**
**********************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm
************************************************
 

Submitted to the Archives of the Calcasieu Parish LA GenWeb Project by 
Randy DeCuir of Marksville, LA.   January 18, 1997.

Rev. Robert "Bob" Trevathan Parish
1820-1885
Methodist Circuit Riding Preacher of Calcasuieu Circuit in 1858-1859
        Rev. Robert Trevathan "Bob" Parish, born 1820, son of John G. and
Eliza Ann Trevathan Parish, was a Methodist Circuit rider of Louisiana
throughout the time of the Civil War and Reconstruction. His first
assigment as a  traveling circuit rider was spent serving the Calcasieu
Circuit, serving the various churches and preaching stations in what is 
now the greater Lake Charles area. A few notes in Methodist history and 
the gravestone of his young daughter are all of the physical evidence one 
can find of his life in Calcasieu, however, his apparent deep faith was 
among the building blocks of the United Methodist Church of Lake Charles 
today. The Calcasieu circuit was establshed in 1857, thus Rev. Parish was 
one of the earliest preachers of this circuit.
        Rev. Parish was appointed as the Circuit Preacher to the Calcasieu
Methodist Circuit at the State Conference held in February of 1858. His
name appears in church record of the United Methodist Church of Lake
Charles during that year.
        While serving at Calcasieu, Rev. Parish apparently had a tragic
moment in his life, as On Dec. 11, 1858, Eliza Ann Parish, probably his
daughter, died. Her grave is located at the historic Bilbo Cemetery in Lake
Charles.  She was probably named after his mother, Elizas Ann Trevathan.
        Her gravestone is marked:  Eliza Ann Parish, born Nov. 10, 1855,
died Dec. 11, 1858
        At the Methodist State Conference in Dec. of 1859, Rev. Parish was
reassigned to the North Rapides Methodist Circuit, thus ending his stay at
Calcasieu.
        During the year 1858, Rev. Robert T. Parish was the "Pastor in
charge" of the Calcasieu Circuit, centered at Lake Charles, La. Quarterly
minutes were kept of this circuit while Rev. Parish was assigned to it, and
contain some detail of his appointment there. During his stay at Calcasieu,
the following is recorded (regretfully names of students, etc are not
given):
                May 13, 1858 - Quarterly Conference held in Lake Charles.
Sabbath School at Reeves reported 12 students; at Sugur Town, 26; and Lake
Charles, 22.
                July 17, Conference held at Sugar Town. Ten children
reported baptized at Sugar Town
                Oct. 16, 1858, Conf. held at Reeve's Settlment.
                        Assessments:
                        Sugar Town $60;
                        Hickory Flat, $40,
                        Lake Charles, $100
                        Lacassine, $15
                        Reeves Settlment, $116
                        Cove $10
                Nov. 28. Conf. held at Hickory Flat

        Rev. Parish was born in February of 1820, and after his father died
in Alabama, in the 1840s his mother moved to Union Parish, Lousiana, where
he married in 1850 to Judith Merrill (1832-1892), who was a native of
Tennessee.
        In his circuit riding days, he was paid a salary averaging about
$350 per year, according to records of the Methodist conference annual
reports. His name appears annually in these reports from 1857 to 1885, and
references are made in later years of pensions paid to his widow.
        Two of the circuits he served have grown in to metropolitan areas
of Louisiana: Lake Charles and Alexandria/Pineville.
        Rev. Parish spent the rest of his life as a circuit rider serving
in areas of North and Central Louisiana such as Rapides, Avoyelles, Union,
Jackson, and Bienville Parishes.
        Rev. Bob Parish died April 10, 1885. His widow lived until her
death on Dec. 6, 1892. Their graves lie side by side inside a wrought-iron
fenced area of an old cemetery in Vernon, La.
        A diary he kept in 1861 while stationed in Rapides Parish has been
trancscribed by his great-great grandson, Randy DeCuir, who provided this
sketch for the Calcasieu Gen-Web Project. In the diary, he makes mention of
the loss of a child, apparently in reference to the loss of his daughter,
Eliza Ann, at Lake Charles.

                 Children of Robert Trevathan Parish were:
ELIZA ANN PARISH, 1855-1858, grave lies at Bilbo Cemetery at Lake Charles
MARY ANTOINETTE PARISH c1859-c1936
JOHN WESLEY PARISH, born c Aug.-Dec. 1860, died Dec.1861 as a small child
(1861 diary)
MITTIE D. PARISH 1862-1886
WILLIAM SOUTH PARISH 1866-1930. Possibly born c1864.
ROBERT TREVATHAN PARISH (II), c1866->1941
MABLE or NOBLE PARISH, born c1868, listed age 2 in 1870 census.
MERRIL PARISH 1871 -1948
THURLOW WINSTON PARISH 1875 - 1941
FRANK PARISH (I think this child is in error by Leon - can't find him on
censuses)
SUSIE Z. PARISH, c1869->1936
LUCY PARISH c1873-