When 25-year-old Clarence Richard "Bud" Parham (our papaw) signed his World War II draft registration card on that autumn day in 1940, he probably had little idea that his signature would one day serve as a starting point for tracing an extraordinary American lineage stretching back over three centuries. Working as a bus driver for the Mars Hill-Hedgesville Bus Line in the mountains of North Carolina, Bud was just another young man answering his country's call. But the name he carefully wrote—and the father he listed as his emergency contact, "Mr. Lon J. Parham"—opened a window into a family story that began in the earliest days of colonial Virginia.
The Starting Point: Bud Parham, 1915-1984
Our story begins with Clarence Richmond "Bud" Parham, born November 19, 1915, in the rolling hills of Buncombe County, North Carolina. Known to family and friends as "Bud," he was a tall, lean young man—6 feet tall and 160 pounds with striking blue eyes and brown hair. He lived on Rural Route 4 outside Asheville with his parents, working honest work driving buses through the winding mountain roads for the Mars Hill-Weaverville Bus Line.
When the draft registration came around in 1940, the 25-year-old Bud dutifully listed his father, Jesse Alonzo "Lon" Parham, as his next of kin—a simple bureaucratic detail that would prove invaluable to future genealogists. But Bud's story was just beginning. On April 8, 1941, he enlisted at Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina, beginning a military service that would span three years, one month, and five days.
Bud's war was not spent in the quiet mountains of North Carolina, but across the battlefields of Europe. He fought in six major campaigns: Tunisia, Sicily, Normandy, Northern France, the Rhineland, and Central Europe. His service took him from the North African desert through the invasion of Sicily, across the beaches of Normandy, through the liberation of France, into the heart of Nazi Germany, and finally to victory in Central Europe.
For his distinguished service, Bud earned the Bronze Star Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, and the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with six bronze service stars—each star representing one of those hard-fought campaigns. He received his honorable discharge on September 15, 1945, returning home to the North Carolina mountains as a decorated veteran of the greatest conflict in human history.
Bud lived until 1984, long enough to see his mountain community continue to change and grow, carrying the stories of his wartime service and the long family history that stretched back through the centuries. When the draft registration came around, he dutifully listed his father, Jesse Alonzo "Lon" Parham, as his next of kin—a simple bureaucratic detail that would prove invaluable to future genealogists.
The Preacher's Son: Jesse Alonzo "Lon" Parham
Bud's father, Jesse Alonzo Parham—called "Lon" by all who knew him—was born July 20, 1891, in the same Buncombe County where his son would later grow up. Lon married Mary Elizabeth "Lizzie" Gantt, a woman four years his junior who would outlive him by more than a decade, passing away in 1985 at the remarkable age of 90. Lon himself lived to see 83 years, dying September 28, 1974, having witnessed his mountain community transform from the horse-and-buggy era to the space age.
But Lon was more than just a mountain farmer or tradesman—he was the son of a minister, part of a family tradition of faith that would stretch back through multiple generations.
The Reverend Samuel: A Man of the Mountains
Lon's father was Reverend Samuel Parham, born in May 1849 in Buncombe County during the antebellum period. Samuel lived through the Civil War as a young man, survived Reconstruction, and built his ministry in the post-war South. He married Margaret Murdock and preached in the mountain communities until his death on September 20, 1913—just two years before his great-grandson Bud would be born.
Samuel represented the third generation of Parham preachers, following in the footsteps of his own father, another reverend whose story takes us even deeper into the 19th century.
Reverend Humprey Posey: The Earlier Ministry
Samuel's father was Reverend Humprey Posey Parham, born in 1816 when James Madison was president and the War of 1812 was still fresh in American memory. Humprey lived through the entire antebellum period, the Civil War, and into Reconstruction, dying in 1880. He married Minerva Sluder, and together they established their family in the same Buncombe County that would remain the Parham stronghold for generations.
The name "Humprey Posey" suggests the kind of distinctive mountain naming traditions that marked families in this region—names that carried family history and regional character forward through the generations.
