A tragic story with a happy ending.

[Rob White, not Bob White]

Let's see, where to start. I guess I'll start at the beginning. It was sometime in 1918 when my grandfather married his then 18yo sweetie and gave her a wedding present of a 20ga Parker side by side (a man after my own heart)!

January, 1934, my father was born...third boy in line with a baby sister to follow. Whenever the boys were taken hunting with their father, "Pop" used his Fox Sterlingworth 12 ga side by side, and the boys would use their mother's Parker. (Aside, I now call the Parker 20 "Clara" because that was my grandmother's name, and it just suits).

I grew up with family slides of my father in March, 1954, where he shot two wild turkeys with one shot out of the Parker on a family friend's plantation in coastal SC. When I reached an age to know, I asked my father about the Parker. He told me that he had given it to his older brother, but I could write him and ask. When I wrote my uncle, he told me that he had given the Parker to another nephew, my first cousin. Later still, my cousin and I would correspond via email about our grandfather's Fox and our grandmother's Parker. He would suggest that I give him the Fox, and I would suggest that he give me the Parker, then we would decide to keep what we had, but maybe try to get together one day to shoot and share stories. Sadly that day never came.

Cousin was an attorney in the W. Palm Beach area of Florida, and I am a dialysis patient in Atlanta since 2005. I had a kidney transplant from my sister in 1991, but it crapped out in 2005. Organ transplantation is kind of near and dear to my heart, aside from dogs and guns. Anyway, several years ago now, word came that cousin had received a liver transplant. What? Surely he would have said something to me about this, but no. In fact, nothing was mentioned about it directly from cousin. However, I knew that if you get a liver, it's for one of two reasons; either you have liver cancer (in which case you probably wouldn't get a transplant), or you have an alcohol problem. With substance abuse running rampant in my family, as well as running rampant with attorneys, I could draw my own conclusions.

Fast forward another year or two forward: news came down that cousin had stepped out into his backyard one steamy night in July and taken his own life. The family was aghast, but I'm sure there were subtle signs all around for anyone who cared to put all of the pieces together. Cousin had a few guns, including the family heirloom Parker, so surely he committed this heinous act with a pistol or something easy. I had no idea. I now recall him once mentioning something about "the business end of a shotgun," which at the time seemed like something careless to say given my upbringing of strict gun safety. Now, in hindsight, it makes a little more sense. I'm certain there were other hints for those willing to see them and able to recognize them.

Figuring that I didn't have the gun yesterday, I don't have it today, and I probably won't have it tomorrow, I had nothing to lose so I wrote his widow a letter. They had two daughters; one just about to enter college, and one already in college. Both daughters leaned politically left and had pics of themselves with well-known politicians of that ilk (I won't go into any detail here but I wouldn't dare let my high school-aged daughter anywhere near one of them in the photograph). Figuring the family would be hard up for tuition after the loss of the sole bread-winning father, I tried to couch my letter in consoling terms, but with a request for my familial heirloom to be not only preserved, but returned to its original use in the outdoors, as my relatives would surely have wanted it. I offered to buy it for what I thought was a generous price best I could tell considering other market values of similar Parkers. Turns out I mailed the letter right around the funeral, and it was probably received the Monday just after the Saturday service. I got no response. I hadn't really meant to cut it that close, and I'm deeply sorry if it offended anyone.

Several months later, during an email conversation with cousin's older sibling, older sibling said "it's goulish to want the shotgun that his brother used to off himself." WHAT? Of all the guns cousin had to do this with, he used the PARKER??? Older brother went on, "but if you want to see about the gun, talk to my other brother who has it since he was the one called to deal with the family emergency."

Twinkle of light! I immediately contacted other older brother of cousin to ask about the Parker. He responded "I have two sons who have first refusal, but if they don't want it, it's yours since it is only a reminder of the worst night of my life. You can have it if you promise to keep it in the family!" Fair enough. Contact your sons and let me know.

