TR EES OF WILSON Wilson’s Family Heritage Chronicles of the Wilson County Genealogical Society January 2005 Volume 14 Number I! President’s Happy New Year, JANUARY 25, 2005, MEETING PROPOSED BY LAWS CHANGES Readers! Since the beginning of WCGS, our Message We will meet Tuesday, January, 25, at Have you made 7:00 pm in the Durward Stancil, Inc. build- meeting date has been the fourth Tues- your News Years ing, 3425 Ward Blvd, Wilson, N. C. day of each month except July, August, Resolutions yet ? This year I resolve As we have been sharing the facilities of and December. Several times each year, to find all my long lost relatives! the William Dorsey Pender Chapter of the there are five Tuesdays in the month. They have been hiding long enough. Sons of Confederate Veterans, it was de- Whenever that occurs, meeting atten- This beautiful weather we have cided to invite Jerry Stancil to give the pro- dance is low, presumably because it is had lately in good ole' North Caro- gram this month. He has been invited to not on the last Tuesday of the month. lina makes me want to go search for share with us some of the work done by With that in mind, the Board of Direc- cemeteries, clean them off, and plant that energetic chapter in restoring abandon- tors proposes changing the meeting date flowers. It's been just like the spring ded cemeteries and other community ser- to the last Tuesday of the month. of the year. vice projects. They attend a regular variety It has also been proposed that the date January is the beginning of an- of events such as reenactments and keep a of the Social Meeting be made flexible other year with WCGS, and it is stock of commemorative items which they and set by the Board each year. membership renewal time again. offer for sale at those events for fund rais- These proposed changes are being Your address label on this month’s ing purposes. Jerry’s enthusiasm 1s catch- presented for your consideration. A Trees of Wilson will let you know if ing, and we look forward to having him to vote will be taken at the February meet- you have renewed or not. Look for share this with our members. ing. Please read below for the current the "Y" or "N" after your name. "Y" wording and the proposed changes. for yes, you have renewed; "N" for Notice regarding the publication of ARTICLE VUI no, you haven't renewed yet. We Wilson County Founding Families A. [Change the first sentence from:] hope you take a few minutes from This publication is designed to com- There shall be an Annual Meeting of your busy schedules to renew your memorate the 150th anniversary of the the voting membership of the Society memberships with your payment of founding of Wilson County in 1855. Work on the fourth Tuesday in November of $20.00 before you forget. We don't on this book began in 1999 with a commit- each year. want to lose anyone, but our by laws tee of four. The work has continued but at a [New wording would be:] specify, “Members who have not re- slower pace than anticipated, partly because There shall be an Annual Meeting of newed by the end of January shall of the library renovation. At this time, it the voting membership of the Society be removed from the newsletter sub- appears that it will require at Jeast two more on the last Tuesday in November of scription list.” years before the research is completed on each year. [No other changes would be Trees of Wilson will be full of his- this book. We urge anyone who plans to made to that item.] tory from Wilson County, and contribute family information to do so as B. [Presently reads:] \n addition to maybe surrounding counties too. If soon as possible. The list of families is on the Annual Meeting there shall be a So- you have something you would like our web site at www. wcgs.org. cial Meeting on the fourth Tuesday in to contribute, we would love to hear June of each year. Regular meetings from you. Highlights of This Issue shall be held on the fourth Tuesday in The Wilson County Public Library Family Connections-Parker Family .......... 2 the months of January, February, renovations are almost completed. Family Connections-Early Tobacco March, April, May, September, and Oc- There will be an announcement Processing tober. when all the work is done, and it's 1816 Military Pay Request Corrections.... 3 [Change the first sentence to read:] fully operational throughout the li- William E. Deans Obituary In addition to the Annual Meeting, there brary. I look forward to being able Seth Tyson Obituary shall be a Social Meeting at a date to be visit our new, largeer Genealogy James Rhodes Petihion 3or vacctent-.