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James Marshall Parkhill was born Oct. 31, 1833. He was one of three children of John (James) William Parkhill and Mritha Birdwell, who were married around 1827-1828 in Jackson Co. Alabama. John Harvey Parkhill, his brother, was born August 31, 1831. He married Sara Jane Hannah. His sister, Martha Jane Parkhill, born Nov. 5, 1829 who married Stephen Barker.
James was my great grandfather and had married four times.
1). Mary Ann Nidever White Sept. 22, 1859 In Lamar Co. Texas. She and her children died between 1859-1862.
2). Nancy M. Cook. (Nov. 15, 1868)
3). Mollie Kuykendall.
4). Frances Lusk.
Around 1834 or 1835, his father, John (James) William Parkhill disappears, either by sickness and death, or by the Indian Wars in Alabama-Florida. Mritha or Ritha marries George Madison Connolly August 15, 1835 in Blount Co. Alabama. They had 9 children, among them namely Charles and George Connolly who served together with James Parkhill their half-brother.
James Marshall Parkhill and Charles Connolly enlisted on a Friday, June 20, 1862 from Lamar County, (sic) at Clarksville, Red River County, Texas in the 23rd Texas Cavalry, CSA. This regiment served as a dismounted Cavalry at the close of the war.
James Parkhill was detached Thursday, Oct. 23, 1862 as Army Quartermaster to drive a teamster Wagon at Beaumont, Texas. Charles Connolly was on special occasion detailed to act as a Scout for the company. Both James and Charles stayed in Lamar County until the spring of 1863 and was then ordered to Mansfield and from there to Pleasant Hill, Louisiana.
The Battle of Mansfield, Friday, April 8, 1864 was known as the biggest battle west of the Mississippi, where the Confederate Forces repelled the Union advance on East Texas. The defeat of the Union effort employed about 36,000 soldiers. The battle was won with hard picket fighting every day until they got to the Yellow Bayou, which closed the hard fighting. They were then marched back to Fort Bend, to rest up for the next battle.
On Tuesday, April 9, 1865, Robert E. Lee decided not to further to prolong the war and surrendered. The news of the war came late to those in Texas. It took about a month, to learn that the war was completely over. Small skirmishes with "the enemy" still took place but the news that the war was over finally came and they were disbanded as a unit.
1st Lieutenant John J. Jamison, stated on Feb. 23, 1920 in Clarksville, Red River County Court House, as a witness for J. M. Parkhill's Confederate Pension, that the "unit was disbanded at Richmond, Texas on Wednesday May 24, 1865 but the men were not discharged until June 1, at Milligan, Texas." He also stated that these men were in the service of the State of Texas during the Civil War, to protect the state against Indian, Mexicans and the enemy.
According to a letter my grandfather wrote, he cites the following information about his father and Charles Connally. "These Texans had furnished their own horses, bridals, and saddles when they enlisted and it seems a shame they were taken from them and they were forced to walk home. On the 24th day of May 1865 they were honorably discharged at Richmond, Texas, and then forced to walk. They walked from Richmond to fourteen miles from Paris, Texas, about 300 miles. Since they had enlisted from the same general area, they were all headed in the same general direction. My father said they got so thirsty they would lie on their bellies and drink water out of cow tracks. These men were in the service of the State of Texas during the Civil War to protect the State against the Indians, Mexicans and Yankees. They never were absent from their commands without permission. They never deserted and served with fidelity and honor to themselves and the command of the Confederate States of America."
The Family split and moved to different areas. The Connolly's and J. M. Parkhill's family moved to around Farmersville-Greenville area. My grandfather J. M. Parkhill Jr. was born Oct. 8, 1870 in Greenville, Texas. The Connolly's later moved to Glen Rose, Texas.
Charles filed for his military pension on Jan 14, 1920. It was approved on Feb. 10, 1920. Also along with Charles Connolly, two witnesses were at the County Court named Levi Herring and W. B . Pruitt for Charles Connolly's application for Confederate Pension. Also noted was two other men that were in the Unit with him and James Parkhill were Gray Jorden and J. F. Wilkerson. Charles Connolly was a witness for these two men's pension around 1908 or 1910. James Parkhill was a witness also on Jan. 26, 1920. W. P. Pruitt was also practicing physician and pronounced Charles Connolly dead due to a cervical break due to old age.
