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Submitted: 8/12/14 • Approved: 8/13/18 • Last Updated: 8/16/18 • R1031254-G1031254-S3
August 26, 1915 - September 5, 1981
Information given by:
My name is Cassie Scott. I am a great niece of Samuel Henry Parmer.
Gracie M. Parmer Beck is written on the gravestone, not just Gracie M. Beck. These surnames (Parmer and Beck) are two of her married names. She also went by Palmer some of the time while married to Samuel Henry Parmer/Palmer since they often switched back and forth as a family depending on which state they were living in and had used both versions in AR.
Samuel Henry Parmer/Palmer had 2 successive wives that were first Cammie Viola Billue who is buried nearby him, currently unmarked, and Gracie M. Parmer Beck who is Grace Mae Roach Parmer/Palmer Beck who is behind him not too far.
Several children of the first couple are also in the same row as Cammie and Sam, they were buried to the right I think Nellie said(daughter), which had a row of crosses. The crosses are now missing.
Samuel Henry Parmer is next to his mother on one side I believe, according to daughter Nellie, which has a stone that simply says Mother, which is actually Eliza Jane Van Pelt. If there are two stones that say Mother in that row near Sam then the other could be Cammie's stone or she may be missing a cross like her children and maybe grandpa Samuel(see next paragraph).
Sam and Cammie's children, and Sam and Gracie's children were also known as both Parmer and Palmer. Again, Gracie Mae's maiden name is Roach. Gracie and Sam may have lost some children early as well and if she did they might be in the same row that Nellie saw the crosses or in the row behind where Gracie is buried now. I only know Cammie lost children at young ages and Nellie said she was buried near/alongside them. The two couples had several children each. I don't yet know when Gracie married Mr. Beck nor if she was young enough to have had or lost children with him.
Most of the family records were lost in a Sawmill fire but Sam's sister Mary Annie Parmer had some of the information still, which she gave my father and also Sam's own daughter Nellie saw the crosses when she was young visiting her grandmother's grave with her father Sam. I spoke to Nellie several years before she died. Her memory was pretty sharp.
Sam Henry's mother again is Eliza Jane Van Pelt-Parmer, her maiden name is Van Pelt.
I think the unmarked graves may be the ones in the area to the right of Samuel Henry Parmer and his mother Eliza under the area that looks now like a driveway. We do not know the burial spot for Nellie's grandpa Samuel Permenas Parmer either but it could be there too.
Nellie said there was a row of crosses there when she had seen the area years ago with her dad, she guessed there were between 4 and 6. She said she was learning to count when she saw them so she was not sure of the number.
She said they had later buried her father Samuel Henry Parmer next to his mother Eliza Jane.
Contributed on 8/12/14 by lindaburke
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Record #: 1031254