Family:Unknown Childress and Unknown (2)

_UIDED959FC6B8C0F24C9E6344F4DA377BA507F4 Lived next door to James and Hannah Parker Smith in 1850 1850 STATE or TERRITORY: TX COUNTY: Rusk DIVISION: Rusk REEL NO: 315-316 PAGE NO: 501

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LN HN FN LAST NAME FIRST AGE SEX RACE OCCUP.VAL. BIRTHPLACE MRD. SCH.R/W DDB

18 36 36 Childress James 48 M W Farmer SC 19 36 36 Childress Sarah 43 F W SC REMARKS: maidenname Parker 20 36 36 Childress Agnes 14 F W AL 21 3636 Childress Ruphus 12 M W AL 22 36 36 ChildressMargaret 11 F W AL 23 36 36 Childress Frances 8F W AL 24 36 36 Childress Andrew 5 M W TX

Childress-Parker Families F112 Copyright © 1990

The following sketch of James Childress, a citizen of Rusk County from 1845/1862, was excerpted from the book entitled Family Affair by Jimmie Ruth Childress Mounger.

James Childress descended from the Childers-Childress line of York, England. Born on a plant ation in upcountry South Carolina in 1802, James was removed by oxen drawn wagon to the newl y acquired Mississippi Territory, when his father and mother sought frontier pastures. He gre w up in what became Madison County, Alabama, and when Marshall County was carved out of Madis on in 1836, James became the County’s first Commissioner of Roads, a Justice of the Peace, Post Master of Warrenton, Alabama, and one of the organizers of the new countyâ�‚¬™s first election . James’ first love was his land and after his father died, he assumed the duties of his father ’s plantation, with his mother’s guidance, and married Sarah Parker. James appears to have gotten the fever of going west. He began by divesting his political re sponsibilities and his land for the move to Texas. The question naturally arises: Why thismo ve? The History of Marshall County renders one telling clue when it quotesan early citizen , “the jail is easier to get out of than to get into.â�‚¬ If Texas was also rugged, the famil y of James and Sarah Childress wouldsoon find out, for they landed in Rusk County in 1845, a nd began adapting to its culture by acquiring 320 acres of Texas farmland.

The Federal census of Rusk County in 1850 lists James and Sarah Parker Childress and their ch ildren,Sarah Jane, Rufus Green, Mary Agnes, Margaret, Frances, and Andrew John. Threeof their children listed in the 1840 census of Alabama, are not shown. Included in the 1850 census next to the Childress family are the members of the JamesSmith a nd Hannah Parker Smith family and their children: Wm. Jasper, Marian,and Bert.

That year and the following, marriage records reveal that Mary Agnes Childress was married t o Isaac Newton Smith, and Sarah Jane Childress was married to Wm. Jasper Smith.

At this point, it is necessary to make use of anold family story told by Fannie Childress, t he granddaughter of James and Sarah Parker Childress. She made this statement: “You are bloo d kin to Cynthia Ann Parker”. After learning that my great grandfather married SarahParker , the answer struck home: Kin through you great grandmother, Sarah Parker; and today Cynthi a Ann’s star shines down in spirit upon her descendants, in spite of her tragic life and th e strange circumstances of her Parkercousins.

The tragedy of Cynthia Ann’s kidnapping by the redskins in 1836, was not ameliorated when th e Texas Rangers recaptured her after she had lived with her kidnappers, married their chief , produced his offspring, and virtually forgotten her white parentage. It had to have touche d the Parker and Childress descendants acutely, for among the Texas Rangers rescuing her tha t day was Sarah Parker Childress’ son, Ruffus Green Childress, at the age ofsixteen. Cynthi a Ann went to an early grave gr