Redmond Parker, Company E

The soldier and his widow were born enslaved in Hertford County, North Carolina and eventually settled in Suffolk, Virginia just across the state line. He and his cousin David Parker enlisted at the same time. The widow’s application included a Congressman’s letter urging the Pension Bureau to act on her behalf.  At one time, she was a depositor at the Freedman’s Savings Bank. Note: The widow’s testimony includes contradictions in the timeline and a reference to an assault that might have brought her application under additional scrutiny. After more than ten years of effort, her application was denied.

Invalid — 763,447 / 993,450
Widow – 1,134,658 / —–, Viney Parker

 

General Affidavit, Noah Ballard, 31 October 1898
53 years old; post-office address, cor Columbia & [illegible], Portsmouth, Norfolk County, Va; “That he knew the soldier by serving in the same Company and Regt with him during the civil war; that he often heard soldier complain of heart troubles while in the service at Fort Powhatan on the James River in 1864; that he has seen him often from the date of our discharge in 1866 to this time.”

 

General Affidavit, Benjamin Jenkins, 31 October 1898
62 years old; post-office address, King St., Portsmouth, Norfolk County, Va.; “That he served in the same Co and Regt with claimant and often sees him from date of discharge to present time; That he complained of having heart troubles while in the service in 1864, and often have heard him complain of the same since and now; that he is a very quiet man; that he disease of which he suffers is not due to vicious habits.”

 

Deposition, Redmond Parker, 22 August 1902 
about 60 years old; post-office address, Suffolk, Va…“I have lived right here for 30 years. I am a laborer at the Navy Yard. I was born in Murphysboro [sic], NC. Don’t know the year I was born. I was born a slave of R.S. Parker. He lived near Murphysboro [sic], NC. He still lives down there and I was down to see him last summer. My father’s name was Drew Jenkins. He was the slave of Berry Jenkins. My mother’s name was Harriet Parker. I titled after my mother. She is now alive and at my house. I have neither brother nor sister. I have never been known by any name but Redmon Parker. I was about 20 or 21 years old at enlistment.
“My cousin David Parker, P.O. unknown, enlisted when I did.
“My Col. Girard I think. My Capt was Chas. W. Emmerson. 1st Lt was Capt. Whiteman; Can’t say who was 2nd Lt; Ord. Sergt at enlistment was named Burr. He was killed in a skirmish at Brandon Church on James River, Va. My bunkmate was Sandy Jenkins. He can be found at Hygeia Hotel, Fortress Monroe. Willis Harris, P.O. New Orleans, La., Ben Jenkins, P.O. Portsmouth, Va. were in my company. My co 1st went to Williamsburg, Va. then to Yorktown, Va. then to Chickahominy Swamp where we had a battle. Some man was shot right by my side but I can’t call his name. We next went to Brandon Church, Va. then to City Point and Bermuda Hundred. then back in the direction of Richmond, Va. Went back to Brandon Church where my co was left to do garrison duty. We stayed [sic] 5 or 6 months and then went to Brazos Santiago, Tex where we M.O. [mustered out]. I was not sick and the only injury I got in service was caused ‘by my saddle’ [illegible] my right side which made a knot as big as my thumb which is still there and pains me something yet.

“I was not sick to amount to anything, never in hospital, would sometimes call & get a little medicine from the doctors but would soon be all right and when I was mustered out I was all right physically.  I was never on detached duty.

“I lived in Princess Anne Co, Va. near Kempsvle [Kempsville] P.O. for the 2 years immediately succeeding my discharge. My bunkmates mentioned knew me before enlistment and have known me ever since. Soldier Cooper of Suffolk, Va. has known me all my life. When I moved from Princess Anne Co. I came right here and have been here ever since.

“I have been married but once and my wife is still living with me. Her name was Vina Jenkins before I married her. She had not been married till she married me. We were married by her master name Henry Griffin according to slave custom. Charles Jenkins. P.O. Mapleton, Hertford Co., NC saw us married.

I know of no record of marriage. I have only one child under 16 years of age, Virgie Parker, he was 12 years old the 12th of last March.”

