peggy” McCormick

Peggy McCormick was the owner of the land where the Battle of San Jacinto took place. Her husband was Arthur McCormick. Peggy’s maiden name is unknown. Arthur was born in Ireland in the late 1780s and Peggy is believed to have been about the same age, also born in Ireland. Arthur and his young family had first settled in Louisiana in 1818 before coming to Texas around 1822 as part of the Austin Colony’s “Old 300” group of settlers. Arthur had been trained as a lawyer, but tried to establish himself as a stock raiser after he received his land grant in 1824. He was the head of his family unit and his was one of three Old 300 family groups with the same last name, though the three families do not appear to be closely related. All three families were farmers. Arthur and Peggy had two sons, Michael (1818 -1874) and John (1820 – 1839).