Percy Parks

Percy Parks

• Father: Edward Parks
• Mother: Mary Franklin b. circa 1863, d. 19 February 1919

• Percy Parks was born on 7 May 1893 in Texas. According to his death certificate, his parents were Joe and Mary Parks.
• Mary Franklin appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1900 in Mission Valley, Viictoria County, Texas. Other members of the household included Percy Parks, Minnie Mathis, Joseph Edwin Parks, Cornelius Samuel Williams, Versa Parks, Jasper Parks, Elmer Parks and Clara E. Parks.
• Mary Franklin appeared in the US federal census of 15 April 1910 in Cuero, DeWitt County, Texas, at Center Street. Other members of the household included Percy Parks, Versa Parks, Jasper Parks and Clara E. Parks. enumerated next to the household of her daughter Minnie. Mary is identified as Mary Davis, age 40, divorced, with seven of nine children living. Son Joe Albert Mathis, born in 1909, is unaccountably absent from the household.
• He was employed at farm work, according to the 1910 census.
• He married Elizabeth Denson, daughter of John Denson and Vandy Andrews, circa 1913.
• He was a farmer, according to the 1920 census.
• Percy Parks and Elizabeth Denson appeared in the US federal census of 1 January 1920 in DeWitt County, Texas, enumerated next to the household of Alfred Mathis. Other members of the household included Floyd Parks, Percy Parks Jr., Forest Parks and Charlie Parks. Apparently son Charlie is identified as infant Silvester, and daughter Forest as "Tarace" (age 4).
• Percy Parks and Elizabeth Denson appeared in the US federal census of 1 April 1930 in Lindenau, DeWitt County, Texas. Other members of the household included Floyd Parks, Forest Parks, Percy Parks Jr., Charlie Parks and Susie Mae Parks.
• He was a farmer, according to the 1930 census.
• Percy Parks and Elizabeth Denson appeared in the US federal census of 1 April 1940 in Cuero, DeWitt County, Texas, at 514 Newman Street. Other members of the household included Percy Parks Jr., Charlie Parks and Susie Mae Parks.
• He was employed by the WPA at odd jobs, according to the 1940 census.
• Percy Parks registered for the draft on 27 April 1942 in Nueces County, Texas, whild living at 1920 Margarite Street in Corpus Christi, and employed there at the Naval Air Station. Contact: Miss Forest Davis, 1920-1/2 Margarite Street.
• He officially witnessed the death of Elizabeth Denson on 18 May 1944 at 208 Gonzales in Cuero, DeWitt County, Texas; at her residence.
• Percy Parks became a widower at the 18 May 1944 death of his wife Elizabeth Denson.
• Percy Parks died on 28 January 1951 at age 57 in Corpus Christi, Nueces County, Texas, at Memorial Hospital . His death was officially witnessed by Forest Parks.
• He was interred at Woodman Cemetery, Cuero, DeWitt County, Texas.
• The following appeared on 30 January 1951 in The Corpus Christi Caller-Times: Funeral services for Percy Parks, 57, of 1823 Winebago, will be conducted at 2 o'clock tomorrow afternoon at the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Cuero. Burial will be in the Woodman Cemetery there.
       Parks, who was the city's second traffic accident fataility this year, died at 9:50 a.m. Sunday in a local hospital. He was struck by an auto at Brownlee and Morris early last week.
       He had been a resident of Corpus Christi 11 years.
       Parks is survived by two daughters, Mrs. Forest Davis and Mrs. Susie Mae Jenkins, both of Corpus Christi; three sons, Floyd of Houston and Charlie and Percy Parks, Jr. of Corpus Christi; and two brothers, Cornelius Parks of San Antonio and Albert Mathis of Cuero.
       Jackson-Flowers Funeral Home is in charge of local arrangements.
• The following Forest Davis was born on May 10, 1916 in Cuero, Texas to the union of Percy and Elizabeth Parks. She was the second eldest of five children.
       Forest was converted at an early age and became a member of the Mt. Bethel Baptist Church. Forest attended school in her hometown.
       She met R. A. Davis and on December 24, 1936 they married. To this union three children were born -- Joyce, Alice and Robert Albert, Jr.
       After living in Cuero for a short time the family moved to Corpus Christi where Forest joined St. Matthew Baptist Church and served on the usher board and was a member of the choir. In 1957, Forest became a member of Calvary First Baptist Church. Over the next years, Forest served as President of Usher board #2 and Club Eighteen. She also served with Ministers and Decons' wives. Forest was also a member of the Amicae and the Debs Mother's Club. Through the years she worked in many other capacities, serving both church and community.
       Forest was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, her son, three brothers, and a son-in-law. She leaves to cherish her memory: her daughters - Joyce Mosley (Jim, deceased) of Kingsville, Texas and Alice Sanders (R. A.) of Sugar Land, Texas; four grandsons - Marloe Mosley of McAllen, Texas, J. Christen Mosley of San Antonio, Keith Sanders (Michiko) of Houston, and Robert Sanders Jr. of Kansas City, Missouri; two great grandchildren - Rheon Ané Sanders and Robert Sanders III; one sister - Susie Jenkins, numerous nephews and nieces, friends and many others whose lives she touched through her Christian work.
• Research Note: According to Mary Parks' death certificate (informant her daughter Minnie Mathis), her father was Frank Franklin.
       According to Joseph Parks' death certificate (informant his wife Dora), his parents were Mary Franklin and Ed Parks.
       On his death certificate, Cornelius' name was recorded as Cornelious Samuel Williams Parks (informant his wife Ollie), and his parents were Mary Franklin and George Williams.
       According to Versa Parks' death certificate (informant his wife Tennessee), his parents were Mary Franklin and Ed Parks, and his Social Security application Mary Franklin and Edward Parks.
       According to Percy Parks' death certificate (informant his daughter Forest Davis), his parents were Joe Parks and Mary.
• Research Note: Who was the brother Albert Mathis named in Percy Parks' obituary?
       And appeared in the San Antonio Express on 12 Jan 1923: (Cuero, Jan 11) The home of Albert Mathis, negro, was destroyed by fire with virtually all its contents, Wednesday.

• Last Edited: 2 Apr 2017