Questionnaire (Form 3-389), Redmon Parker, 25 March 1915
[Birth information] About 1843, Hertford County, NC
[Wife’s maiden name] Viney Jenkins before marriage
[When, where, by whom married] July 1866, but we were never married in accordance with the laws as they now exist, but it was considered a legal marriage then
[Record?] No
[Previously married] No, neither of us
[Living with wife, ever separated?] Yes, still living with her
[Names and birthdates of all your children] Rosa, 1868; Lelia, 1869; John, 1870; Mary 1879; Pattie, 1881; Spurgeon, 1883. Rosa and Leila are dead.

 

Deposition, Viney Parker 3 September 1919
“I do not know how old I am but was about 15 years old when the war began. I was told by my old mistress that I was born in February but I do not know in what year. My address is 32 Norfolk and Western Ave., Suffolk, Va., I am not able to do any work except the little housework around my home. I have had a little insurance money. … I was never regularly married to Redmon Parker, but I lived with him as his wife from soon after the time that he came home from the army. I was born and raised in Hertford Co., NC, between Murfreesboro and Winton. My father was Robert Jenkins and he was owned by Berry Jenkins and my mother was Anice Carter and was called Anice Jenkins because Robert Jenkins was her husband in both slaves times and afterwards. I was called Viney Griffin because I belonged to Henry Griffin but my mother had been sold. I lived right there in that neighborhood until I came here to Suffolk shortly after the war and that was I suppose twelve months after the war. Redmon Parker was raised right there in that same neighborhood in Hertford, NC. He lived about four miles from where I did and I knew him before he went into the army and we all grew up together. Before he went into the army our folks moved right over to his owner’s house because the fighting of the armies had come close. The man that owned Redmon Parker was the grandfather of Henry Griffin. Our family stayed over on that place about 12 months I should think and it was while there that Redmon Parker and I got to sweethearting. We did not live together regularly in those days but we went together before he went away to go into the army. No, I did not have any child by him before he went away to go to the army and I did not live with him openly at that time and while we did have sexual intercourse in those days it was only on the sly. I was never married before I began to live with Redmon Parker and he had never been married either.

“I began to live with him regularly after he came out of the army.

“I began to live with him here in Suffolk after the war. He did not come home to the old neighborhood in Hertford Co., NC for about twelve months after he was discharged from the army. He was afraid to come home I think. He never did live in that neighborhood after the war except for about 12 months that we went down there a long time after we had been living together up here. He came there in that neighborhood for a short visit after his discharge and before I came up here. We did not live together at that time, he was just there on a visit for a few weeks and he did stay for a few days with my folks, I was then living with my mother. We then expected to get married and live together but he went away without getting married. It was about twelve months after he had been discharged that he came there on that visit. I keep telling you that he was afraid to come home there. It was the Christmas after he had been there on that visit that I came up here. I came here with my aunt Viney Jenkins, my father’s sister and she is now dead. About two months after I came here I began to live with Redmon Parker. He was running on a New York boat from Norfolk when I came here and he soon heard that I was here and he began to come to see me and then in about two months after I came here we began to live together and we lived together from that time on until he died. We did not get married but just lived together. He called me his wife but he would not go through a marriage ceremony and I do not know why unless he thought that we had lived together so long that three was no use in having a ceremony. I tried time after time to have him go through a ceremony but he would not do so.  I was always known by the name of Viney Griffin until after I came here to Suffolk and began to live as the wife of Redmon Parker. After he and I began to live together we lived together until he died on the last Sunday of December of last year and he was buried on New Year’s day of this year. He worked away a good part of the time for he would work in the woods for three months at a time and four times while we lived together he was away for three months fishing. Then for about 18 years and up until shortly before he died he worked in the Navy Yard at Portsmouth. He would be up there during the week and come home Saturdays for we never moved our home to Portsmouth. I never had any children until after Redmon Parker and I began to live together here in Suffolk. The oldest one and the next to the oldest are both dead. The oldest one would be over 50 if now alive. I have not the dates of birth set down. All of the people who knew me while down in North Carolina are now dead, both white and colored and I cannot name anyone who knew me there about the time of the war. Anice Parker who lies here in Suffolk knew me when I was growing up in North Carolina but I think she is away on a visit now. Josephine Kelly has known me ever since I have been in this town and is about the oldest one that I can think of for nearly all that knew me from the time I came here are now dead. Josephine Kelly has known me since my first child as a baby. No one has helped me with my claim except Mr. Hosier here in town. I have made no contract to pay any fees and I have paid no fees.”