-s00-0r 0: 5 set by the Board of Directors. Section. Snakenberg Memoirs [Change the second sentence to read:] Have a great year, best of luck 1862 Nash County School Report Regular meetings shall be held on the Wootten & Stevens Funeral Register with your research. last Tuesday in the months of January, Murray Chairs Carol M. Forbes February, March, April, May, Septem- Stantonsburg Incorporation Petition WCGS President ber, and October. Minutes January 2005 Trees of Wilson Page 1 Trees of Wilson — WCGS FAMILY CONNECTIONS—WILSON DAILY TIMES This chronicle is published by the Wilson County ELM CITY AND THE PARKER FAMILY—November 16, Genealogical Society, organized February 26, 2004. 1991. Address: P.O. Box 802, Wilson, NC The business district at the center of the town of Elm City was built 27894-0802. Telephone 252-243-1660. Internet originally with wooden frame structures typical of a small town of the address: mid 1800s. Fire ravaged the little town several years after its founding, http://www.wcgs.org and the decision was made to require that all new buildings be con- Trees is published monthly except for Decem- structed with brick. ber and July. An annual index is published with a spring issue. Trees is indexed in PERSI. Active It is fortunate for the little town that one area resident had the skills to membership in WCGS is for a calendar year and produce the bricks needed for reconstruction. Young Cleophas Parker, includes a subscription to the ten issues published whose family lived just outside the town, produced large numbers of each year. Annual individual membership is $20, bricks from clay dug on the family farm, which went by the name of family membership is $25. Parkhurst Plantation. The buildings constructed in the 1880s stand to- Materials of genealogical interest to the mem- day, a living monument to the hard work of an industrious young man. bers of WCGS are accepted for publication at the The Parker family has been resident in the area since the mid 1700s, discretion of the Editors and should pertain to having come there from Isle of Wight County, Virginia. They de- families with connections in Wilson County and scended probably from a John Parker who arrived in Virginia in 1638 its neighboring and parent counties. WCGS can- as a “headright.” This term refers to a way of earning your passage to not accept any responsibility for the content of America by agreeing to work for seven years for the person who paid contributed materials, including errors and omis- your ship fare. This was a common practice and was the method by sions. Please direct any questions to the contribu- tor. Their names and addresses will be provided which the majority of our present citizens arrived in this new land. upon request for worthwhile purposes. Very few came from aristocratic families with money and land. Most Queries from WCGS members are accepted settlers came here simply because they could get their own land and a and posted at [email protected] chance to build a better future, even if it meant working for seven years Officers 2004 for their “freedom.” President: Carol Forbes The surname of Parker has been in existence in Britain for over a Vice President: Sue Powell thousand years. It seems to have begun from the employees of William Secretary: Frances Roberson I (the Conqueror of 1066) who were placed in the Royal forests to pro- Treasurer: Henry Powell tect the wild game, mostly deer and boar. Hunting was a popular Royal Board Members: Mary Anne Sheak, Judy sport, and vast areas of woodland and fields were set aside under the O’Neal, Wanda Lamm Taylor Forest Law. Managers were employed to oversee the game (park rang- Past Presidents: Joan Howell, Reese Ferrell, ers, in practice) who were called “parkers,” and policemen were em- Katye Alford, Henry Powell, Sue Powell, Carol Forbes ployed who were called “wood wardens” to catch poachers. Both Newsletter Editors: Henry & Sue Powell names have survived through the centuries although the occupations Contributors: Grace Turner, J. Robert Boykin have not. The Royal Forests were broken up after the fall of the monar- III, Albert Page, Horace Peele, C. Clement Lucas, chy when Charles I was beheaded, and vast portions of the land were Marion W. Moore. given to friends and supporters of the monarch or ruler then in power. Committees: Today, much of the Royal Forest land is now public property and is H.B. Johnston Papers: Sue Powell maintained for recreation. Cemetery Publications: Joan Howell We have been given an undated history of the Parker Family, possi- Internet Coordinators: Horace Peele, Carol bly written about 20 years ago by a late member of the family.