Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/82

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\IRGL\1A BlOGRAi'liY

delegates. In 1862 Dr. Parker married Ellen Jane, daughter of C. D. Jordan. He rendered distinguished service in the Con- federate army as captain of Parker's bat- tery, recruited amt)ng the young men of Ivichmund and often referred to as "Park- er's Boy Battery." Captain Parker rendered service from the beginning of the war as an officer of the Fifteenth Virginia Infantry and saw service at Bethel and in the Yorktown campaign, prior to service with his battery, luirly in 1862 Parker's battery was recruited and attached to Kemper's battalion. The battery served during the entire war and Captain Parker was everywhere conspicu- ous for his gallantry which was at times almost reckless, yet he escaped unharmed. He refused promotion, saying he would rather be commander of his battery than general in the army, although in the spring (jf 1865 he did accept the rank of major, hut in the same battalion of artillery in which he had served so long. General E. r. .\lexander, chief of artillery of Long- street's corps, once said of Captain Parker: "If 1 want a Christian to pray for a dying soldier I always call on Parker ; if I want a skillful surgeon to amputate the*limb of a wounded soldier, 1 call on Parker; if I want a soldier who with unflinching courage will go wherever duty calls him, I call on Parker." "It was from the Peach Orchard in front of Little Round Top that the first gun of the great battle of Gettysburg was fired by Parker's Boy Battery, and from this same battery in the dim twilight of the awful day, the last gun was fired." The battery held their position in the Peach Orchard without infantry support until night. General Longstreet said: "If those guns had been earlier withdrawn the enemy would have attacked." After the war Dr. Parker devoted his entire time to the prac- tice of medicine and in works of charity. He was president of the board of directors of the Richmond Male Orphan Asylum, of the Magdalen Home, the Foundling Hospital, the Home for Old Ladies, and connected officially with others. He was open-handed, delighted in relie\ing suffering, even to the point of embarrassing himself. He died Au- gust 4. 1899. Children of Dr. James Wil- liam and Nellie Alexander (Parker) Llen- son are: Nellie Parker, born April 2, 1899; Clifton William, born November 26, 1902.

(Hoge and Kerr Lines).

Alarie Antoinette (Hoge) Henson, mother of Dr. James W. Henson, was a daughter of Rev. Peter Charles Hoge, son of James ilog, who was the son of Captain Peter Hog (as the name of the emigrant ancestor was spelled). The latter was born in Edin- burgh, Scotland, in 1703. He was a de- scendant of Roger Hog, of the time of David II., King of Scotland ( 1331 ), and the son of James Hog, of Edinburgh. Captain Peter Ilog (so spelled in his will) came to Amer- ica with his brothers, James and Thomas, about 1745, and located in Augusta county, Virginia, where he married Elizabeth Tay- lor. He was commissioned captain, March 9. 1754; delegated July 2, 1755, agreeable to instructions from Governor Dinwiddle, by a council of war, held at Fort Cumberland, to construct a line of frontier forts, which had been ordered by the assembly. He served also with Colonel .Andrew Lewis in the Sandy Creek expeditions against the Indians the same year. He was licensed to practice law. May 10. 1759; was appointed by Lord Dunmore, April 10, 1772, deputy attorney- general for the county of Dunmore. He ap- pears by a letter from Washington (whom he accompanied in all his campaigns, and was at Braddock's defeat), dated March 2, 1774, to have enjoyed in a high degree the confidence and regard of his old commander. He received personally twenty-one hundred acres of land under the proclamation of Gov- ernor Dinwiddle, 1754, owned eight thou- sand acres on the Ohio river, near Point Pleasant, and a large tract in Mason county, Kentucky. He died -April 20, 1782, devising to his eldest sou James the family estate in Augusta county, and to the other children, Peter, Thomas, Anne and Elizabeth, lands on the Ohio river, upon which they settled.

James Plog, son of Captain Peter Hog, married a Miss Gregory ; was a farmer and lawyer of Staunton, Virginia, leaving a large landed estate to his son. Rev. Peter Charles, who changed the form of the name to Hoge. 'i'he latter married Sarah Kerr at Summer- dean, Augusta county, Virginia, and soon alter his marriage moved to Scottsville, .Albemarle county. \'irginia, and became a distinguished minister of the Baptist church. Rev. Peter Charles and Sarah (Kerr) Hoge were the parents of thirteen children, twelve oi whom lixed to mature vears. eight sons