James' Confederate Pension was approved Mar. 11, 1920. James died April 29, 1921 in Savoy, Fannin County, Texas. Charles Connolly died May 30, 1930 in Glen Rose, Texas. The records of both of these men can be reproduced from the original holdings of the State Archives in Austin, Texas.
John Harvey Parkhill
John Harvey Parkhill, brother of James Marshall Parkhill, enlisted in the 9th Brigade, Texas Militia, August 17, 1861. He was #74 on the Muster Roll of Captain R. R. Sissell's Company. The Original muster roll showed his name as "Parkenhill."
The 1860 Hopkins Co. Census, Family number 1002, Charleston, Texas, shows:
John Parkhill, 28, M, farm laborer, 0/250, b. AL;
Sarah J., 21, F, b. TN;
Wm. M., 2, M, b. TX,
Robert F., 1, M, b. TX.
According to Charles Laverne Connally, great grandson of Charles Connally, John had died in 1863 in Arkansas during the Civil War. But according to others, he was killed by a falling barrel from the loft of his barn after the war was over. His descendants are Thomas Hannah Parkhill of Cooper, Texas and Dr. Billy Jerald Parkhill of Paris, Texas.
The original muster roll of Company G, 9th Texas Infantry, CSA, in the National Archives in Washington, D. C., shows J. A. (or J. H.) Parkhill, age 31, enlisted at Tarrant, Hopkins Co, Texas, on October 8, 1861.
"A"s and "H"s were commonly mistaken for each other when the musters were transcribed. The handwriting of the day left something to be desired. During transcription, cards stamped #1145 list J. A. while cards #1146 list J. H. The similarities are considerable. The wife's name is the same. Also, the state of birth matches. In June 1860, John Harvey Parkhill (b. Aug. 31, 1831) would be 28 years old.
Parkhill's service was short as he died of pneumonia on March 2, 1862, in Little Rock, Arkansas. The regiment was on its way to Bowling Green, KY, when pneumonia (probably typhoid pneumonia) broke out. Several men were left along the way between Texas and Memphis. The regiment never did get to Bowling Green because the Confederates had pulled back to Corinth, MS, by the time the 9th Texas Infantry got to Tennessee. J. A. Parkhill apparently died in Arkansas without rejoining the regiment. (A number of the "left-behinds" recovered and rejoined their companies. Many did not.)
James Wylie Parkhill
My great grandfather had also two other first cousins that were in the Civil War. In Johnny Rebs of Hunt County, by Mrs. Frances Terry Ingmire, Precinct No.1, Capt. J. M. Henslee, Co. 1, is muster roll #87 - James Parkhill.. He is known as James Wylie Parkhill who was married to Mary Jane Havens. He was born Jan. 15, 1848 also at Guntersville, Marshall Co., Alabama. He was the son of David Goodner Parkhill and Amanda M. Smith
Blooming Goodner Parkhill
Then there was B. G. Parkhill, the other cousin who was Blooming Goodner Parkhill whose Pension number is 32004. He enlisted Feb. 10, 1862 in Company E, Chickasaw Battalion, Fort Arbuckle, which afterwards became Company A, Well's Battalion. He was under the command of General Cooper in the Indian Territory. He lived and died in Forestburg, Grayson Co., Texas. He died May 25, 191?. Both Blooming and James were brothers.
Their father David G. Parkhill was made Captain of the Montague Mounted Riflemen Company, on Oct. 26,1859. He was also a Cumberland Presbyterian Minister. David was born 1814 in Tennessee and died May 14, 1881 buried the 18th and is buried in Honey Grove, Fannin Co., Texas. Amanda his wife, died Mar. 4, 1907 and is also buried at Honey Grove, Texas.
PARKHILL and CONNOLLY
By James M. Parkhill
The following was featured in COLLIN COUNTY, TEXAS FAMILIES, by Alice Ellison Pitts and Minnie Pitts Champ. Hurst: Curtis Media, c1994, p. 264-266.
