PARKERS HAVE HOOSIER HOMESTEAD FARM

Article taken from the July 22, 1976 Tri-County Truth

Mrs. and Mrs. PAUL M. PARKER of R. 1 Huntertown have received a certificate from the State of Indiana designating theirs, a Hoosier Homestead Farm, one which has been owned by the same family for over 100 years.

The farm was a land grant purchase from the government, November 7, 1835, by Parker’s great-grandfather, BENJAMIN PARKER.  The deed to the original 40-acre tract was signed by President Andrew Jackson.

Acreage was added and the farm went to OMRI PARKER and his wife, MARIE, the first teacher in Perry Township.  From them it went to BURT PARKER, father of PAUL, and the farm has been in Paul’s name since 1969.

Parker says he remembers his grandmother well, though he was quite young when she died in 1903.  He said she used to tell of teaching and living in the homes of her pupils during the school term.  She was paid $1.25 a week for her duties.  She also told of seeing Indians moving through the county and of wagons transporting wheat up to their hubs in mud on Lima Road.

Parker said he began attending Central High School in Fort Wayne in 1914 and rode to and from school on the Interurban, a large trolley powered by overhead electric lines.  The Interurban ran across the southeast corner of the Parker farm en route from Fort Wayne to Huntertown, Garrett, Auburn, and Kendallville.

Parker also said he remembered the first car he ever saw………a buggy-like McIntyre which went on Lima Road in front of the farm.  As a matter of fact, it wrecked near the Parker home. 

The Parkers have been married 51 years, and they took a wedding trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico, in a Model T in 1925.  Parker and his father were both born in the same house they now live in.

Until the main barn burned in 1969, the far was a working one.  During the 1920’s, 1930’s and 1940’s, the Parker farm entered crops and animals in Allen County Fair competition, especially before the fair was moved from Huntertown in 1925.

Crops included certified wheat, oats, beans, and potatoes, and they sold open-pollinated corn for seed at $1 a bushel, shelled by hand.  They had Holstein and Jersey cattle for milk, some Shorthorn cattle, one of which was a grand champion in competition, Poland China hogs, Shropshire Sheep and Barred Rock and White Rock chickens.  At its maximum, the farm contained 120 acres, but some has been sold off now. 

The Parkers have one son, OSBORNE PARKER, of Richmond, VA, a faculty member at the Commonwealth University of Virginia.  During the years of active farming, when she wasn’t occupied with other chores, MRS. PARKER organized a pencil collection.  It is currently housed in numerous cases and contains about 3,000 entries.

The couple’s Hoosier Homestead Farm certificate, dated June 21, 1976, is signed by Gov. Otis Bowen and Lt. Gov. Robert Orr. Representatives of the Indiana Department of Commerce, Farm Bureau, Indiana Historical Bureau and the Museums and Memorial Division of the Department of Natural Resources helped process the award application. 

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BENJAMIN PARKER HOMESTEAD

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1850 Census of Perry Township, Allen Co., IN   #2662-2674

Omri Parker                          29 M                Farmer           born NY

Margaet                                 18 F                                         born Ohio

Manford                                  1 M                                         born IN

1850 Census of Perry Township, Allen Co., IN  #2663-2675

Danford Parker                    27 M                Farmer           born NY

Parmelia Parker                   27 F                                         born NY

1850 Census of Perry Township, Allen Co., IN   #2664-2676

Sarah Parker                         33 F                                         born NY

Albert W. Parker                  13 M                                        born IN

Allen Parker                                     10 M                                        born IN

1850 Census of Perry Township, Allen Co., IN   #2668-2680

Walter Parker                       31 M                Farmer           born NY

Lucy Parker                          33 F                                         born Ohio

Niersel Parker                      7 M                                         born IN

Oscar Parker                                      6 M                                         born IN

1850 Census of Perry Township, Allen Co., IN  #2677-2689

Benjamin Parker                  32 M                Farmer           born NY

Mary Ann Parker                 25 F                                         born NY

