Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 3291Georgia, in 1851, and did his important life work as a merchant and planter.He was the pioneer in introducing into Cobb County scientific agriculturalmethods, and was particularly an advocate and practitioner of deep plowingas a solution of the problem of how to raise larger crops. By his practicalmethods he was successful in growing nine bales of cotton on five acres ofland, and this achievement attracted so much attention that people came frommiles around to view his cotton fields. Partly as a result of his example andthrough a better understanding of scientific agriculture in general, this recordcrop has since been many times surpassed. Be continued actively engagedin merchandising and in scientific farming until his death in 1894 at the ageof forty-three. He was prominent in the local agricultural societies. Riswidow, who is still living at the old family home at Woodstoek is a granddaughter of Lemuel A. Dean, who was born in South Carolina and after thewar settled at Atlanta and had large possessions in local real estate and wasa man of wealth and influence. Bis son, Dr. William Howard Dean, the•father of Mrs. Parkinson, was » native of Newton County, Georgia, and agraduate in medicine from the Augusta Medical College. He served as asurgeon during the Confederate war, and afterwards for many years practiced.in Woodstock, Cherokee County. The last twenty years of his life weredevoted largely to the ministry of the Baptist Church in Woodstoek. Hisdeath occurred in 1913 at the age of eighty-nine. His wife was Emily Benson,who was bom in Gobb County and died at Woodstock in 1908 at the age ofseventy-eight. William H. and Lula (Dean) Parkinson, were the parents ofsix children, namely: Lela, wife of Edward Stephens, of Woodstoek,Cherokee County; Dr. William H.; Oscar Dean, a merchant at Woodstock;Jesse Dean, a railroad man at Etawah, Tennessee; Paul, a traveling salesmanwith headquarters in New York City; and Ernest Yaughn, a civil engineerby profession and at present comiected with the United States GeologicalSurvey at Washington.William Howard Parkinson received his early education in the Woodstockpublic schools. In 1896 he became a student in the Atlanta College of Physicians and Surgeons, graduating M. D. with the class of 1899. For nine yearshe was in active practice at Woodstock, and had a largo patronage in thevillage and country district surrounding that town. In solid ability he wasqualified for a larger field and as a result of experience eventually left Woodstockand in 1908 opened his offices in Marietta, where he enjoys a large citypractice and also a country patronage that demands all his energies and time.Doctor Parkinson is also local surgeon for the Louisville & Nashville Railway.He has served several years as secretary of the Cobb County MedicalSociety and is a member of the Georgia State Society and the AmericanMedical Association. In Masonry he has taken a number of the degrees andis a member of the Mystic Shrine, is a democrat in politics, and is servingas a deacon in the Marietta Baptist ^"vurch. His recreations are found inoutdoor life. He is fond of baseball ' usually spends a week or more eachyear hunting and fishing in Florida.On December 31,1910, at Mariett, .vector Parkinson married Miss EmmaLela Grambling, who was bom in Atlanta, a daughter of Thomas and Emma(Johnson) Grambling. Mrs. Parkinson is an active member of the MethodistChurch. She is a graduate of the Wcslcyan College at Randolph, Georgia,and of the Woman's College of Lynchburg, Virginia. She takes much partin social affairs, and particularly in the organizations connected with thecharitable and missionary efforts of her church. They are the parents of twochildren, both born in Marietta: Thomas Grambling, bom January 4,1912;and Jane Dean, bom August 18,1914.