Rufus B. Parks, clerk and master of the Chancery Court of Moore County, Tennessee, is one of four children born to Allen W. and Fannie (Miller) Parks, natives of North Carolina, born in 1797 and 1802, respectively. They took up their abode permanently in Tennessee in 1826. The father was a farmer, merchant, and in latter days kept hotel, and was magistrate a number of years. He died November 18, 1884, and the mother January 6, 1877. Rufus B. was born May 5, 1827, near Lynchburg, and received a good practical education. For about four or five years after attaining the age of nineteen he clerked in merchandise stores and then engaged in the business for himself, continuing until the breaking out of the war, when he enlisted in Company E, Fifth Kentucky Infantry, and was afterward transferred to the Ninth Kentucky Infantry, in which he was lieutenant. On account of poor health he resigned and came home, but soon joined the Twenty-third Tennessee Battalion and served until the close of the conflict. After his return he farmed alone until 1883, when he engaged in merchandising also, which he followed until 1885. He owns 120 acres of land. In 1849 he was married to Emily J. Roundtree, who died November 30, 1884, having borne him four children: Rufus A., Alice A. (Mrs. Loderick Robertson), Edwin L. and May. Mr. Parks has been a member of the Christian Church, in which he is deacon, for forty years. Politically he is a democrat, and has been magistrate about six years. He was elected to his present position in 1883, and is an efficient and trustworthy officer.
