Parrishes of Crawford County Arkansas

The first phase of this journey will be told with respect to the individual men of our Parrish line, going back as far as I have names for them. Though we probably never will know the names of earlier men, there is still quite a story to tell of those times. The second phase will take our line back to England, and how the line's Y-chromosome tells us where they came from before the advent of human civilization. The final phase will cover the rest of the family tree of Belle Parrish, my great-great grandmother, through all of her great-great grandparents. Keep in mind that most of them lived their lives before the Revolution.



Belle Parrish was William Griffin's wife, born 1868 in Pendleton Arkansas. Belle's father was John Thomas Parrish, born 1835 in Wake County North Carolina. In 1860 John was still in his father's household, at 25 years of age. This was in Henry County Tennessee. Until recently, it was a curiosity that John didn't have children until he was in his 30s, and his wife claimed she was born in Missouri. If you don't look at a map, John moving from 1860 Tennessee to 1868 Arkansas seems like no big deal. The timing raises the question if he fought in the Civil War, but I've found no record of it. The claim of his wife's birth caused me much difficulty in figuring out her line. In that process, I realized that Henry County is in the northwest corner of Tennessee, on the border with Kentucky, less than 100 miles from Arkansas, Missouri, and Illinois. In fact, if you travel directly to the west from Henry, Missouri is on the other side of the Mississippi River, not Arkansas. So, I guessed that John must've met his wife in Missouri, and they moved to Pendleton Arkansas after the War.

But in researching John's wife (see the Carter line below), I realized that she was born in Tennessee, not Missouri. And having no record of John's service in the War, I wondered if maybe they went to Missouri to basically shelter there, because though Missouri was a slave state, it remained in the Union. Knowing that John's wife was born in Tennessee, and seeing her claim that she was born in Missouri, when she lived in Arkansas after the War, it looks to me like an excuse for John not fighting for the confederacy. Anyway, looking at siblings of both John and his wife, I found that they lived in the Ohio township of Mississippi County Missouri around the time of the War. This is just on the other side of the Mississippi River from Cairo Illinois. This made me think of Mark Twain. Looking at his biography, he was born the same year as John Parrish. Twain was on riverboats on the Mississippi when the War began. He ended up going west, but he surely passed by the Ohio township many times, and probably stopped there. Of course, he was named Samuel Clemens at the time and nobody knew who he was. Note also that where John Parrish moved to, Pendleton Arkansas, is close to the Mississippi River. Pendleton is very close to Arkansas Post, where George B and William McAtee were taken prisoner in 1863. Ironically for our McAtee tree, John Parrish moved to Pendleton just a few years later. Then the McAtee and Parrish lines came together in Crawford County Arkansas a couple decades after that. John Parrish is documented as having been the first postmaster of Pendleton in 1867. On the way from Pendleton to Crawford, John moved the family for a time to the Prairie Township in Franklin County, just to the south of Crawford.



John's father's name was also John Thomas Parrish, born 1808 in Person County North Carolina. The family lived on Donaldson Creek, which I believe was the source of what's now Mayo Lake. John Sr's father was Abel Parrish, born 1777 in Granville County North Carolina. The family was in North Carolina in 1812, but I've found no record of military service for Abel. His father was John Parrish, born 1750 in Granville. As fits with the story here, I don't know if John served in the Revolutionary War. John's father was Briscoe "Brissy" Parrish, born 1715 in Goochland County Virginia. Brissy's father was John Harrison Parrish, born 1694 in Charles City County Virginia. John's father was Humphrey, born 1668 in Charles City. The exact identity of Humphrey's father isn't certain, but all Parrish roads seem to lead to Edward who was born around 1600 in Yorkshire England. He died in Maryland, so it's odd if he was the origin of a line that went to Virginia in the next generation. But we know from our Hollis line that Virginia settlers ended up in territory later claimed by Maryland and it was a source of conflict between the Protestants and Catholics (not that they needed another excuse to fight back then). The Parrishes were slaveholders. Presumably the line was Anglican.

Our Parrish line is of the R-M269 haplogroup. The name Parrish actually originates in French Paris, which shifted over time to mimic the English religious word parish. Specifically, the name came from the Normans and seems to firmly place the arrival of our line in England after 1066AD. Most likely the progenitor of our line was an aristocrat from Paris. The name Parisi was actually in England around 400BC, as it was the name of a Celtic tribe in Gaul that was also the origin of the name of the city of Paris. But I expect that no descendant of that tribe used the name Parrish by the time the Normans arrived. Still, it's possible that our man from Paris descended directly from the Parisi.

