1-12. John M. Parker, Dardanelle, Arkansas, was born 5 miles
west of Danville, Arkansas, November 24, 1849. In 1870 he was licensed
to practice law. He is one of the oldest practicing lawyers in the
State. On July 1, 1875, he was married to Laura E. Woolbright of Wing,
Arkansas.
13-15. Mr. Parker's first home was a common frame two-story building
with large rooms wide halls, a chimney on each end of the house, and a
fireplace in every room. The only form of lighting was candles, and the
fuel was, of course, wood.
Game and fish were
plentiful in those days and each family raised its own hogs, chickens,
wheat for flour and corn for meal. They raised sweet and Irish potatoes,
peas and beans. Mr. Parker remembers his mother baking wheat and rye
brown and grinding it for coffee during the Civil War. She also boiled
dirt taken from the smoke house to get salt during this time.
Food
was very scarce and prices were high. He remembers soldiers from both
sides stripping their house of food coming in the yard and killing their
chickens and turkeys, and going to the pastures and killing their hogs
and cows. All clothing was homespun from home-raised wool and cotton.
The first school that Mr. Parker attended was near where Belleville,
Arkansas is located today. His father and uncle advertised for a school
teacher and a girl from Mobile, Alabama came and taught their children
for $10.00 per month. If any of the neighbors had children they wanted
to send to school they had to help pay the teacher. The next school Mr.
Parker attended was at the same place and his teacher was Mr. James A.
Garrett. He studied the old “Blue Back Speller” and an arithmetic. Each
pupil paid tuition, $1.40 each month.
The reading matter of Mr. Parker’s family consisted of books taken from
their Sunday School library at the Church.
Amusements in those days were dancing, quiltings, corn huskings, and hog
killings.
The first automobile that Mr. Parker ever saw was in Dardanelle owned by
J. T. Bray. The first train he ever saw was the Ft. Smith-Little Rock
train which was passing through Russellville and the first airplane was
one flying over Dardanelle.
In 1861, when the Civil War first started, Mr. Parker remembers seeing
the first company of soldiers to leave Yell County. This was the
“Daniels Company.” They camped on his father’s and uncle’s premises near
Danville, Arkansas.
Mr. Parker has eleven children, twenty grand-children, and one
great-grand-child.
