Hi Patricia and Sterling,
How I wish I could help y'all with William Parker's birthplace, but for now, that has been a brick wall for me too. I am going to Natchez to do some research on him & Christopher & hope to get some interest going there on the two of them as Natchez is such a historically-minded town.

According to John H. Jenkins, editor of "Papers of the Texas Revolution", (10 vols,; Austin, Presidial Press, 1970), William Parker wrote a letter (29 Apr 1836) to the editor of the Natchez Free Trader re his visit to Texas in the spring of 1836. During this visit, Mr. Parker spoke with Susanna Dickinson who described Christopher's death. An excerpt of the letter, with a little info about William Parker appears on the internet, BUT with the incorrect information that the "Free Trader" was a Louisiana newspaper. It was a NATCHEZ, MS newspaper.

Wm. Parker is mentioned in the diary of William Johnson, the famous black barber of Natchez. I have found a few references to Parker, but nothing that is particularly helpful. However, I have acess to only a partial printing of his diary. Johnson's home is now a museum & I plan to visit there & seek more help in my search for Wm. Parker's roots.

One more thing to clarify what little I know about Christopher's parents: Abigail Armstrong was born in Shelbyville, Kentucky. I would be interested in knowing what anyone has documented on the Armstrongs in TN. There WAS a James Armstrong family at that time in TN, but that was not our James Armstrong family as far as I know. The senior James Armstrong was a U.S. military officer assigned in KY who was then assigned to Natchez about late 1801 or 1802 - those dates I get from a family history written by one of his grandaughters, Jane Eliza Gormly King -1805-1884(an early Texan!) telling of the senior James Armstrong dying within a year of their moving to Natchez. Another excellent source is a biographical sketch of Commodore James Armstrong in the "New England Historical and Genealogical Register", Volume XXV, 1871. In this sketch, it states that the parents of Commodore Armstrong (1794-1867) "emigrated from the State of Virginia to Shelbyville, Kentucky, where the Commodore was born, Jan. 17, 1794."

The more I research this branch of the family, the more fascinated I become with your great state of Texas. More than several of our family ancestors went to Texas in the very early years so I feel a strong tie to your state.

Dannie Weatherly