 

Deposition, Josephine Kelly, 3 September 1919
“I do not know my age but I must be over 70 years of age. My oldest child was born in the September after Lee surrendered. I was then living in Summerton [sic], Va. and shortly after that I came here to Suffolk. I did not know this claimant until after I came here and when I first knew her she was living with Redmon Parker as his wife and she lived with him always after that until he died. I understood that he had been in the army and that he had come back to here after his service but as I did not know them until they came here and they were living here together when I made their acquaintance I could not say as to whether thy had lived together before he had gone into the army or before they came here. I had heard that they had been together before they came here but I do not know anything about that. I never heard that either one of them had been married to anyone else before they began to live together here. This claimant was known as Mrs. Parker and as the wife of Redmon Parker but I had heard and it was spoken of at times that they had never regularly married but I do not know why they had not been married and never heard. I am not related to the claimant and have no interest in this claim.”

Deposition, Viney Parker, 8 June 1927
“I am going on 82 years old, occupation none, am renting rooms to a man and his wife and the children try to feed me. Post office address 124 Lee street, Suffolk, Va. …”
Q.  How long did you live with Redmon Parker?
A.  I married him the second year of the war and lived with him until he died. He ran away and joined the army and had me for his wife like they did in old times up to his death. The man where I stayed wouldn’t let me have Parker after he came out of the army unless we were married so we did so, we stood up before that same man and promised to keep each and we did so.
Q.  Who was that man?
A.  He was Ely Banks a colored member of our church here in Suffolk. No Banks was not a minister. I don’t know whether he had a right to perform marriages. I could not stay with Redmon Parker unless he owned me for a wife and he agreed to do so. This ceremony took place in the second year after the war ended and not in the second year after it started. It was here in Suffolk after Parker’s discharge that we stood up before that man who belonged to the church and promised to keep each other for husband and wife.
Q.  Had you lived with Redmon Parker before that?
A.  He had courted me but not lived with me. I had six children by the soldier Redmon Parker.
Q.  When was your first child by Parker born?
A.  After he took me after his return from the war.  Yes, I had given birth to other children before I had Parker. It was by a white soldier who ravished me when I was living with my mistress in Hertford County NC between Murfreesboro and Winton. The child was a girl named Annie who died after she was grown with a house full of children. That white soldier was named Tom Britton and from Carolina and kin to my white folks. I never lived with Britton nor went with him but the one time and that was when he ravished me in time of the war.
Q.  Did you know Redmon Parker before he joined the army?
A.  Oh, yes. We were reared together as children and he belonged to old Squire Parker and his son Horace Parker three or four miles from the place of my owner  Henry Griffin who was the grandson of the old Squire.
Q.  Did you cohabit with Redmon Parker before the civil war/
A.  I did not. I never went to bed with Parker until after he got back from the army.
Q.  Who was his wife before he joined the army?
A.  He was a young man then and had no wife. I had no husband before Parker. At his discharge he found me on my old home place and came there and courted me and brought me to Suffolk where we have lived ever since. But wait. Parker was already down here in Suffolk and I came in two months with an aunt Viney Jenkins. I found Redmon Parker here and he wanted me for his wife and I agreed to it. He took care of me six months when I was sick before he married me but it was not childbirth that caused the sickness.
Q.  Why did not you and Redmon Parker obtain a license and have a marriage ceremony before some person authorized to perform marriages?
A.  I was sick and he was not making any money.
Q.  Did you go through any sort of ceremony with Redmon Parker before freedom?
A.  No, sir I did not.
Q. Did you go through any sort of marriage ceremony with the soldier Parker during the civil war?
A.  I did not sir. He was gone into the army three years and I never saw him during that time. Redmon Parker was stationed at Fortress Monroe and he had no wife before joining the arm.
Q. Why did you come to Suffolk in the first place?
A. I came here with my aunt to get work. You could not get anything for your work in North Carolina.
Q.  Then you never came to Suffolk to join Redmon Parker?
A.  No sir I did not. He had been to my house three or four times before I came up here. He came to Suffolk directly after the war ended and it was not long before I came. Parker took care of me during my sickness and then it was that church member said we had better get marriage [sic] or not have each other. Redmon Parker said well I will keep here until I get money enough to marry here but he never did marry me with any sort of ceremony or with any license. We started to live together all the time after standing up in front of the church member Eli Banks. Banks was a farmer and worked about. I can’t name any person who knew Banks as all my old friends are dead. Henry Griffin and Charles Jenkins are dead. Griffin was my old master and Jenkins was my cousin.
