Questions About William Parker

William Parker is an ancestor I hadn't really looked at too much until recently. But the more I look, the more questions I seem to have. Much of my basic knowledge comes via Paul Lefevor. William Parker was born 25 May 1815 in Phillips, Franklin, ME to Nathaniel C. & Ruth (Remick) Parker. He married Mary Hoyt, daughter of Peaslee & Achsah (Marrow) Hoyt, on 12 Feb 1837 in Berlin, Franklin, ME. Together they had 9 children. Born in ME: Emerson Harvey (1837), Mary Ellen (1838), Charles H. (abt 1841), Laura Ann (1843), Eliza Jane (1844), Martha (abt 1846), William N. (abt 1849) & Emma (abt 1852).

I had a Henry Nichols b. abt 1859 in MO listed also. He becomes one of my first questions. I believe they adopted him. As the other children were sometimes listed with a middle name in the 1860 census in Township 61, Gentry, MO, I didn't think anything of it, assuming that Nichols was his middle name. However, he is listed distinctly in the 1875 Montana, Jewell, KS (state) census as Henry Nickels, showing that as a surname. So which is it? Henry Nichols Parker, natural son of William & Mary or Henry Nichols/Nickels, adopted son?

The biggest question for me is the death of William Parker. In the past couple of years I have suddenly seen a death date of 16 Sep 1888 in Deep Creek, Norfolk, VA listed for him but never any sources for that. I wonder how, if true, he ended up there from MO & KS? The last place I can find him is living with his daughter Emma Stout in 1880 in Montana, Jewell, KS. This also turned out to be shortly after his wife Mary had died in April of 1880 in Montana, KS from a hernia. I was able to find her on the 1880 census's mortality schedule.

Going backwards is when I found the family already in Montana, KS in 1875 where William is listed as a preacher. This was news to me as he had always been listed as a farmer before. I did a search for Deep Creek out of curiosity. I was able to find a Deep Creek that is currently in NC and was apparently a large Quaker settlement. This got me even more curious as many of my ancestors & their descendants had been Quaker. Did he become Quaker & move there? If not what was he doing there? Or is his death information wrong, William Parker is a pretty common name. That's now my biggest question.