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From the Autobiography of James (Jimmie) Parks, Ellettsville, Indiana; son of George Parks who served as First Sergeant during the American Revolution. I was born in Wilkes County, North Carolina, on the 26th day of September 1781. My fathers name was George Parks and my mother's maiden name was Millison Davison. I had four sisters and two brothers. When I was about twelve years old, my father moved into Burk county of the same state. My education privileges were quite limited. I attended four schoolls of about three months each. The school houses of that day were built of round logs, and had a dirt floor. The chimney was build in one end of the house and was large enough to take in a log of wood eight feet long... When I was fourteen years old, there came a peddler through the country who exchanged drygoods for cattle. My father gave a three year old steer for six yards of calico, to make a dress for my oldest sister who was then about grown. That dress created quite an excitement in the neighborhood. The girls and boys would go to the meeting together, and the girls would carry their shoes and stockings in their hands until they got in sight of the church, when they would sit down upon a log and put them on. The boys did not do that way, for they had no shoes to wear and consequently would make the round trip barefooted. When I was about twenty-three years od, my mother made me a pair of pants out of cloth made of cotton and flax. The cloth was white with a yellow strip running up and down. The cloth was too short, or my legs to long (it didn't matter which) and I had to have them pieced. I went fifteen miles, courting in those pants, and best of all, I carried off the prize. I did not however attribute my success entirely to those pants. I was married Sept 30th, 1806 to Miss Nancy Moore. In October 1815 in company with my father, brother Pleasant Parks, cousins Benjamin and Ambrose Parks I moved to this State and settled on the East fork of White River about five miles above Bedford. There I built me a little log cabin and that fall and winter cleared about seven acres of land and in the spring planted it with corn. unpublished manuscript, Monroe County Public Library, Bloomington, Indiana
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