In seeking to search the history of the family of Fredonia Parchman (b. ca. 1832), who married Michael C. Watlington, I have had little help from other lines of the family and I have found the written material to be scarce. The oral tradition from Mack Rob Watlington and his son, Ulrich A. Watlington, have been very useful. They are colorful traditions which are difficult to substantiate but may yet check out to be very nearly true.
James Parchman (Parchment) is said to have come into the Jack's Creek area of Henderson County ``with a bag of gold and an Indian wife.'' Some said ``squaw'' and some said ``princess''; some said Cherokee and some thought Choctaw. But the evidence is strong that his wife was of Indian blood, and the 1850 Census for Henderson Co., 4th Civil District, lists her as Luona (Liona?) , born in Mississippi about 1812. James Parchman and his young family were in this district for the 1830 Census, with only one male child under five years of age at that time. The 1840 Census reveals the addition of three girls and one boy to the family, and by 1850 we find this information in the Census report:
District 4, Henderson County, Tenn., 1850, Entry No. 51
(neighbors were Whitley, Tillman, Fields)
| Age | b. | |||
| James Parchman | 49 | M | Tn. | Farmer, $2000 real estate |
| Luona (Liona?) | 38 | F | Ms. | |
| Jacob Parchman | 20 | M | Tn. | Farmer |
| (Attended school last yr.) | ||||
| Fredonia Parchman | 18 | F | Tn. | |
| Saffronia Parchman | 15 | F | Tn. | (Sophronia?) |
| John Parchman | 12 | M | Tn. | (Attended school) |
| Elizabeth | 11 | F | Tn. | |
| James | 9 | M | Tn. | |
| Nancy | 7 | F | Tn. | |
| Jesse | 3 | M | Tn. |
In the Census of 1860 we find both Jacob and Fredonia had established their homes. Jacob was listed as a neighbor to his father with two children:
| Age | |||
| Jacob Parchman | 30 | M | $2000 real estate, |
| $1300 personal estate | |||
| Mahala Parchman | 25 | F | |
| N. T. Parchman | 2 | F | |
| J. R. Parchman | 1 | M |
These ages coincide with the ages of Nancy Jane Parchman (b. Jan. 6, 1858, d. April 10, 1938), who married Alf Criner, and her brother James R. Parchman (b. 1859, d. 1938) who married Ella Reviere; both of whom lived and died in Lauderdale Co., Tennessee. Jacob Parchman must have moved away from his home neighborhood early, or died early, as the oral tradition did not recall his memory.
The names and story of the other children are relatively unknown also except for Fredonia, John H. and Jake (James). These three were remembered by Johnny Sauls and Ulrich Watlington, and confirmed by a deed selling a part of the James Parchman estate dated Jan. 16, 1874. John H. married Mary E. Tull, served in the Civil War and was wounded in the back, a wound which handicapped him as long as he lived. Ulrich Watlington thought this wound may have been received at Shiloh, or in another battle early in the war, and he spent most of his time in prisoner of war camps, where he may have died had it not been for Masonic connections who helped provide him with food. He had a family of four daughters and two sons that are remembered:
James (Jake) Parchman (b. ca. 1841) married a cousin named Elizabeth and settled in Prairie County, Arkansas, along the White River. In later years Michael C. Watlington and his sister Fredonia lived in the same place and worked a crop with him there. His two known children were:
Nothing has been uncovered as yet concerning Saffronia (b. ca. 1835), Elizabeth (b. ca. 1839), Nancy (b. ca. 1843), or Jesse (b. 1847). Since other relatives were migrating westward to Arkansas and Texas it is possible that some of these joined the westward movement and did not keep in touch with the Tennessee relatives.
Some Parchman families were early settlers (1790) in Stewart County Tennessee, and some are still found around Clarksville and Dover. There was a John Parchment (son of Nicholas Parchment, of Bedford Co., Penn., 1773; father of James, of Stewart and Henderson Cos., Tenn.) listed in the Stewart County Census of 1830, and a Jess P. Parchment listed in the Carroll County Census of 1830. Since our James Parchman is listed as having been born in Tennessee it is likely that he came from Stewart County. Where he found his Indian bride is another mystery. She was born in Mississippi, and there is a town in Mississippi that is called ``Parchman'' in Sunflower County, south of Clarksdale. It is possible that the Parchmans in Mississippi at that early date were relatives of his family. An unidentified James Parchman married Milley Jenkins in Madison Co., Tennessee, Oct. 15, 1884, who may be from the Carroll Co. family mentioned above.