Belle Parrish's other Great-Great-Grandparent Lines

In the last phase of this document, I collect all that I know about the non-Parrish paternal lines of the great-great-grandparents of my great-great-grandmother, Belle Parrish. Refer to the McAtee Pedigree page for a simple view of Belle's ancestors.

Carter

Belle Parrish's mother was Matilda Carter, born in 1839. As mentioned previously, Matilda and her first child claimed to have been born in Missouri. Even though ancestry.com suggested that her maiden name was Carter, the info had her born in Tennessee. I knew that people back then were often uncertain about their birthplaces, but Missouri seemed so out of the way that I was determined to find Matilda's parents being from Missouri. ThruLines in the end proved the Carter ancestry, and eventually I realized that Matilda and her husband John Parrish had actually only been in Missouri during the Civil War. I've seen this happen elsewhere amongst my ancestors, claiming to be from Missouri during the War, when residing in Arkansas after it. Given that the Parrishes were slaveholders, and so were the Carters, this doesn't seem to be a case of opposition to that institution. It may simply be that John didn't want to fight in it, and Matilda's claim of birth in Missouri was an excuse for John to have gone there during the War.

Matilda was born in McMinn County Tennessee. Her father was Henderson Carter, born 1800 in Greene County Tennessee. McMinn is way down in the southeastern part of the state, on what was in the early years of the state a thoroughfare to the west. Greene is in the far eastern part. The Carters were a well-known bunch from the Holston area. See the map below that was featured in the Scott story. The name Carter appears twice in the northwestern section. That came from these Carters of my mom's side. They built Carter Fort, at what's called Carter Station today. Henderson's father was Jesse Carter, born 1774 in Arnettsville, of what would become Monongalia County of West Virginia. But West Virginia didn't become a state until the time of the Civil War. Jesse's father was Levi Carter, born 1736 in Gloucester County New Jersey. The Carters obviously made an aggresive move to the west, first to far-western Virginia and then to Tennessee a decade before it became a state, after a bit of a layover in Surry County North Carolina. Technically Greene County was in North Carolina when Levi arrived there. What brought him to Monongalia was Lord Dunmore's War, which he fought in. Levi's father was also named Levi, born about 1720. Levi Sr's father's name was Benjamin.



Even with the moves, the Carter line is well-documented in America. But where they immigrated from is uncertain. The word cart, of which carter would be someone who used carts, is actually Gaelic in origin, but the surname is all over England and Scotland. The only claim specifically for our line is they came from Wales. I would have to guess they were thoroughly Anglicized by the time they immigrated to New Jersey. As stated previously, they were slaveholders. There's a claim in the Carter DNA project of descendants of Y-DNA haplogroup R-M269 coming from the Watauga Carters, but it's clear that descendants of Jesse and Levi were I-M253. My guess for this line is they came to England with or after the Norman invasion.

Todd

John Thomas Parrish Jr's mother was Winnie Todd, born 1812 in Wake County North Carolina. Winnie's father was Joshua Todd, born 1771 in Bertie County North Carolina. Joshua's father was Moses Todd, born 1732 in Bertie. Moses's father was William Todd, born 1698 in Ulster Ireland. William's father was John Todd, born 1660 in Angus Scotland. John's father was James Todd, also born in Angus. Winnie's mother was actually also a Todd, named Sarah and born 1780 in Rowan County North Carolina. I had maiden name Mashburn for her, which maybe was a widowed name, but I don't know. Sarah's father was Benjamin Todd, born 1759 in Northampton County Pennsylvania. Benjamin's father was also named Benjamin, born 1728 in Northampton. Benjamin Sr's father was Caleb Todd, born 1686 in Bucks County Pennsylvania. Caleb's father was Joseph Tudor Todd, born 1645 in Hampshire England. I've assumed that we have some relation to Mary Todd Lincoln, but the connection doesn't seem to have been in America, and how our two lines relate isn't clear either. Mary Lincoln's line came from Pennsylvania by way of Ulster, so there are potential connections to both of our lines. The name Todd means 'fox' and originated in northern England. I've found no evidence of slaveholding in either line. I would have to guess that one was Presbyterian and the other Anglican. A claimed descendant of Benjamin and Caleb tested as Y-DNA haplogroup Q-M242. Others named after other Caleb Todds tested as R-M269. Descendants of the North Carolina line have been tested as R-M269. My guess is both our lines were R-M269. There's no way that a male line of the Q haplogroup passed through Britain, so I assume there was some kind of adoption in the stated Q line, if it's accurate.

