Harriet E. (Parker) Haymond (1833 - bef. 1870)

Born 1833 in Mississippi, United States

Ancestors

Died before 1870 before age 37 in Louisiana, United States

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Biography

Details are sketchy about the remainder of Isaiah and Dicy's life after the Civil War started. Several of their sons enlisted and fought for the Southern cause. Interviews with several old timers in the Vernon area have verified over and over the following account about the young son of Isaiah and Dicy.

"Although Benjamin Parker was a slightly built lad, he nevertheless joined the Confederate Army with his brothers. Being such a young boy, he became cold and hungry, and left camp to visit his parents. It was during this time that several of the able bodied men in the area who did not choose to fight in the war banded together and called themselves the "Home Guard." They were really referred to as the "Jayhawkers." These jayhawkers robbed their neighbors, burned the homes, and mistreated the women and children that were left unprotected. When they heard that Benjamin had come home, supposedly illegally, they went into action. They shot Benjamin and a young Luttrell boy off their horses, and chased Isaiah, Elias Haymond, and little Columbus into the swamp. Dicy and the smaller children were left at the Haymond home and were abused by the jayhawkers. While in the swamp, young Columbus died and was buried there. Benjamin Parker was buried by several of the old timers in the area."

"After the terrorizing was over, Isaiah and his son-in-law, Elias Haymond, took the family by night to Alexandria and put them on a boat headed for Illinois. At that time the South still had control of the Mississippi River, and many people were still fleeing to the North. When the boat reached Vicksburg, it was reported that Isaiah died and was buried there. Mr. Haymond and Dicy Parker along with the remaining children proceeded on up the river to Cairo, Illinois. The steamboat that they had passage on was towing a small houseboat and Dicy would put the children to sleep each night on this craft. One day her small son, Jim, heard the officers of the boat whispering that the houseboat was leaking and they expected it to go down that night. Little Jim refused to sleep there that night and told his mother what he had heard. Dicy kept the children with her that night, and sure enough the boat sank. (It was this Jim Parker who told this story to his children.)"

"The Parkers and Elias Haymond remained in Cairo for about two years. During this time, Dicy, Amanda, and Mary Alice Parker died and were buried there. At the end of the war, Mr. Haymond brought the remaining members of the family back to Louisiana and settled on his old place. Shortly after this, Harriet Parker Haymond died and was buried on the old Haymond homestead. The grave was fenced with pickets as they were made in those days."

After the war there was no trace of Isaiah and Dicy Parker ever found.

Burial

HAYMON BURIAL (Lost)

In 1956, Annie Parker of Boyce, LA visited a burial site that was located on private property in Vernon Parish. She reported that a picket fence had been built around three graves on the old Elias Haymon homestead, at that time the Irvin Temple property. Although the fence had fallen down in 1956, signs of it were still visible. That site has been abandoned for years now, and I could not find anyone who knew where it was located. According to Annie Parker's records, confirmed by Billy Parker of Simpson (1996), one of the burials was identified as: Haymon, Harriett Parker - born ca 1833 MS / died ca 1865-69 LA

Harriett was the oldest child of Isaiah Parker & Dicy Ann Calcote. She was born in Mississippi when the family lived there. On 2 June 1854 (Newton County) TX, she married Elias Haymon. She was 21 years old at the time. Elias & Harriett Haymon had no children. During the Civil War, they traveled to Cairo, Illinois with Harriet's parents, Isaiah & Dicy Parker where they remained for approximately two years. After the war, they returned to the homestead in Louisiana, where Harriett died. Elias buried her on the property where he lived.

Notes

As the Civil war continued, the "jayhawker" term came to be used by Confederates as a derogatory term for any troops from Kansas, but the term also had different meanings in different parts of the country. In Arkansas, the term was used by Confederate Arkansans as an epithet for any marauder, robber, or thief (regardless of Union or Confederate affiliation). In Louisiana, the term was used to describe anti-Confederate guerrillas, as well as free-booting bands of draft dodgers and deserters.

Sources

"United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCJQ-CMZ : accessed 8 September 2015), Harriet E Parker in household of Isaah Parker, Bienville parish, Bienville, Louisiana, United States; citing family 462, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).