Children of John and Eletha Sewell Parsons

James enlisted on 23 June 1862 as a private in Company A, Crawford's Arkansas Infantry Battalion, in Pike County, Arkansas. He was present in Company A, Hardy's Arkansas Infantry Regiment, in February 1864. Crawford's Arkansas Infantry Battalion was organized and mustered into service on that same day. Company A, commanded by Capt. Joseph J. Ingram, was organized on that date at Pine Bluff. Company B, commanded by Capt. L. A. Weatherford, was organized at Eagle Creek on 15 July 1862.

The battalion's only engagement was the Battle of Arkansas Post, 9-11 January 1863, in which, after an all-day battle, nearly 4,800 Confederate soldiers were captured by the attacking Union forces under Gen. William T. Sherman. Many of Crawford's troops were among the captured, but some, along with some of the 19th and 24th Arkansas Infantry Regiments, had been away from Arkansas Post when the battle occurred. The members of those three units who had avoided capture were reorganized as Dawson's Arkansas Infantry in early 1863, with the remaining members of Crawford's Battalion making up Company A of the newly consolidated regiment. The commander of the regiment was Col. Charles L. Dawson.

In the winter of 1863-64 Colonel Dawson's health failed, and Lt. Col. William R. Hardy took command of the regiment. Thereafter known as Hardy's 19th Arkansas Infantry Regiment, the unit participated in the Red River Campaign, March-May 1864, including the Battle at Jenkins Ferry, 30 April 1864, where eight men were killed and eighteen wounded. The regiment spent the rest of the war in Louisiana and surrendered with the rest of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Army in late May 1865.

Mary Ann was the daughter of John and Nancy Davis. John Davis and Nancy were both born in North Carolina, he on 15 Apr. 1802 and she on 25 Jan. 1807. It is not known whether they were married in North Carolina or in Tennessee, or when they moved to Tennessee. When Mary Ann was about sixteen years of age, the family moved to Arkansas, and shortly after 1850 they settled in the Brocktown community between present Delight and Murfreesboro, Pike Co, Ark. John and Nancy Davis died at Brocktown, he on 23 June, 1881, and she on 7 Feb. 1886, and they are buried in unidentified graves in Brocktown Cemetery (or possibly Saline Cemetery, according to one report). It is a tradition in the family that Nancy's maiden name was Reese, but that has not yet been substantiated.

James Thomas died at the Pike County farm of his in-laws, John and Nancy Davis, on the same night that John Davis died. After John passed away, Jim went to the barn to saddle his horse to return home, and another horse kicked a stall rail into him, rupturing his spleen. He is buried in an unidentified grave in Brocktown Cemetery.

3. William Parsons

b. 1832, Tenn.

4. Delphia Ann Parsons

b. 1833-35, Tenn.

5. Melissa J. Parsons

b. 1836, Ala.

6. Edmund A. Parsons

b. 1837, Ala.

7. Joseph B. Parsons

b. 1838, Ala.

m1. Nancy Cornelia (Nonnie) Barker, ca. 1865, Floyd Co., Ga.

b. 23 Dec. 1845, Ga.

d. 27 Nov. 1892, Pike Co., Ark. (Buried in Brocktown Cemetery.)

A. John L. Parsons

b. 1875, Pike Co., Ark.

d. 1881, Pike Co., Ark. Accidentally shot himself with a pistol.

B. William Oscar Parsons

b. 1883, Pike Co., Ark.

m. Emma Mansfield

m2. Ela Tarpley

b. 1858, Pike Co., Ark. Daughter of Granville Tarpley and Leanna Mobley.

d. 1922, Pike Co. Ark. (Buried in Brocktown Cemetery.)

d. 6 Mar. 1906, Pike Co., Ark. (Buried in Brocktown Cemetery.)

Joseph B. Parsons was a private in Company E, 47th Alabama Infantry, C.S.A., a regiment with a long and distinguished record in many of the major Civil War battles in the East, including Cold Harbor, Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg, where the 47th fought a famous, futile uphill battle against the 20th Maine Infantry at Little Round Top. After returning from the Civil War, Joseph married Nonnie Barker and moved from Georgia to Pike County, Arkansas, with his new bride. An old family story says they left Georgia driving a team and a covered wagon containing all their possessions and arrived in Pike County six weeks later in a one-horse runabout carriage.