After learning that the Parker was indeed the gun used, and figuring the present climate of gun control advocates in left political community, I feared that perhaps the family might destroy my family's heirloom in some public way, like cutting it in half on television, or throwing it in the marsh at a political rally or some such...my imagination was running wild.

Fast forward six or eight months, I got a call from cousin's older brother that he was coming to North Georgia in the Spring for a family vacation, and he was bringing the gun for me to have! That day couldn't come fast enough. When it did come, I loaded up my pointing lab, Billy, (who is also my service dog) and we headed to the North Georgia Mountains. This was around June during the first year of Covid, so 2020.

When my cousin got the gun out of his car, he admonished me, it's in kinda rough shape since nothing has been done with it since that night. Turns out the Sheriff who responded to the scene knew something of the worth of Parker shotguns, so he tried to keep the gun. Cousin's older brother and Cousin's widow had to repeatedly request their property be returned, which it ultimately was. Fortunately, the family is full of lawyers, so getting it back probably wasn't going to be an issue.

Fast forward to today, I now have reunited my grandfather's Fox and my grandfather's Parker. I hunt with the Parker at every chance at the preserve where I guide hunts over my pointing lab Billy and my Wirehair, Big Spot!

Another close call came in 2020 right after I got the Parker back. My wife and I were training retrievers with our training group, and occasionally we would shoot fliers for our dogs. My wife had expressed an interest to learn to shoot fliers. I gave her a Remington 870 20 ga the first Christmas we were married
some 26 years ago now, and a year or two ago I gave her a cheaper Remington 870 to be used for a popper gun in hunt test training...something she wouldn't have to worry about cleaning or harming.

She didn't care much for either, and she never really tried to learn to master them. Last year, one of her buddies talked her into buying a new Benneli autoloader 12 ga, which she did without consulting me. I run my dogs at a quail preserve in North Georgia, and I have invited her to hunt with me on any given occasion. I tried to impress upon her that she could learn to shoot fliers with any shotgun, and when I found out about the Benneli, I was dumbfounded. She could have spent just as much money and gotten herself a really nice over/under or side by side upland gun for that money, but I digress. Turns out she far overpaid for the Benneli, but that's how she rolls.

Before the Benneli, I offered for her to shoot the Parker, and in fact for her to even have it, knowing that my grandparents would have been proud for their grandson's wife to have something that they started with so many years prior.

Wife shot the gun a time or two, then for whatever reason decided that she didn't care for it. OK, I'll shoot it myself. Suit yourself. Soon after I learned about the Benneli. I tried to coach her to learn to shoot that, but if you are a man, and you are married, you know how that went.

Fast forward to just before Thanksgiving, 2021. While I was at dialysis, wife emailed to tell me that she was filing for divorce. Later that night, I realized she had moved out of our house and taken almost all of the guns that I had given her with her. She didn't take the 12 ga popper gun, and she sure didn't take the Parker, but she did take the 20 ga pump, a S&W 9mm pistol I had given her early in our marriage, and two pocket pistols she bought for herself.

Thankfully, she didn't take a liking to Clara, so I still have my family heirlooms intact. Presently, it has been 9 mos since she moved out, 8 mos since she filed for divorce, and she appears resistant to come to the negotiating table. I know that eventually this divorce will happen, and when it does, she will be the loser. Most people leave their spouse because the spouse cheated, they drink, they gamble, they are abusive, some serious reason that anyone could understand. I'm not sure my wife even knows why she left me, but she did and that is that. I'm just a nice guy who used to work as an environmental consulting geolgist, loves dogs, and loves the outdoors. I thought my wif eand I would soon retire to enjoy the out of doors together, and we were just on the precipice of being able to do that (she's 53 and I'm 56), but she flushed that all down the toilet now. Anyway, that wasn't the point of this story.

