My Genealogy Hound

ELISHA T. PARKS, farmer, and a native of Lincoln County, was born August 1, 1839, son of Benjamin T. Parks, a native of Lincoln County, born in 1815, and a farmer by occupation. In 1838 he married Martha Thomison, and located where the village of Kelso now stands. After remaining here till 1850, he moved to what is now known as the Twenty-first District, and remained there till 1856, when he purchased 520 acres in the Fifth District, where he located and remained till his death, which occurred in February, 1857. The mother was born in Lincoln County, in 1816, and died in 1880. Our subject received his education in the school of the vicinity, and after the father’s death, assisted his mother on the farm. At the breaking out of the war he enlisted in what was first Company H, afterward Company K, Eighth Tennessee, of Mulberry Riflemen. He was wounded at the battle of Murfreesboro, and returned home in December, 1862, where he remained till July, 1863. He then joined the army in Georgia, and served through the Georgia campaign. He was captured at Petersburg, and taken to Nashville and finally to Columbus, Ohio, where he was held for about five months. November, 1865, he married Mary Ann Alexander (daughter of Col. L. S. and Mary Alexander), and this union resulted in the birth of four children: Benjamin N., S. O., Ernest and Cora A. Directly after marriage Mr. Parks located on the old home-place where he still continues to reside. He has 100 acres of excellent land, all well cultivated, and is living in one of the oldest houses in the vicinity. It was built eighty years ago. In 1882 he was elected magistrate and filled the office to the entire satisfaction of the public. In politics he is a life-long Democrat, and he is also a Mason. Mrs. Parks is a member of the Primitive Baptist Church.