Jim (James Marshall) Parkhill married first to Nancy "Nannie" M. Cook on February 15, 1868 by T. C. Reedy and Charlie, his brother, married Mary Rebecca Franklin on February 16, 1868 in Greenville, Texas.
The 1870 Census picks them up in Collin County, which shows: District 2, #328-344, Connally, G.M., 59, farmer, Georgia; Ritha, 58, wife, Alabama; George, 23, son, Kentucky; Zechariah, 21, son, Texas;
District 2, #336-388, Parkhill, James, 37, Farmer, Alabama and Nancy, 23, wife, Kentucky;
District 2, #337-390, Connally, Charles, 29, farmer, Alabama, Mary, 17, wife, Texas; Sneed, Martha (black cook).
The following are the children of Jim and Nancy Parkhill:
On October 8, 1870, their first son James M. Parkhill, Jr. was born. He was possibly named after Marshall Birdwell, Ritha Birdwell's uncle. Then on November 3, 1872, George Birdwell Parkhill was born to them. He was named after George Birdwell, Ritha's Uncle, George Birdwell. Then on May 19, 1875, another son Hugh Hunden Parkhill was born to them. After Hugh was born, Nancy became sick and eventually died and Jim remarried again. According to the marriage records of Collin County, Jim married Mary "Mollie" Ann Kuykendall. On the 1900 Census of Collin County it shows that they were married 24 years, placing the marriage around 1875 - 1876. The marriage record shows that they were married July 8, 1880 in Farmersville, Texas.
The Connolly family stayed in Collin and Hunt Counties from 1877 to 1888 because their father George Madison Connally died November 13, 1877, and was buried in the cemetery that lies between Merit and Farmersville, Texas. It is called Bethlehem Baptist Church Cemetery. Charlie Connally's son James Madison Connally's son James Madison Connally also is buried there. He died September 28, 1888.
Around 1888 they left Collin County and moved to Erath County near Stephenville. Charlie Connally and 12 other families chartered a wagon train and moved their families, household goods and livestock to Washington Territory, where he and the older boys worked in lumber camp. He had several good teams of horses. His wife and smaller children gathered hops and worked in the fields. They lived there for 2 to 3 years, but he and 2 other families moved back near Stephenville, Texas, where his first wife died January 17, 1891.
He married again to Mary Alice Grace on February 17, 1892. About 1893, Charlie and his wife moved to Glen Rose and bought a farm in the Cox Bend of the Brazos River about 8 miles east of Glen Rose.
Only Rytha Birdwell Parkhill Connally stayed behind and lived in Merit, Texas near Jim Parkhill's home. In 1893 she became sick and wrote a letter to her son Charlie stating that she was sick and thought she would die any day, but she didn't. She lived until 1896.
Rytha Birdwell Parkhill Connally was born September 25, 1812 in the Tennessee Valley of Tennessee or Alabama. She was about 15 or 16 when she married John Parkhill and died April 6, 1896 at the Cox Bend of the Brazos River. She like most people had joys and sorrows, deaths and diseases. She remembered how her first husband died, and then the next and at least two of her grandsons died of some ailment or of something else.
Charles Connally, born December 20, 1840 in Guntersville, Alabama died April 28, 1930. His military and pension records #36391 were filed January 14, 1920, and was approved on February 10, 1920. Jim Parkhill stated as a witness in those pension records that he was the said Charles Connolly's half-brother. No one knew about this relationship except for the older members of the family that had died. Many decades have past since that time and family members didn't correspond. A lot of information has been lost through the years and family didn't know who was related to who, or they didn't bother to tell.
Jim and Mollie had five children. Felix Edward Parkhill, Joel Lewis Parkhill, Green Johnson Parkhill, Ritha Frances Parkhill and Emma Elizabeth Parkhill. Mollie was born August 11, 1855 in Texas, but died before her mother, Frances N. Young did in 1912 at Bethlehem Cemetery, on September 27, 1906. Fannie Young reminded you of Grannie Yokum of the Comic strips smoking her clay pipe.