Q.  I wish to be certain I understand you Viney. Did you and Redmon Parker go through any sort of marriage ceremony as slaves, such as jumping the broomstick or standing before your master while he consented to you cohabiting with Redmon Paker?
A.  No sir we did nothing of the kind. I was just a girl and a young girl at that when Parker joined the army. My master Henry Griffin has no living children. His wife is dead and the three children she had by her first husband are all dead. There is no person living who knew me in slavery. Henry Griffin owned two men and a cook beside me and all are dead. He bought a boy and he is dead. Squire Parker and Horace Parker and his son who would have known Redmon Parker in slavery are dead. Horace Parker had one boy who is dead. Miss Indy Joiner the wife of Horace Parker is dead. Horace Parker owned several slaves beside Redmon Parker and I don’t know their names. I never lived on the Parker place with Redmon Parker. I was born on Powers’ place who married Griffin but I lived on Griffin’s place until I came to Suffolk. Here in Suffolk the people who knew me the first few years are all dead. Mr. and Mrs. Prentiss the clerk of the court who employed me to work, and his daughter Eliza are all dead. I can’t say who has known me forty years. Roselia Purdy has known me a long time and lives near the fairgrounds on the Norfolk Road. Other people around me are young folks knowing nothing.
Q.  Redmon Parker swore before an Inspector of the US Pension Bureau August 22, 1902 that he was married to you by your master Henry Griffin according to slave custom and that Charles Jenkins of Mapleton, Hertford Co., NC saw the marriage?
A.  I don’t know why he said that unless he thought I would die before he died. He never said nothing about me getting a pension. He told one woman that Viney would get his pension because he had been going with her so long and had her before the war.
Q.  According to what you have just testified to Redmon Parker did not go with you in any relation of man and wife or cohabit with you before the war?
A.  No sir he did not. My children by Parker were all born in Suffolk. I had no children before coming to Suffolk except that daughter by the white soldier who ravished me.
Q.  The soldier Redmon Parker also testified August 22, 1902, that he had a wife at the time he joined the army?
A.  He had no wife then and I don t know why he said that.
Q.  Redmon Parker stated that he lived in Princess Anne County, Va. near Kempsvl [Kempsville] post office for two years after his discharge before coming to Suffolk. It would appear therefore that he did not begin his cohabitation with you until three or four years after his return from the army.
A.  I had been here about two months when I was taken sick and Redmon Parker took care of me. Just how long it was after the civil war I cannot say but it was not so long.
Q.  Who were you living with during that two months?
A.  At the house of Miss Eliza Prentiss the wife of the clerk of the court and I was her house girl. My first child by Redmon Parker, Rosalee, would be 2 years old if living. She died as a baby. The next child was Levia and she comes between Rosalee and John my son who is 49. Mary the next child is in her 40s. Redmon Parker settled in Suffolk Va. before I came.
Q.  Then according to what you have today sworn you never lived with or cohabited with the soldier Redmon Parker in North Carolina as was at one stated in your claim?
A.   No sir I did not. I knew him there but I began to live with him here in Suffolk, Virginia. Selden Cooper, Ben Jenkins and Charles Jenkins are dead. I don’t anything about Willis Harris. I do not know whether Sandy Jenkins of Fortress Monroe is living.
Q. You have heretofore stated that Redmon Parker sweethearted with you before he went to the army. What did you mean by that?
A.  We went together as children. He never cohabited with me or got into my bed. The first man to have sexual intercourse with me was the white soldier who ravished me. I did not know what I was talking about if I heretofore stated that I had intercourse with Redmon Parker in North Carolina on the sly. I have no living brothers or sisters. My own cousins are dead. Redmon Parker’s people are all dead, an aunt of Parker’s has children in Saratoga but I don’t know their address or names. Anice Parker and Josephine Kelly are dead. I understand the object of this further special examination of this claim for pension and I am not able to name people still living who knew Redmon Parker and I soon after his discharge nor for some years thereafter. I have no other witnesses to be seen. Rosalenie Purdy might be dead as I have not seen her in four or five years.
Q.  The Commissioner of Pensions is anxious to give your claim a most thorough investigation and if you can name any witness to be seen please do me?
A. I can name none. Mrs. Vinia Sheppard of Brier Hill has known me nine or ten years.
Q. You stated in the beginning of this testimony today that Redmon Parker at this discharge found you on the old home place and came there and courted you and brought you to Suffolk. Is that the truth?
A.  I never came to Suffolk with Parker but with my aunt Viney Jenkins. Parker came to see his mother and others in North Carolina after getting home from Texas and I saw him then and he courted me.
Q. What do you mean by courting you?
A.  He came to see and expected to marry me. I was engaged to Parker to marry before the war and to another fellow, too, Ray, a little young fellow who is dead. I had no men to cohabit with me then.
Q.  Then you were engaged to two men at the same time?
A.  You know how young girls are and I was no better than the rest of them. Ray was not a soldier and he died before Redmon Parker died. I have no further statement to make and have heard the foregoing deposition read and it is correct.”

