Taylor Co., TX - Newspapers - Major R. H. Parker's Daughters Came To
Abilene In 1883 To Join Father, Infant Town's Lumber Firm Manager


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Major R. H. Parker's Daughters Came
To Abilene In 1883 To Join Father,
Infant Town's Lumber Firm Manager
 

Five invitations to Abilene's 56th birthday party, to be held March 15
at the Hilton hotel, have been issued
to five sisters, three of whom
now live In Abilene, and all of whom
came here in 1883.
 
They are the Parker sisters-
Mrs. Samuel R. Cox (Maggie), Mrs. George W. McDaniel (Lavinia),
Mrs. Tom Willis (Sallie), Mrs. D.
P. Woodward (Neva), and Mrs.
Bettie P. Kelley.
 
With their mother, Mrs. R. H.
Parker, four sisters and a brother,
they came to Abilene on Dec. 31,
1883. Maj. Parker, the father, had
been in Abilene since 1882, coming
here to take charge of the J. G. Hayes
Lumber Co., a branch of a
Shreveport company.
 
When the firm was sold, Maj.
Parker opened his own lumber company
at South Second and Elm
streets where the Franklin Motor
company now stands. He later moved
across the street, on the spot
where the Coca Cola Bottling company
now is, and built his home—
the first two-story frame house In
Abilene—just west. Maj. Parker
lived there until his death, in 1896.
Mrs. Parker died in 1924.
 
Only members of the family still
living are the five sisters.
 
Mrs. Cox, 1042 Hickory, is married
to another old-timer. He came to
Abilene Nov. 28, 1881, and resided
a ranch near Ft. Phantom Hill
several years before moving to Abilene.
Mrs. Cox was the widow of
Dr. Samuel W. Field, and during
his life lived in Mexico, Houston
and Beaumont, returning here
shortly before she married Mr. Cox.
 
Mrs. McDaniel's husband came to
Abilene in 1889. He purchased lumber
from his father-in-law to build
a home at 774 Butternut, and from
the time of his marriage until his
death on May 20, 1931, lived there.