After the death of Mollie, Jim Parkhill remarried again. Fannie Lusk was her name. She was a divorced woman and caused Jim to be excommunicated from the Primitive Baptist Church. Granny Young moved out and went to the home of her grandson Green J. Parkhill in Merit, Texas and lived with him until she passed away.
Around October 10, 1920, Jim applied for his Confederate Military Service and Pension Records. They were finalized and approved on November 11, 1920. These records can be reproduced from the original holdings of the State Archives in Austin, Texas. In those records it states that he died of skin cancer in his house on April 29, 1921. He had lived in Texas for some 74 years.
To some in the family, he was the hardest meanest man this side of the Mississippi. To others, he was the most kindest and the gentlest of all. He was around 5'7" tall, and stocky built, and claimed that he didn't fear any man. Around 1900-1902, Mrs. Hugh Parkhill burned to death, and Jim took in Hugh's son Earl "Peg-leg" and daughter Annie Bell Parkhill. They stayed with him until Hugh remarried. His last wife Fannie Lusk Parkhill died in a car wreck July 31, 1928.
The following are the children of Jim and Nancy Cook Parkhill:
1). James M. Parkhill Jr. (Jim) (October 8, 1870 - December 12, 1951). From his childhood up to the time he died, he was quite a character. He married Lottie Lee Price on May 14, 1888, the daughter of John James Price and Mollie Bradley at Farmersville, Texas. Leaving Texas during the late 1890's, he traveled from Texas driving cattle to Cheyenne, Oklahoma where my father was born, to Delbert Texas, around Clayton, New Mexico. He went back to Texas around Mission-McAllen, then on to Kansas City, Missouri, Peoria, Illinois and they lived there twice, and finally settled in St. Augustine, Florida. Between 1895 and 1907. They had 7 children:
John James Parkhill (named after Lottie's father), William Jennings Bryan Parkhill (named after William Jennings Bryan - no relation), George Birdwell Parkhill (named after his Uncle George Birdwell Parkhill), James M. Parkhill 3rd, Nancy Melvina Parkhill, Dora Dee Parkhill and Mollie Elizabeth Parkhill. In December of 1951, he went to Roswell, New Mexico where his son and wife lived and told them he was going to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota for a checkup. 1 was only 4 years old but still remember him. At that age, a 6'4" man was a giant. That was really the first time I really remember him at four years of age and the last time I saw him. When he arrived at Rochester, he admitted himself at the Mayo Clinic and was thought to be recuperating. He died December 12, 1951. His body was sent by rail back to Farmersville, Texas for burial. He was buried in the Bethlehem Cemetery alongside his in-laws, John
James Price and Mollie E. Price, on Sunday December 16, 1951. He was separated from Lottie at that time but not divorced. Lottie is buried in St. Augustine, Florida.
2). George Birdwell Parkhill (November 3, 1872 - June 29, 1940)
He was a Medical Practitioner and served as the City Physician and Health Officer in Crosbyton, Texas from 1929 until his death in 1940. He attended the public schools of Hunt County and Hawthorne College, following which he entered Memphis Hospital Medical College where he took his M.D. Degree in 1904. This is now the Medical Department of the University of Tennessee.
He married Lillie Mae Sigler on December 23, 1900, who was the daughter of the J. P. Sieglers of Farmersville, Texas. The Siglers were also connected into the Price family. She was born June 14,1883. They spent 20 years at Merit, Texas where he practiced medicine. He then practiced two years in Greenville, two years at Matador and one year at Hamlin, prior to coming to Crosbyton in 1929. He invested in farm land in Crosby, Fisher, Collin, Hunt, Bell and Hood Counties.
They had one daughter Lillie Joe who died as an infant from the result of pneumonia. She was born April 22, 1918, and died 4 days later April 26, 1918 at Merit, Texas. The Parkhills were accompanied to Motley County by a foster son, R. E. "Emmett" Donovan, who preceded her in death in April 1953. George died of a self-inflicted injury when he found out that he had cancer. His wife, Lillie died January 3, 1962 of a heart attack at her home in Crosbyton, Texas.
