Ken, According to my information, William R. Parks was the first born. A couple years ago, someone on the net told me this Parks line may have moved to TX for awhile, back to TN then back to TX. Maybe someone else will provide a clue. Jerry -----Original Message----- From: Ken Parks [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2000 7:33 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [PARKS] James P. Parks Jerry, I will certainly keep you and your line in mind as I dig into my early Parks line. James and William are both names in my family, not uncommon names, granted, but names that don't appear in some other TN Parks lines I'm looking at. Looks like William R. Parks lived the longest of his siblings. Don't know about TX records, but if he died as late as 1910 or later, his death certificate may be available and might give his parents' names and state of birth. Worth a shot anyway, and any little clue helps. If all of James P. Parks's children were born in TX, then he would have moved from TN before 1832. Do you know if William R. Parks was the first born? Many of the 1820 TN census records were destroyed in a fire, so no 1820 records are available for Roane & Monroe Cos., where my folks were. The only James Parks I see in the remaining 1820 census records is: James Parks Williamson Co. TN 100100-00100 Williamson Co. is just SW of Nashville This James had one son under 16-James was between 16-26, wife was 16-26. He would be about your James P.'s age, but the son would have been born before 1820. The Parks family I'm looking at in Roane Co. 1830 census is this: Parks, Jacob 00101-201010001 Parks, James 00001-0001 Parks, William 02101001-00222001 There were four other Parks households in Roane Co. then, but these three lived near each other and south of the TN River, where most of my family was. The others may well be related, but these almost certainly are, and are probably William the father and sons Jacob and James. My connection to them is still unclear, but my suspicion is that my ggg grandfather, Henry Parks may be listed with his family under William's household. Henry died in 1838 and his widow remarried, but Jacob Parks lived nearby-two households away in the 1850 Monroe Co. census. I lose track of James after the 1830 census, however, so there is a possiblility that he could be your James who moved to TX. Pretty sketchy right now, but I've been at this only about a year now, and it's taken me most of that to get back this far. As I said, I'll definitely keep you in mind and hope you'll do the same.--Ken