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PARKER, CHRISTOPHER ADAMS (1814-1836). Christopher Adams Parker, Alamo defender, son of William and Hannah (Armstrong) Parker, was born in 1814. He traveled from Natchez, Mississippi, to Texas, where he was listed as a single man in Joseph Vehlein's^qv colony on November 20, 1835. Parker was a descendent of the Sparrow family, English Quakers who had immigrated to Ireland during the Cromwell Protectorate. One of his ancestors fought in Emmett's Rebellion and was expelled from Ireland. His grandfather, James Armstrong, served under George Washington at Valley Forge. His father was a veteran of the battle of New Orleans. Christopher Parker signed the controversial Goliad Declaration of Independence^qv of December 20, 1835. He may have been one of the men who accompanied Philip Dimmitt^qv to the Alamo. He died in the battle of the Alamo^qv on March 6, 1836.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Albert Curtis, Remember the Alamo Heroes (San Antonio: Clegg, 1961). Daughters of the American Revolution, The Alamo Heroes and Their Revolutionary Ancestors (San Antonio, 1976). Bill Groneman, Alamo Defenders (Austin: Eakin, 1990). John H. Jenkins, ed., The Papers of the Texas Revolution, 1835-1836 (10 vols., Austin: Presidial Press, 1973).

Bill Groneman

The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article.

Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/PP/fpa89.html (accessed August 30, 2008).

(NOTE: "s.v." stands for sub verbo, "under the word.")

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Last Updated: January 18, 2008
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