Josephine Parker                  7  F                                         born IN

Benjamin S. Parker               4 M                                         born IN

1850 Census of Perry Township, Allen Co., IN   #2682-2694    (Parker??)

Valdestine Pakes                  27 M                Farmer           born NY

Cynthia                                  29 F                                         born NY

1850 Census of Perry Township, Allen Co., IN   #2699-2711

S______  Parker                    22 M                Laborer          born NY

Elizabeth Parker                  19 F                                         born NY

1880 Census of  Perry Township, Allen Co., IN   193 C

Sarah Parker             widow            Female, 60     born NY         Keeps house

            Both parents born NY

Edgar Parker            son, single      male, 17          born IN           School teacher

1880 Census of Perry Township, Allen Co., IN  193 D

Danford Parker        married          male, 56          born NY         Farmer

            Both parents born New York

Permelia Parker       wife                 female, 56      born NY         Keeps house

            Both parents born NY

Wilson Parker           son, single      male, 28          born IN           Farm Laborer

Mabel Chaplin          other               female, 10      born IN

1880 Census of Perry Township, Allen Co., IN  194A

Omri Parker              married          male, 56          born NY         Retired farmer

            Both parents born NY

Maria Parker            wife                 female, 45      born PA          Keeps house

            Both parents born PA

Stephen Parker        son, single      male, 28          born IN           At home

Celia Parker              dau, single     female, 22      born IN           At home

1880 Census of Huntertown, Allen County, IN   193 C               (Abigail Parker)

Versal Hatch                         married          male, 65          born PA          Farmer

            Both parents born PA

Abigail Hatch            wife                 female, 63      born NY         Keeps house

            Both parents born NY

Antha Hatch              dau, single     female, 23      born IN           At home

1810 Census of LeRay, Jefferson Co., NY

Amasiah Parker

            2 males 26 to 45            1765-1784

            1 female under 10         1800-1810

            1 female 10 to 16           1794- 1800

            1 female 16 to 26           1784-1794

1820 Census of Pamelia Township, Jefferson Co., NY

Amasiah F. Parker

            1 male under 10            1810-1820

            1 male 16 to 26             1794-1804

            1 male 26 to 45             1775-1794

            2 males over 45             before 1775

            1 female under 10         1810-1820

            1 female 16 to 18           1802-1804        

            2 females over 45          before 1775

1840 Census of Perry Township, Allen County, IN

Amojiah F. Parker   (Pronounced says "Amaziah")

            1 male 15 to 20................born 1820-1825

            1 male 20 to 30................born 1810-1820

            1 male 60 to 70................born 1770-1780............Amaziah F.

            2 females 20 to 30...........born 1810-1820

            1 female 40 to 50.............born 1790-1800............prob. wife, Sophronie

1870 Census of Perry Township, Allen County, IN  taken July 15, 1870

1850 Census of Eldorado Co., California on the Consumnes River, taken Oct. 7, 1850

Note that while Hiram is in California, his wife, Sarah, and family are back in Perry Twp.

1860 Census of White Oak Township, El Dorado, CA ………… Post Office, Clarksville

1870 Census of Mud Springs Twp., Edorado Co., CA  taken July 12, 1870    371-321

By the 1880 Census, Sarah is a widow, and she and Edgar are back in Indiana and Edgar is a teacher.   

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1870 Census of Putah, Yola Co., CA

1880 Census of Hamilton, Butte, CA   280A

“Sonet” is no doubt Sewell

PARKER BURIALS AT PERRY TOWNSHIP CEMETERY, HUNTERTOWN, IN

OLD SECTION:

PARKER, A. F.                                 1775 Mass.-Jan. 23, 1819                  Sophronie

PARKER-HATCH, ABIGAIL         1818-1908                   wife of Newman Hatch

PARKER-MILLER, ADELINE       Sept. 23, 1840            21Y  8M  13D

                                                            Daughter of A. F. Parker

                                                            Consort of Philander Miller

PARKER, A