Trimm

Matilda Carter's mother was Matilda Trimm, born 1802 in Greene County Tennessee. The elder Matilda's father was James Trimm, born 1750 in Person County North Carolina. James's father was Charles Trimm, born 1730 in Bertie County in the part that became Person. I have seen claim that Charles was a Revolutionary War soldier, but nothing about James, which is odd given their ages in 1776. Charles's father was Elijah Trimm, born 1689 in Culpeper County Virginia. Elijah's father was Joseph Trim, born 1665 in Dorset England. The claim I've seen is that Trimm was a name for someone who was neatly dressed. I'm not sure about it, especially since it was said to originate in Yorkshire which is nowhere near Dorset. That said, Joseph as the immigrant of our line isn't certain. Presumably they were Anglican. I've found no evidence of slaveholding, but it seems possible. I've seen no Y-DNA info, so I have to guess ours was of haplogroup R-M269.

Harris

Abel Parrish's wife was Mary Harris, born 1777 in Caswell County North Carolina. Mary's father was John Harris, born 1742 in Hanover County Virginia. John's father was William Harris, born 1707 in Hanover. William's father was also named William, born 1672 in New Kent County Virginia. William Sr's father was Robert Harris, born 1635 in Jamestown. Robert's father was William Harris, born 1596 in Essex England. William came to Jamestown on the ship George as a surveyor for William Claiborne. This Harris line apparently has no relation at all to the one in the Draper tree, which came from Scotland. Presumably this line was Anglican. They lived too long ago to leave slaveholding records. Descendants have been tested as Y-DNA haplogroup R-M269. Harris is a patronymic surname, from son of Harry.

Harmon

Jesse Carter's wife was Susannah Harmon, born 1775 in Bedford County Virginia. Susannah's father was Hans Hermann, born 1732 in Rotterdam Holland. Hans's father was Jacob Hermann, born 1693 in the village of Kusel, between Luxembourg and Heidelberg in what would become Germany but was called the Palatinate at the time. Jacob landed 1733 in Philadelphia when Hans was one year old. I presume they were Lutheran and driven out of Germany by Catholics. I found no clear connection in the Harmon DNA project, but it looks like they were of haplogroup R-M269.

Baldwin

Matilda Trimm's mother was Martha Baldwin, born 1769 in Orange County North Carolina. Martha's father was William Baldwin, born 1720 in Bucks County Pennsylvania. William's father was John Baldwin, born 1665 in Lancashire England. It's possible that John's father came from Lancashire and John was actually born in the Pennsylvania/Delaware area when it was under Swedish control. William Penn didn't come until 1680, and Bucks County was formed in 1682. Presumably this line was Anglican. The closest fit in the Baldwin DNA project is the I-M223 Baldwins of Pennsylvania. Baldwin is a surname that came to England with the Normans. I-M223 indicates a deep ancestry of hunter-gatherers. Ours had deep pre-agricultural roots in Gaul/France or Britain.

Durant

Abel Parrish's mother was Elizabeth Durant, born in 1756. When I first encountered her name, it was spelled Jurant and led nowhere. I think I figured out myself that the name was Durant and was pronounced like the first letter was a J. I say that Jurant led nowhere, but Durant still leads next to nowhere. At least it's a known surname. It's said to be a Norman name that's in England and Scotland. The birthplace I have for Elizabeth is New Kent county Virginia. The only lead I have is Durants who immigrated directly to North Carolina. This information is on wikitree, but given the uncertainty and depth in the tree, and that ThruLines can't help, I haven't pursued it. The Parrishes were in North Carolina, so it could simply be that the New Kent birth is unfounded. I assume this was a typical English line.

Hartford

Mary Harris's mother was Anne Hartford, born in 1750. I don't know who her father was. I have her birth in North Carolina, but the only leads on wikitree.com are in Virginia. Given the depth in the tree and that ThruLines can't help, I've not proceeded. The name Hartford comes from a place in England that's the namesake of Hertfordshire. I presume this was a typical English line.

Filgo

Moses Todd's wife was Nancy Filgo, born in 1750. I'm not even certain of the provenance of this name. Its origin might've been Philgo or Philigo or Filigo. None lead anywhere. The name Filgo does exist on wikitree.com, but with nothing in the 18th century. I make no guess on this line. It could be English, but it seems more likely that it was German or French, for there to be no explanation of where it came from.