3). Hugh Hunden Parkhill (May 19,1875 September 6, 1961). Hugh was married several times. His first wife was Lena Jackson. Lena burned to death around 1900 and Hugh remarried 7 years later on August 13, 1907 to Maggie Hemby. Hugh like his brother Jim was a character. Others in the family said that at one time his father had tied him up to the fence and took a bull-whip to him. He was a farmer by profession and farmed in the Hines Community. He died in Electra, Texas.
By his first wife Lena he had two children: 1) William Earle Parkhill; 2) Annie Bell Parkhill.
By his second wife, Maggie Hamby, he had 5 children: 1) Charlie Parkhill; 2) Pauline Parkhill; 3). Lorene Parkhill; 4). Uttie Parkhill; 5). Maggie Parkhill.
Jim and Mollie Kuykendall Parkhill had five children:
1). Felix Edward Parkhill b. December 13, 1881 d. February 11, 1962. He married Caledonia Garoline Gooch in 1906, in Corinth, Mississippi. They had one daughter that was born there, Dovie Mae who was born October 3, 1907 and later died May 31, 1959. She had married a Mr. Witherspoon of whom they had no children. Around 1915, Felix and Caroline moved back to Texas, settling around Dallas, Texas.
Their last daughter Vivian Adelia was born February 2, 1915 in Blue Ridge, Texas. Vivian married Elmer Patterson. Around 1946-1947, Caroline died and Felix remarried to Lena Brookshire. She had two children by two former husbands, which Felix took in, L. A. Brookshire, and Harold Reffman.
2). Green Johnson Owen Pleasant Parkhill (June 10, 1886 - December 11, 1951) He was a prominent Hunt County retired farmers He was married to Nettie Leora Murray, daughter of W. C. Murray and Mary Florence Bradley.
Mary Florence Bradley was the daughter of James H. Bradley and Malinda Isabella Price. Green was named after two Baptist Ministers. He died one day before his half-brother Jim Parkhill Jr. passed away. Nettie remained in Merit for 11 years. She later moved to Crosbyton, Texas where her children were living. She was born 1892 in Blue Ridge, Texas and died after a lengthy illness January 12, 1975. She was buried in Merit Texas.
Green and Nettie had 6 children: These children were not only half-cousins on the Parkhill side but double cousins on the Price-Bradley side to me. 1). James Clarence Parkhill; 2). Lloyd Birdwell Parkhill; 3). Green J. Parkhill Jr. or Buster; 4). Christine Parkhill Cole; 5). Geraldine Parkhill Hawkins of Greenville, Texas; 6). George Dale Parkhill 3). Emma Elizabeth Parkhill (November 20, 1888 - November 13, 1972). Born and raised at Blue Ridge, Texas she married Charles Monroe Clay on December 23, 1905 in McAlester, Oklahoma. They moved to Sherman, Texas in 1925 where Charles became a Real Estate Broker and were members of the Methodist Church. He died January 8, 1981 in Sherman, Texas. They had 6 children: 1). Weldon William Clay; 2). Charles Monroe Clay, Jr.; 3). Mary Louise Clay; 4). Ritha Veatrice (named Joe after my granddad); 5). Lila Elsie Clay, and 6). Alma Clay.
4). Ritha (Rithy) Frances Parkhill (May 1891 - March 21, 1978)Rithy was married 5 different times but had only one child by her last husband Suddath Elwood. They lived in San Antonio, Texas. Their child Billie Elwood married George R. Winebrenner.
5). Joel Lewis Parkhill (December 11, 1893 December 23, 1966)
Born in Collin County, Texas, he married Lucy Burris in Savoy, Texas August 20, 1916. He served in the U.S. Army in World War I. He was a member of the Pentecostal Church and was a retired Katy Railroad Employee. Lucy was born February 29, 1896 in Wayne, Kentucky to Mr. and Mrs. Joseph M. Burris. She died September 9, 1977.
They had three children: 1). Florence (Mrs. Robert G. Melugen); 2). Maurice Vinert Parkhill (April 2,1918 - May 14, 1933); 3). Joel Lewis Parkhill Jr. (September 13, 1935 - February 11, 1955).
©Ron Brothers and James M. Parkhill, All Rights Reserved, 1999, 2000.
October 17, 2000
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