Littleton Parham: The Early Mountain Pioneer
Humprey's father was Littleton Parham, born in 1800 as Thomas Jefferson assumed the presidency. Littleton represented the first generation of Parhams to truly establish themselves in the North Carolina mountains, living from the early republic through the Civil War era, dying in 1869 during the early years of Reconstruction.
He married Elizabeth Betsy Martin, and their union in the early 1800s marked the beginning of the long Parham presence in Buncombe County. Littleton lived through the entire transformation of the American frontier, seeing the mountain region develop from a sparsely settled wilderness to an established agricultural community.
TBD (double records at the time of this being published)
The Virginia Connection: William Parham
Littleton's father was William Parham, and here our story takes a significant geographical leap backward. William was born in 1705 in Sussex County, Virginia, during the colonial period when Queen Anne ruled Britain and the American colonies were still generations away from independence. He died in 1764, just as tensions between Britain and the colonies were beginning to intensify.
William married Mary Booth, born in 1725, and their life together spanned the heart of the colonial period. Sussex County, Virginia, was part of the original Tidewater region where English settlement had taken deep root, and the Parhams were part of that established colonial society before the great migration westward into the mountain regions.
John Parham: The Colonial Generation
William's father was John Parham, also born in 1705 in Sussex County, Virginia. The family records show some confusion here—both John and his son William share identical birth and death dates in the genealogical documentation, suggesting either a transcription error or the complexity of record-keeping in colonial times. Both men married women named Mary Booth, and both died in 1764.
Despite these documentary puzzles, the pattern is clear: the Parhams were an established Virginia family during the colonial period, with roots deep in the Tidewater region.
William Parham the Elder: The Early Colonial Ancestor
Moving back another generation, we find another William Parham, born around 1680 and dying in 1733. This William lived through the entire early colonial expansion period, seeing Virginia grow from a struggling settlement to a prosperous colony. His life spanned the reigns of multiple British monarchs and the establishment of the colonial society that would eventually give birth to the American Revolution.
Thomas Parham: The Founding Father
At the very beginning of our traceable line stands Thomas Parham, born in 1625 in the Lawnes Creek Settlement in Surry, Virginia. Thomas represents the earliest documented Parham ancestor in America, arriving during the great wave of English colonization in the 1620s and 1630s.
Lawnes Creek Settlement was one of the early Virginia plantations, part of the expansion of English settlement beyond the original Jamestown area. For Thomas to be born there in 1625 means his parents were among the very earliest English settlers in America—the generation that established permanent English presence in the New World.
The Arc of History
From Thomas Parham's birth in colonial Virginia in 1625 to Bud Parham's draft registration in North Carolina in 1940, this family line spans 315 years of American history. The story moves from the earliest colonial settlements through the expansion westward into the mountains, encompasses the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and two World Wars.
What emerges is a picture of a family that helped build America from its earliest days—colonial planters who became mountain farmers, Virginia gentlemen who became North Carolina preachers, pioneers who cleared the mountain valleys and established the communities that would endure for generations.
The Parham line represents the great American story in miniature: the movement from coast to interior, from colony to nation, from wilderness to settlement to established community. From Thomas's arrival in the Lawnes Creek Settlement to Bud's bus route through the North Carolina mountains, each generation built upon the foundation laid by those who came before.
In the end, that simple signature on a 1940 draft card—"C.R. Parham"—connects us not just to one young man who answered his country's call and served with distinction across the battlefields of World War II, but to three centuries of American family history, stretching back to the very beginnings of English settlement in the New World. From Thomas's arrival in colonial Virginia to Bud's heroic service in the liberation of Europe, the Parham family story embodies the American experience itself.
This story would not have been possible without the generous research contributions of many Parham family cousins who have preserved and shared these precious family records. Special thanks goes to Pam Stewart Smathers, who spent countless hours scanning documents to make this genealogical treasure trove available to all of us. If you notice any inaccuracies in this account or have additional information to share, please don't hesitate to reach out—family history is always a collaborative effort, and every detail helps complete the picture of our shared heritage.
More to come! Will