One of the great challenges that we have in doing family history is to get beyond the pedigree chart of names and dates to discover something of the people -- their hopes and dreams, their challenges and times of joy; their faith and determination as well as their struggles and failures. Because of the relative lack of information that we have regarding the Locke family in Tennessee, I always wished for more details about their life and the story of their conversion. It wasn't until a family member sent me the Life History of Annie Louise Belk Parker that I really began to get a sense of Grandma Locke's background and a better appreciation for our Southern roots. If you ever wondered what life was like for the Locke's, Parker's, and other families living in and around Jasper, Tennessee then you'll find real nuggets of insight in her story.
Annie Belk Parker (1868 - 1959) was the wife of James Columbus Parker, older brother of Elizabeth Parker Locke. It was she and James Columbus who joined the LDS church in Jasper in the early 1900's, along with Gus & Elizabeth Locke and Napoleon Turner. Napoleon's wife, Harriett Parker Turner, was never baptized due to crippling arthritis (see Kate Locke Brower's history). There are a number of references here for someone in the family who would like to find out more about the history of the LDS church in and around Jasper TN during the two decades from 1895 to 1915 when family members often hosted and housed the Elders.
Also it was James Columbus and Annie Parker who first left Tennessee for Idaho, and then wrote to have the Locke family join them. That story along with many others are told here. If you want to know more about the circumstances surrounding these families joining the Mormons, please read this history closely and you'll find a story of faith and determination in spite of hardships and persecution.
P.S. - For those who may wonder about the references to Muscadines - they are a sometimes wild grape that is grown in the South, and still prized for jams and jellies as well as for wine. The panther mentioned is probably a cougar or mountain lion and is sometimes referred to today as the endangered Florida Panther.
3 comments:
What a treasure. Thanks for posting this!
Thanks so much for sharing all these wonderful histories and stories and for explaining some of the terms. You are an inspiration
My father's grandfather was James Columbus Parker and he married Annie Louise Belk Parker. My son Zach is doing some research for his family history and anything you can provide would be so wonderful. This has to be the right couple, they came from Tennessee and settled in Idaho and had 8 sons, a set of twin girls who died at birth.
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