GEORGE WASHINGTON PARKS

 

 

 

     George Washington Parks, b February 15, 1828 m the part of Franklin County, Tennessee which later became the Pelham Valley Area of Grundy County, d January 15, 1892 near Rosebud, Falls County, Texas and buried in the family cemetery on land then owned by his brother-in-law, Dr. James D. Priest-was a son of Samuel Parks, b 1795 in North Carolina, d 1884 in Tennessee, and his first wife, Mary Minerva (Cornelison) Parks, b 1797 in North Carolina, d 1838 in Tennessee - who had married in 1812 at ages 17 and 15, as he reported for military services as a "Cornet" in the War of 1812. They moved to Tennessee after the war, where they remained the rest of their lives. Six of their fifteen children moved to Texas - three before the Civil War, and the other three soon after the Civil War ended. Two (George Washington Parks and his sister's family, the Dr. James D. Priest family) settled permanently in Falls County, Texas in the area between present-day Rosebud and Pleasant Grove, and the family of another sister (the Seborn and Elizabeth Ikard family) came to Falls County in 1868, with family members in Falls County until 1893 when they moved to Archer County, Texas.

     On February 27, 1856 in Grundy County, Tennessee, George Washington Parks married Caroline Tabitha Motlow, b March 29, 1834 in Lincoln County, Tennessee (the part which is now Moore County), d August 26,1881 near Rosebud, Falls County, Texas and buried in the family cemetery on land owned by Dr. James D. Priest - a daughter of John and Mary (Getson) Motlow, and a granddaughter of American Revolutionary Soldier and First Lieutenant, John Motlow and his second wife, Agnes (McElhaney) Motlow. One of Caroline Tabitha (Motlow) Parks' uncles was the father of Felix Motlow, whose brother-in-law, Jasper Newton ("Jack") Daniel established in 1866 in Lynchburg, Tennessee, the famed "Jack Daniel Distillery."

     At the beginning of the Civil War, George Washington Parks enlisted in the Confederate States Army as a Private in Company A, Turney's Tennessee Infan- try - ending the war with the same company with the rank of Major. In 1868, George W. and Caroline T. Parks moved to Falls County, Texas - settling near present-day Rosebud, where his brother-in-law had settled his family. George and Caroline Parks were the parents of eight children:

     Samuel Parks, b & d in 1857 in Tennessee.

     Mary Abigail Parks (called "Abbie"), b April 11, 1859 in Grundy County, Tennessee, d July 4, 1940 in Zephyr, Brown County, Texas and buried there. On June 28, 1879 in Falls County, Texas, Abbie married her first cousin, Samuel H. Priest, b August 1853 in Tennessee, d in Zephyr, Texas-a son of Dr. James D. and Mary (Parks) Priest of Falls County. Samuel and Mary Abigail (Parks) Priest were the parents of nine identified children: George Daniel Priest, b March 28 1880, d September 21, 1958 - married Florence (maiden name unknown), b March 27, 1886, d December 25, 1928 and buried in Zephyr; James Priest, b September 1881 - was alive in 1900 - no further information; Martha Caroline Priest, b August 11, 1882, d October 15,1882; Mary Minerva Priest, b January 28, 1884, d April 14, 1976; W. W. Priest (a daughter), b July 11, 1886, d November 22, 1889; Margaret Abigail Priest-twin, b October 1887, d December 4,1887; Beatrice Priest - twin, b October 1887, d June 18, 1950; J. David Priest, b May 24,1889, d April 13, 1908; and a child born late in his parents lives, Samuel H. Priest, Jr., b September 14,1904, d September 7,1909. This family were still residing in Falls County, Texas in 1900.

     Laura Breckenridge Parks (called "Betty"), b ca 1861 in Tennessee, married in Falls County, Texas (license issued May 11, 1897) to Henry A. Brewer, and had two identified sons, Marvin Brewer and Clyde Brewer. The only information is that one of these sons is believed to have moved to Colorado.

     James Motlow Parks (called "Jim'), b October 14, 1862 in Grundy County, Tennessee in the Pelham Valley area near Lynchburg, Tennessee, d November 22, 1931 in Falls County, Texas between Rosebud and Pleasant Grove, and buried in Powers Chapel Cemetery - married December 10, 1891 in Falls County to Mrs. Ida Elizabeth (Boyd) Asbury, and had six children.

     Agnes Finetta Parks (called "Nettie"), b 1866 in Tennessee - married in Falls County, Texas on December 25, 1892 to J. C. Williams (called "Casey"), and moved to Oklahoma, where both died and were buried. No further information.

     Josephine Louisa Parks, b October 9, 1870 in Falls County, Texas, d November 13, 1883 and buried in the family cemetery in Falls County.

     Jessica Elizabeth Parks (called "Jessie Eliza"), b October 4, 1872 in Falls County, Texas, d 1961 at age 89 years at Marie, Texas in Runnels County, and buried in nearby Bronte, Texas' City Cemetery - married in January 1903 in Rosebud, Texas to Charles Black, b 1869 in Milam County, Texas, d 1946 at age 77 years and buried in City Cemetery in Bronte - a son of Au- gust and Christina Black of Germany. They had four children: Earl Leonard Black - a twin, b October 18, 1903 and alive in 1982, Ernest Key Black - a twin, b October 18, 1903, d 1980; Ella Clyde Black, b August 2, 1905, never married and alive in 1982; and Annie Laurie Black, b May 7, 1907 who married William Beau- ford McShane, and alive in Runnels County, Texas in 1982. After their move from Falls County to Marie, Texas, Charles Black served as a Deacon in the Marie Baptist Church. No further information.

     Luther Getson Parks (called"Luther"), b February 14, 1875 in Falls County, Texas, d November 7, 1930 in Falls County and buried in Powers Chapel Cemetery - married in 1919 in Oklahoma to Edna May (Stokes) Crow, b May 6, 1892, d April 25, 1957. They had one son.

     George B. Parks, b July 14, 1877 in Falls County, Texas, d October 4, 1877 and buried in the family cemetery in Falls County.

     On December 20, 1879, George Washington and Caroline Tabitha (Motlow) Parks deeded, "in consideration of the sum of one dollar," two acres of land out of a 640-acre tract of land they owned which had been patented to Thomas L. Bums, assigns of John Wilson, to the Trustees of the Christian Church, William S. Ellis, Joseph Fisher, and Samuel H. Priest, for said trustees to "erect or cause to be erected a good and sufficient House of such dimensions as the church may direct, to be made as a House of Worship, and for such other purposes as the church may direct." There is no record of a church being constructed on the site; however, a "Friendship School" was established there, and the children and grandchildren of the Parks attended there.

     After the death in 1881 of Caroline Tabitha (Motlow) Parks, George W. Parks married second in Falls County on February 4, 1886 to Mrs. Rachel (Walton) Logue - the mother of the wife of Robert Ray Pool. They had no children. George Washington Parks was a farmer and stockman during his life, and left land which his son, James Motlow Parks, later purchased from the other heirs. A grandson of George W. and Caroline T. Parks still resides in Rosebud, Falls County, Texas.

 

 

 

 

 Copyright Permission granted to Theresa Carhart for printing the biographies of these Falls County Families to this Web page.
"Families of Falls County", Compiled and Edited by the Falls County Historical Commission, page 341 column 1 and 2 and page 342 column 1.  
Member of Falls County Historical Commission.