Floyd J Parker

As I mentioned in the last post, Lester Smith Kingsley is the only non-living grandparent I have. I am waiting on my dad to write up something on his parents. In the meantime, I thought I would go to the other side of my family tree and continue with my "organized" write-up.

As the title explains, this is going to be about my maternal grandmother's father, Floyd J. Parker. I would assume J. stands for Joseph as that is his "father's" middle name. I will explain the quotation marks in a little bit.

Floyd J. Parker was born 29 Jun 1907 in Wales, Erie Co., NY, to Lottie M. Cox and Miles Joseph Parker.

On this 1910 Census there are several things to note. First, Miles J Parker is on line 92 with his immediate family following. Next, line 63 is his father, Joel A. Parker and Emily J. Parker (Clift? I haven't proven that one yet).

Now, to let you in on a deeply covered up family secret... According to Floyd Parker's daughter, my grandmother, there was a farm hand "Harry or Henry" (according to Grandma, but her memory isn't the best) but it was really line 96, John G. Meyers. To continue on with the family secret, John was a farm hand who had a room on the farm. After a period of time he was given a room in the house. Grandma says it was known that Lottie M. Parker (Cox) was close to John but nobody ever spoke of how close.

"After a while", according to Grandma, Miles Parker moved out and made a living working around Buffalo doing odds and ends. They never divorced.

Again on this 1920 census you can see Miles J Parker on line 30. Line 35 is John G. Meyers.

Anyways, according to Grandma, Floyd J Parker much more resembled old John Meyers than Miles Parker.

In this 1930 Census, Floyd J Parker (line 80) married Leona Winifred McKay (Line 81,... the next entry should be about her) in East Aurora, Erie, New York. It shows my Grandma's sister (Mary, line 82) but Grandma wasn't born until after '30.

Enough about his parents, this is about Floyd Parker. According to my grandparents (his daughter and son-in-law), He was a very hard worker. He worked for the telephone company in upstate New York. During the depression he was laid off and had to take a job as a truck driver and worked for a potato company. It was during that time of his life, Grandma says, that he developed some sever back problems. A little way through the depression, when the phone company started hiring again, He was one of the first to get rehired. He was taken back on as a foreman.

When the draft was started for WWII the telephone company had a meeting with him. They said that there were many young men in that area that had farming waivers that made them ineligible for the draft. The company and Floyd agreed that he would most likely drafted so he better join doing something he wanted instead of waiting for the draft and getting stuck with something less than what he was capable of. The phone company said that they would have a better job waiting for him when he got back. According to Grandma, "he went and enlisted as an officer". He joined the signal corp as a 1st Lieutenant. He was sent to Europe and was there from just after DDay until VDay.

He was in Holland, France and "all those little countries". He sent home some crystal from "a place with a castle" (Grandma, Germany?). The Crystal went to one of Grandma's siblings, but she did get 1 ~10" serving dish from there. While he was there, he sent Grandma a birthday card and a silver dollar for her 15th birthday.

He got orders that took him straight from Europe, through the Panama Canal, straight to Japan. (Grandma). He was gone a total of about 4-5 years. When he got back He and Leona (McKay) Parker decided that they wanted a son. Although their oldest daughter was 18 when they Leona got pregnant, they had another daughter. Almost 2 years later they had a son.

When he got back, he got out of the Army as a Captain. The phone company hired him on as a lead foreman. Later he was the head of the telephone company from "Buffalo to Oleans" (According to Grampa). He was always willing to help anybody. When Grampa ever needed any help, Floyd would come over and help "at the drop of a hat".

When Grampa lived in Holland, NY, he had a 2 story gabled barn behind his house that he would always say "One of these days, I need to take that barn down." It was apparently close to the house because grampa was worried that if it came down wrong it would hit the house. Floyd would always say that when they took the barn down to call him and he would "drop it where it stands." Grampa laughed and wouldn't believe it. When the day finally came to bring it down, Grampa called Floyd and he came over with a "cable and a cinch." He walked around it, sized it up, and set the cable around the barn and through the cinch. He tightened it taut and set it around half way up the studs holding the barn up. With the cable where he wanted it, he simply started tightening the cinch. After a short time the rafters started creaking and, suddenly, the barn fell... right where it stood. Grampa still finds that amazing.

One more thing and then I am done. Apparently Floyd and Leona had a "trial" period for young men dating their daughters. Actually the period was until about 2 years AFTER they were married. During that period they made sure that the men would be good to their daughters, "feeding and not beating them" (Grandma). "But once you made it through that trial, you were in their family and their hearts forever" (Grampa)