Barkley

Sarah Todd's mother was Margaret Barkley, born 1760 in Rowan County North Carolina. I couldn't figure anything out about this line, until I learned that the names Barkley, Berkeley, and Barclay have a common origin. Barkley wasn't the spelling used by Margaret's father, who was Robert Barclay. What also was a challenge is he was born 1723 in New Jersey. The New Jersey to North Carolina move isn't unprecedented amongst my ancestors, but it's rare. Robert's father was John Barclay, born 1702 in Middlesex County New Jersey. John's father was also named John, born 1659 in Kincardineshire Scotland. I get the feel from this line that they came from wealth. There's another Margaret Barclay in the Morris tree, one generation outside what I documented, who came from highland Scotland. Kincardineshire is just north of Edinburgh, but I expect the two lines were related. I have to guess this line was Presbyterian. It could have a Norman or Viking origin but is too deep and uncertain to confirm.

Grayson

Levi Carter's wife was Susanna Grayson, born 1740 in Virginia. Ancestry.com has her birthplace the same as where the Carters lived in future West Virginia, but I doubt that. Her father was Ambrose Grayson, born 1698 in Lancaster County Virginia. Ambrose's father was John Grayson, born 1665 in Kent England. I presume this was a typical English line, though its origin was the border region with Scotland.

Choulyn

Susannah Harmon's mother was Maggie Choulyn, born 1734 in Bedford County Virginia. Maggie's father was William Choulyn, born in 1710. The birthplace is claimed as the Netherlands. I've had no luck learning anything about Choulyn. Ancestry.com suggests a father with name Schoellin. Recall that the Harmon story was a German origin that went through Holland. Choulyn looks French to me, but could be German or native Dutch. I presume the line was Lutheran.

Whitlock

James Trimm's mother was Sarah Whitlock, born 1713 in North Carolina. I haven't found her father, which may be because she wasn't born in North Carolina. Virginia is probably more likely. The name Whitlock is English and means white hair.

Morgan

Given all the uncertainty at the limits of this tree, Martha Baldwin's mother is maybe the least certain. Ancestry.com hints suggest Mary Beals, but ThruLines makes no matches. Note that we have Beals in the Griffin tree. The name I have now is Elizabeth Morgan, born 1726 location unknown. She ended up in North Carolina. Morgan is a Welsh name.

Summary of Belle Parrish's Great-Great-Grandparent Lines

I only confirmed two slaveholding lines out of sixteen for Belle, but information is lacking for the most part. She was at least two thirds English, with some Scottish and German. Similarly the presumed religions were upwards of three quarters Anglican, with some Presbyterian and Lutheran. Y-DNA is even less certain, with the majority guessed to be of haplogroup R-M269. One is known to have been I-M253, and one was probably I-M223.

Migration paths
Parrish: 1888 - Mulberry, Crawford, Arkansas - 1870 Prairie, Franklin, Arkansas - 1867 Pendleton, Desha, Arkansas - 1862 Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri - 1841 Cottage Grove, Henry, Tennessee - 1832 House Creek, Wake, North Carolina - 1793 Roxboro, Person, North Carolina - 1740 Oak Hill, Granville, North Carolina - 1710 Goochland, Goochland, Virginia - 1660 Charles City, Charles City, Virginia - 0 York, Yorkshire, England
Carter: 1860 Cottage Grove, Henry, Tennessee - 1830 Athens, McMinn, Tennessee - 1783 Lick Creek, Greene, North Carolina - 1777 Dobson, Surry, North Carolina - 1735 Woolwich, Gloucester, New Jersey - 0 Newport, Newport, Wales
Todd Scotland: 1800 Raleigh, Wake, North Carolina - 1730 Windsor, Bertie, North Carolina - 1690 Armagh, Armagh, Ireland - 0 Dundee, Angus, Scotland
Todd England: 1780 Salisbury, Rowan, North Carolina - 1720 Easton, Northampton, Pennsylvania - 0 Southampton, Hampshire, England
Trimm: 1800 Greeneville, Greene, Tennessee - 1720 Hillsborough, Bertie, North Carolina - 1685 Culpeper, Culpeper, Virginia - 0 Poole, Dorset, England
Harris: 1770 Yanceyville, Caswell, North Carolina - 1700 Hanover, Hanover, Virginia - 1630 Jamestown, James City, Virginia - 0 1596 Chelmsford, Essex, England
Harmon: 1760 Bedford, Bedford, Virginia - 1734 Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - 1730 Rotterdam, Holland - 0 Kusel, Rhineland, Palatinate
Baldwin: 1750 Monticello, Orange, North Carolina - 1690 Newtown, Bucks, Pennsylvania - 0 Preston, Lancashire, England