Letter from J. Walter Hosier, to U.S. Pension Bureau, 11 December 1929
“If there is any possible hope for her to obtain a pension, it would indeed be grateful for her, as she is very old, and at times somewhat mentally unbalanced. She lives with a grandchild on the N side of Poplar St. this town. But I fear is is[sic] not very well provided for by them, and am sure that she is in actual need for the necessary comforts.

“It will be practically impossible to prove the date of her marriage to the soldier. She has an old “Freedman’s Bureau” bank book in which she has, put down by someone, the dates of births of some of her children, but not all. I note that the oldest one put down is in 1872, although she claims that she had two or three born before that date, claiming this at times when she is mentally alright.

“On one page there is a pencil record of her marriage to Redmon Parker in 1866 but without the date of month [sic]. At times, she says that they were married “Old Christmas Day” but it is not clear as to the year. Is I understand, Old Christmas Day is January 6th….If there is no hope [of her getting a pension] kindly advise me, as Mr. Lankford, our splendid young Representative in Congress, thinks that he might get some special act through in her behalf if she is not to get a pension through your Department direct, and I am today writing to him also.”

 

Letter from Congressman Menalous Lankford to U.S. Pension Bureau, 12 December 1929
“Gentlemen —
“I am enclosing herewith letter which I have just received from Mr. J. Walter Hosier of Suffolk, Virginia, making inquiries as to the present status of the above claim which is before you for decision. I will appreciate any information you can give me on this claim at the present time.
‘Thanking you, I am
Yours very truly,
Menalous Lankford”

 

Deposition, Mary E. Boone, 14 March 1932
51 years old; residence, 431 Wilson Street; occupation, cook … “[Viney Parker] is my mother.
“Q.  Were there any other children besides you?
A.   There are four living and three dead, the oldest ones are dead.”

 

Deposition, Spurgeon Parker, 14 March 1932 
46 years old; residence, Wellons Street Extended, Suffolk, Va.; occupation, chauffeur … “[Vine Parker] is my mother”

 

General Affidavit, Richard Pierce [or Price?] & Willis Godwin, n.d. …In June 1864 while “mounting his horse in line of battle where the order to charge had been given, on the turnpike road near the city of Richmond in the state of Virginia, he the said Redmond Parker was then and there thrown from his horse in said line of battle and severely injured so that he was carried to the hospital for treatment; that he was hurt in the right side by a rupture by being thrown as aforesaid; that he has since suffered.”