Here’s a brief explanation of how we suspect Narcissus Parks is related. John Parks is listed in the 1830 Roane County census on the same page as Samuel Parks, and cannot be linked to the other unrelated Parks family in Roane County at the time. That’s about all we know of him at present.

 

Jacob Parks is also in the 1830 Roane census, and had married shortly before the census was taken. The bondsman on Jacob’s marriage bond was Samuel Parks, thus establishing a family connection, though it doesn’t prove father/son, even though given their ages that is the most logical relationship.

 

Four years later, in 1834, Jacob Parks was the bondsman on the marriage bond for Narcissus Parks and James W. Bell, again, establishing a relationship between Jacob and Narcissus. And again, not proof they were siblings, but given their ages the most likely possibility.

 

So with Samuel and Jacob linked this way, and Jacob and Narcissus linked the same way, we can safely assume that Samuel and Narcissus are related, and again, given their ages, father/daughter is the most likely explanation.

 

Henry is linked, though Y-DNA results, to Jacob Parks, Thomas Benton Parks, and to John Jacob Parks. Not only do they match the larger genetic Group 008 Parks males, but they all share a unique marker mutation that all known or suspected male descendants of Samuel Parks (01AP1) possess, as well as numerous cousin matches utilizing autosomal DNA on such sites as Ancestry and FTDNA.

 

Sabra Parks, who married a Reuben Thomas, does not appear to have had children, so a DNA connection will never be possible. Again, she is not claimed by any of the other Parks families in that area, so our family seems a logical option. In addition, there are other links between the Parks and Thomas families. Henry Parks married Elizabeth Thomas, though we don’t know how Elizabeth and Reuben are related. In a similar fashion, after Henry Parks died about 1838, Elizabeth (Thomas) Parks married Thomas J. Bell. How Thomas J. Bell and James W. Bell are related is still unclear, but it’s quite possible they could be brothers or cousins.