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Did you know
Palestine (pronounced Palesteen), Texas, was named after Palestine,
Illinois by Isaac Parker, who emigrated with his family from here to
Texas in the 1830's. Isaac's parents, John and Sally White Parker
were married in Virginia in the late 1770's and had six sons--Daniel,
Isaac, John, James, Silas, and Benjamin. Moving to Georgia for
better opportunities, John Parker became restless and decided it was
time to move his family west to the "wild frontier". The Parkers
headed west in 1801 or 1802 and for the next twelve years resided in
south central Tennessee. As the Parkers were a close-knit family,
the whole clan would move with John and Sally, including married sons
and their families. After the War of 1812, the Parkers moved again
to Illinois, where John participated in community affairs and his oldest
son Daniel became the leader of the clan. Daniel was an ordained
minister of the old Baptist church so in 1833, after organizing the
Predestinarian Baptist Church in Palestine, Daniel, with some of his
brothers and friends, started out to Texas, which at that time was under
Mexican rule. Daniel and the majority of his followers settled
near Elkhart, Texas, where a replica of the Pilgrim Baptist Church still
stands in their memory. Others of the party traveled to the
headwaters of the Navasota River where, because of Indian uprisings,
they began building Fort Parker. In 1836, Texas gained her
independence from Mexico in the Battle of San Jacinto. Since
things seemed to have settled down with the Indians, the settlers let
their guard down somewhat. During the day, the men would go out in
the fields to work while the women, children and older men stayed in the
fort. Watch this space in the future for the continuation of the
story about the Indian attack on the fort.
More
information about Palestine's history can be found in books and
newspaper articles here at the library. |
