Settlers make
the move to area
There are graves that are over 140 years
old in some cemeteries inside the current Rainsville city limits.
Some of the earliest known settlers came to the lands that are
now downtown Rainsville between 1885 and 1895 including the Henry
Thompson family, the Cicero Dawson family, the Parris family,
and the Alphonso Robertson family. Several other families had
settled in surrounding areas that are now inside Rainsville's
city limits before 1885. Two of the earliest settlers were the
James
Marion Dawson family, and the Wooten family. Between 1880
and 1905, other families moved into areas around Town Creek Church,
near where Plainview school is today, or other land on the outer
edges of today's city. Those including the James family, the
William R. Blalock family, the J.G. DeShields family, the Henry
Patton family, the Durham family (Chavies), the John Marshall
family, the General McCurdy family and others.
Around 1892 or 1893, the brothers Joe Franklin
Parker and John Tolbert (Tol) Parker came to what is now downtown
Rainsville. They grew up in the valley near Lebanon, and as young
men they chose to trade their horses for some Sand Mountain real
estate. Within a few years, each had large, growing families
and growing assets. Joe and Tol would be among the enterprising
leaders in the township. At one time, the Parker brothers owned
several hundred acres of land in Rainsville.
In 1902, Will Rains moved to today's downtown
area from Grove Oak. In 1907, he built the first store in town
just west of the crossroads of present-day Alabama Highway 35
and 75. Tom Everett put up a cotton gin in Rainsville in 1908.
By 1910, Joe Parker operated a saw mill, grist mill, and a gin.
Tol Parker had bought the Rains' general store. According to
an article in the July 15, 1914 issue of the Fort Payne Journal,
the Parkers bought the Horton bottling works and moved it from
Chavies to Joe's saw mill in downtown Rainsville.
During the first two decades of the 20th
century more families moved to Rainsville including the Elijah
Jackson Downey family, the Charles
Alonzo Tumlin family, the Z.A. Land family, the lee Harrison
family, the James Hardy Benefield family, the Almarine
Dawson family, the David Hall family, the D. Gray family,
the Bert Brannon family, the O.F. Pertree family and the L.M.
Willingham family.
Edward Elijah McCurdy was a prominent merchant
and farmer who moved to Rainsville in 1911. His wife Susan Lofton
McCurdy was the first teacher of the second school in Rainsville
in 1912. In 1926, Mr.
Edward and Susie McCurdy
McCurdy was elected to the county commission
court for the third district. He helped lead the efforts to make
the roads that led into Rainsville state highways. From 1912
until the early 1950s, Mrs. McCurdy taught thousands of students
at various schools in the area. The portion of Highway 75 in
the Rainsville city limits is named McCurdy Avenue in honor of
"Uncle Ed" and "Aunt Susie."
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Heritage
Project Home
A 1918
family portrait shows Joe Parker and his wife Lucinda with
their 10 children in front of their home which was near the present-day
intersection of McCurdy Avenue (Hwy 75) and George Wallace Drive.
(Click on the photo for a larger version). This was their second
house. The Parker's first house was a tiny cabin near the present
day intersection of Parker Avenue and George Wallace Street.
Parker family gallery
Toll Parker's letter to the editor, 1912
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