Dr. A. H. Parkes, whose birth occurred on the farm where he now resides, in Moore County, October 11, 1936, is one of seven surviving children, born to the union of Martin L. and Susan (Smith) Parkes. The father was a native of North Carolina, born in 1793, and came to this county about 1818. He was an officer in the war of 1812, and was magistrate in Lincoln County for several years. He was a tiller of the soil, and died December, 12, 1845. The mother was born August, 8, 1803, in Virginia, and came to this county in 1818, where she was married the same year. She died August, 11, 1881.
At the age of seventeen, our subject began the study of medicine with a brother in Lynchburg, where he remained three years, after which he attended a course of lectures in the medical department of the University of Nashville. He then practiced for one year, and in the fall of 1858, entered Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia where he graduated the following March-April 1861, he joined Turney’s First Tennessee Infantry, and in the fall of the same year was elected lieutenant. In May 1862, he returned home, and since that time has been actively engaged in the practice of his profession in connection with farming.
November 26,1867, he married Mary E. Killer, daughter of J. A. Killer, a lieutenant in the Mexican war. Three children were the result of our subject’s marriage, all of whom are living, viz.: Laura M., Susan B., and Albert H.