W. Jacob Parker

Wife
Henrietta A. Simmons

Father
Elisha Parker

Mother
Sarah Wilson

Children
Sarah Ann Parker
George Martin Parker
William Arnold Parker
Mary Davenport (Mollie) Parker
Elisha Franklin Parker
Eula Beatrice Parker
Anna Belle Parker
Jacob Newton Parker

W. Jacob Parker was born on 13 Dec 1818 in Milledgeville, Baldwin County, Georgia.

W. Jacob's father, Elisha, moved the family from Jasper County, Georgia to Dallas County, Alabama in early 1824, shortly before Elisha's death.  In December 1824,Sarah moved the family back to Georgia where she remarried.

On 9 Dec 1839 when W. Jacob was 20, he married Henrietta A. Simmons, in Sumter County, Alabama.

Tharin's Marengo County directory identifies W. Jacob as a baptist preacher for the Missionary Baptist Churches in Jefferson, Alabama.  There were 78 members.

In 1860, W. Jacob was pastor at Spring Hill, a church constituted in 1828.  W. Jacob was succeeded as pastor by L.L. Fox.

In 1868, W. Jacob was one of the ordained ministers in Choctaw Corner, Alabama.

In 1871, W. Jacob constituted the West Bend Church along with P.E. Kirven.

W. Jacob was elected president of the Bethel Baptist Sabbath School held in September 1872.

In 1873, W. Jacob was pastor at Horeb, the fifth church constituted in Clark County.

W. Jacob died in Grove Hill, Clarke County, Alabama on 20 Mar 1876; he was 57. Some sources indicate his death was in 1874.

Read his obituary.

Poem written upon
W. Jacob's death
by daughter Mary:

"In our home circle, sad and cheerless,
Often have our poor hearts bled,
When we spake of our dear father,
Who is numbered with the dead!
Oh, he was a loving parent!
But our heavenly Father gave;
And He saw fit to take him--
Now he slumbers in the grave.

"When at home oh how we miss him!
For we never see him there;
How we miss his dear voice leading
In our hymns at evening prayer.
Yes we miss him here at evening
When the birds so sweetly sing;
But we'll meet him up in Heaven
Where the angels' voices ring.

"Oh he loved to tell of Jesus,
Loved to tell of how he died
On the cross for us poor sinners,
On the cross was crucified.
But he'll no more tell of him
Or his wondrous love for man;
For he's gone to meet the Saviour,
In a bright and happy land.

"When his work on earth was o'er,
He thought it better to depart,
And be with Christ on yon bright shore,
Where dwell the pure in heart.
And we hope one day to meet him
In the mansions of the blest,
Where the wicked cease from troubling
And the weary are at rest."

Printed in Rev. T.H. Ball's Clarke County, Alabama and Its Surroundings From 1540-1877, published 1882. Mary was alive at this printing.

W. Jacob Parker's Obituary

By Elder P.E. Kirven.

Died, at his residence, on 20th of March last, near Grove Hill, Clarke county, Alabama, in the 57th year of his age [1876], Elder W. Jacob Parker, who, for a quarter of a century, has been engaged with all the energies of a strong and cultivated mind and devoted heart, to the gospel ministry; and for twenty years of that time within the bounds of this Association; and as a bold, fearless advocate of our distinctive doctrines; and as a logical reasoner, he was without a superior in our pulpit; and as a faithful and useful minister of Jesus Christ, this Association has never sustained a greater loss.

A few extracts from his autobiography will be of interest.

He was born December 13th, 1818, near Milledgeville, Georgia; professed faith in Christ, December, 1836, in Montgomery

county, Alabama; was baptized by Elder John Robinson, near Orin, Pike county, Alabama, fourth Sabbath in February, 1837; was licensed to preach by Concord Church, Choctaw county, Alabama, June 1847; and ordained by order of same church June, 1849, and entered at once upon the active duties of the ministry.

He was called to the care of the Fellowship Church, Marengo county, 1852; since which time his labors, as a minister, have been given principally to this Association, in the bounds of which he has lived since 1851; first at Jefferson, Marengo county, until the winter of 1868, when he removed to Choctaw Corner, Clarke county; where he remained until 1872, when he again moved to Grove Hill, Clarke county.

During this period he served annually from three to four churches in this and adjoining Associations--principally in this--with a degree of zeal, energy and efficiency excelled by none, and

equalled by but few; riding frequently fifty miles to meet his appointments; and baptizing in the time over 600 persons. He was a self-educated man; a life-long student, and one of no mean attainments. He possessed a fine memory; was a close and independent thinker; a bold and logical reasoner. He was devoted to the doctrines of the Church of Christ, and that, too, because he believed them to be the truth. He was thought, by some, to be rigid in his doctrinal views. He was an uncompromising adherent to what he believed to be Bible truth, and most decided and opposed to religious error. It was his conscientious regard for the truth, as taught in the scriptures, that made him so, for a kinder and more affectionate nature the writer never knew.

He possessed, in no small degree, the spirit of his master. It was principles he fought and not men. In him was beautifully blended the spirit of the lion and the lamb. While he assailed error with the courage of the lion, he could feel toward the errorist the gentleness of the lamb.