Edward Parker, father-in-law of William Womack

Edward Parker wrote his will 3 May 1819, in Rowan Co, NC, naming many children, among them Rebecca, wife of William Womack.

http://members.tripod.com/~jack0204/gen/parker/edward_parker.html

Many people, myself included, believed the William Womack in question to be the William who was the son of Thomas Womack, who left a will in Rowan Co, NC in 1799. Some went further to state that this William and Rebecca Womack were the William and Rebecca who settled in Gallatin Co, IL and were the parents of Green Womack; that part I always doubted, and I know now who THAT William was, but I'll leave that for another post...

Edward Parker came from Halifax Co, VA:

Ancient records in the Register of Deeds office of Rowan County at Salisbury, North Caroline, reveal that Edward Parker of Halifax County, Virginia purchased from Joseph Rowland and wife Catherine on March 19, 1796 a tract of 200 acres of land on Bear Creek adjoining the property of Daniel Hendricks and John Rowland for the consideration of 200 pounds.

Mark Womack posted this to WGN in June 1997:

I made a major breakthrough today regarding my ggg grandfather, Henry Womack b ca 1800 of Halifax Co, VA. The microfilm I borrowed from the Library of Virginia records his death on Jun 20th, 1875. It also lists his parents names as William & Rebecca Womack. I need to recheck my records, but I don't think I have any records of a William & Rebecca Womack in Halifax Co. It is most likely they cam from another county. Does anyone have an sources that list them?
Thanks, Mark

I recently ordered the Halifax Co, VA personal property tax lists for the years 1782-1821. I was actually trying to find a Richard Womack (married to Catherine Streetman). I never found him, but since I am interested in all Womack lines, I copied down all the others I found.

Halifax Co, VA was divided into Northern and Southern Districts with separate tax lists each year for each district. There were Womacks in both districts. The Womacks in Southern District were the "Cherry Grove" Womacks: http://www.womacknet.net/cherrygrove.htm

Much less is known about the Womacks in Northern District. An Abraham Womack was in every year from 1782 thru 1797. He does not show up in 1798 or thereafter, so he probably died. In 1783 and 1784, a William Womack is listed in Abraham's household, and from 1785 thru 1821, William is listed as a household head. Other Womacks begin appearing starting in 1813: Abraham, John, Henry, etc. These are often listed in a row with William.

In the 1786 list, I found the following households in a row:

William Womack
Alexander Magginnis
Edward Parker
Abram Womack

As an aside, the "Magginnis" (McGinnis) name is interesting. I found this page: http://www.dmitchelljones.org/mcginnis.htm. It has this Halifax Deed record:

1768-1 Nov-Daniel Hudson of Charlotte Co to Abraham Womack of Halifax 480A bounded by Beavers CR, John Williams, William McGinniss, William Hunt, Signed Daniel (X) Hudson wit Walter Robertson, Thomas Boaz, Samuel Calland. Recorded Nov 17, 1768. Tabitha wife of Daniel relinquished Dower. Halifax Deed BK 7 p 267.

I was excited to find Edward Parker nearby, since I knew William Womack had a wife named Rebecca. I looked in more tax lists for Edward Parker.

Starting in 1787, the state of Virginia required the tax lists to be "fair alphabetical", meaning all the "A" surnames together, etc. This makes it more difficult to tell who was neighbors with whom. However, on most of the tax lists, the tax collector wrote the date he collected the tax. The tax collection process took three or four months, so we can deduce that the on any given date, the persons collected from were near one another.

In 1787, on 4 Apr, the tax collector collected from Abraham Womack, William Womack, and Edward Parker. A Francis Parker was collected from on 3 Apr.

I skipped ahead to 1791: Edward Parker on 29 Apr; Francis Parker, Abraham Wamack and William Wamack all on 2 Apr.

In 1792: Edward Parker and David Parker (in a row) on 26 May; William Womack on 9 May; Abraham Womack on 19 July.

In 1793: no dates: the Womacks listed were Abraham and William. The Parkers listed were William Parker Sr, Edward Parker, David Parker, and Francis Parker.

In 1794: no dates: William Womack, Abraham Womack, Francis Parker, David Parker, William Parker Sr, Edward Parker, "Daniel Parker (son of Edward)", William Parker Jr.

In 1795: 25 Apr: David Parker, Francis Parker, William Parker Jr. 21 May: William Womack, "Edward Parker & son", Daniel Parker. 20 Jun: "William Parker Sr & sons". 21 Sep: Abraham Womack.

In 1796: 6 May: William Womack and Abraham Womack (in a row), Edward Parker. 9 Apr: Thomas Parker. 7 Oct: Francis Parker, William Parker Jr.

In 1797, I could no longer find Edward Parker. This coincides with his land purchase in Rowan Co, NC. There were other Parkers still in Northern Dist of Halifax. Note that there also Parkers in Southern Dist in every tax list.

Each year, there were numbers for white males over 21, slaves, horses, cattle, etc, and I copied those as well.

So, Edward Parker was in Northern Dist of Halifax Co, VA. In a few tax years he was listed on the same day as William Womack. In 1786 (the last year the tax list was not alphabetized), he was one line away from William Womack.

In his will, Edward Parker lists sons Daniel, David, William, Henry, Miles, Turner, and Peter. David, Daniel, and William are in the tax lists of Halifax with Edward; in fact Danial was specif ally noted as Edward's son. I do not know who the William Sr and Francis were, possibly one was Edward's father and another a brother. Note that because there was a William Parker Sr and a William Parker Jr did not mean that they were necessarily father and son. It just means that the tax collector needed to distinguish between two men of the same name.

Some sites list Edward Parker's Susannah as the Sussanah Parker who married Abraham Womack (son of the Thomas Womack who made his will in Rowan Co, NC in 1799). THIS IS WRONG!!! Edward's dau Susannah married Thomas Hughes, as Edward states in his will. Abraham Womack, son of Thomas, married a Mrs. Susannah Parker. See http://www.mindspring.com/~baumbach/ppoole/ppoole7.htm

I looked for Edward Parker's son-in-laws besides William Womack in Halifax Co, VA. I did not find any of them, but I did find other tax payers of most of their surnames: Bailey, Purcell, Hughes, Abbott, and Nelson.

See Mark Womack's Halifax Co, VA census records: http://www.womacknet.com/sources/halifaxwomacks.html

The other Womacks in Northern Dist of Halifax were Abraham (born circa 1786), John (circa 1795), Henry (circa 1798), Edward (circa 1805), Miles (circa 1806), and William C (circa 1808). Abraham may have been William Womack's younger half-brother, but John, Henry, Edward, Miles, and William C were very likely his sons. In fact, we know from Henry's death record that his parents were William and Rebecca.

Note that Edward Parker named sons Henry and Miles. William Womack and his wife Rebecca named sons Edward, Henry, and Miles.

I conclude that William Womack's wife was Rebecca Parker, daughter of Edward Parker.