Finding Your Folks: The Parker-Byram family, Part 2

We continue this week with the family of Beverly Byram and Sarah Williamson of Mecklenburg County, N.C. and Pike County, Ga. Last week, we began discussion of the family of Beverly's daughter, Martha, who appears to be the oldest child and one of only two we can really prove, at this point, as being Beverly's. Information on Martha was sent by Chris Wren, a descendant, who lives in Alabama. Martha married John Parker and they had nine children. We discussed the first child last week - Catherine F. Parker Dunn Norris.

John and Martha Byram Parker's second child was Mary E. Parker, born in January of 1835, who married Anderson P. Prince in 1859 in Pike County. Mary and Anderson are found next in the 1860 Pike County census with one daughter, Alice M. Prince, who was one month old. Using every search trick I knew still didn't help me find any later trace of Anderson and Mary. Chris has a note that says Mary E. is probably the Bettie Prince found in 1910 in Hamilton County, Tenn. (Chattanooga), age 70, born in Ga.

Mary E. (if she was Betty in 1910 then she probably was "Elizabeth") had a younger sister, Cassie Louisa (the sixth child with Martha Byram), who also is said to have married a Prince but I was unable to tell if the two husbands were related. Cassie married William Prince in 1866 in Coweta and appears to have moved to Floyd County (Etowah Dist.) where she is found in 1900 (she is enumerated as Cass. L) with their children Ida, 24; Byrd, 17; Robert, 15; and Joseph, 13. Cassie says she has had 10 children with seven still living, so there are more out there somewhere. Chris' notes say that Cassie died Dec. 24, 1928, in Carroll County, Ga., and she is found there in 1920, Whitesburg Dist., with her husband and one daughter, Ida, still unmarried. A Henry B. Prince lives next door and probably is one of the other children already married and gone from the home when the couple was in Floyd County.

John and Martha Byram Parker's third child was John H. Parker, born about 1836 in Pike County. John married Mary (Molly) Entrekin in 1867 in Coweta County and they are found in the 1870 Coweta census, First District, with no children. Next door is a Thomas Entrecan, relationship unknown. By 1880, John and Mary had moved to Carroll County and had three children, Ira, age 8; Susan, age 6; and John E., age 3. Further searches for this couple in both Georgia and Alabama yielded nothing.

Another Parker child also married an Entrekin and, as far as I can determine, the two Entrekins were related. John H. Parker's younger sister, Martha Jane, married William Cannon Entrekin in 1864 in Coweta County and they are found in the next census (1870) in the Mt. Zion District of Spalding County with two children, Amos and Ada. By 1880, Martha Jane and William had moved to Blount County, Ala., and had five more children: Emma, age 9; Nancy, age 7; Mary, age 5; Albert, age 2, and James, age 4 months. Chris' notes say Martha Jane died in 1903 in Blount County.

There is a very interesting family next door in 1880 … the Maxey family consisting of John L. Maxey, 44, his wife, Lucinda, 43, and children Rebecca, Idela, Emma, Talula, Sarah, William, Charles and Hiram.

This will not ring any bells unless you have studied the family of Beverly and Sarah Williamson Byram. Researchers say Beverly and Sarah had a daughter named Clarissa who married James Jackson Maxey in Pike County in 1834 and moved to Mississippi. A marriage record in Pike County confirms the marriage but does not confirm Clarissa as a daughter of Beverly and Sarah.

Within a couple of years (1836), a Lucinda Byram is shown in Pike County marriage books as being married to a John Maxey. These Maxey boys were brothers and had gotten into a little hot water as pertains to debts. A gentleman by the name of Beverly Byram had posted bond for both boys' but they neglected to show up for court. There is more to the story but this connects Beverly (at least loosely) to both Clarissa and Lucinda. Whether they were sisters remains to be seen.

This Pike County court information is referenced in the book, "The Maxeys of Virginia," by Edith Maxey Clark, scanned pages of which were sent to me by Diana McDonald of Mexia Texas (nana@glade.net) and Coyal Maxey Gorman of Minden, La. (racecarfan1@suddenlink.net). The book is now available on C.D. and I have ordered one from H. David Maxey of Raleigh, N.C.

Going back to the Maxey family living next door to the Entrekin (Parker) family in 1880 in Blount County, Ala., this could not possibly be the John and Lucinda Maxey who married in 1836 in Pike County, but given the names and the proximity to a granddaughter of Beverly Byram, it is certainly likely that they were relatives.

By the time I get around to writing about Clarissa's family and can study the Maxey family a little more, maybe I can pass on some more information that will give better evidence that Clarissa and Lucinda may have been Beverly's daughters. There are several who list Clarissa but none who list Lucinda as a daughter of Beverly.

There are two more children of John and Martha Byram Parker I want to tell you about but they will have to wait until next time. James Parker, Chris Wren's ancestor, has quite a story, and Henry G. Parker has a biography in "Georgia Memoirs." We will discuss both of these next week.

Family histories about your ancestors who lived on Atlanta's south side are always welcome. Send them to jkilgore@thecitizen.com or JodieK444@aol.com. Mail to The Citizen, P.O. Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214. All letters and e-mails I receive are subject to being used in the column.