The point of this story is that I am now qualified to be on this forum, to catch Parkeritis, and I thought this story might interest you. I will try to include some pics of Clara if I can figure out how to do it. In the meantime, here are the details best I can figure:

Serial #232656
Manufactured 1881
Frame Size 0
Weight of barrels 32
Grade OV
Initial Price $25.50
Barrel Type Trojan Steel barrels
Patented October 25, 1910

Estimated 33,005 produced

During 2020 and 2021, I was rejoicing on my family heirloom coming to me. Today I'm still trying to defend myself in this divorce, but I'm hopeful that this coming bird season, the divorce will be over, I can get the financial support I need to survive disabled and on dialysis, and I can rejoice again at being able to hunt my dogs, help others train their dogs, and hunt with my Parker, creating many more stories for posterity and happy times for me. Women? Who needs em!

[John Cleveland]

Welcome!

3:13 "I will try to include some pics of Clara if I can figure out how to do it."

3:18 5 minutes. You learned to post pictures real fast!

[John Marscher]

Welcome. Any chance you remember which plantation in coastal SC? There are a few of us on the forum that live here and hunt on many of them.

[John Knobelsdorf II]

Welcome to you Rob.

Thank you for sharing your story and your enthusiasm with us. We feel the same enthusiasm.

Hope you get some of the classic books soon.

Such as: “Parker Gun, Identification and Serialization” by Price & Fjestad. If you don’t get this now, you may be like me, get it later and wish I had it a lot earlier. A lot of information to get your basic grounding in the aspects of Parker Bros guns.

Such as: the Trojan grade began production in 1912 (went on into 1939).

Going by the serial number provided, this one was produced in 1929. The details match that serial number in Price & Fjestad. Based on the serialization book, I expect the barrels will be 26 inches.

Another good one is: Parker Guns "the Old Reliable" by Ed Muderlak.

If you want more access within the site, upgrade from an Associate to an Annual Member. Click on “Membership” at: https://parkerguns.org/

Membership pays for itself if you order a letter from the association about the details from the factory records.

Just drenching yourself in the information at this site can be a sufficient education in its own right.

Oh, and I have a quick story about a button on an iPad that taught me the lesson that it is wise for SOMEONE ELSE to work with my wife when she is trying to familiarize herself with a firearm (or any other hazardous tool).

[Rob White, not Bob White]

John K, thanks for the information. It is highly likely that my familial information about the gun is mistaken. As you may know, stories handed down verbally are often subject to embellishment and exaggeration. The White family is particularly subject to these sorts of exaggerations.

John M., The plantation belonged to a Meade family. I believe it is now the location of a coal-fired power plant. The Meade plantation was named Cote Bas, just North of Charleston on the Cooper River. My grandfather was a representative with the Seaboard Coastline RR, and as such he knew many important people in and around SC. My father has reported that when they would duck hunt with Mr. Meade, instead of using a dog to retrieve the birds, Mr. Meade had his help retrieve and dress the game.

Additionally, there is a story about my grandfather White going to Georgetown, SC, for a business deal. Apparently, my grandfather's job was to encourage industries to locate on the RR, thus generating more RR business. Rumor has it that my grandfather struck a deal with his father-in-law to locate the paper mill at Georgetown. My father reports that when his father returned home from that trip, he had a briefcase full of enough money that he could pay off their house in Norfolk, Va. My mother has often said, while vacationing at Pawley's Island, that Pawleys stinks under a south breeze because of her father-in-law, Mr. Warren.

Mr. Meade must have been a very good friend because he gave my father his quail gun, a Remington Sportsman 48B in 16ga. I now have this gun but did not know its origin. When I asked my dad where he got it, he said Mr. Meade gave it to him! Nice guy huh?

[John Marscher]

Bobby Mead owns quite a bit of the west side of the upper Cooper river and a large portion behind Mepkin Abbey (a 3,000 acre monastery that specializes in produce and mushrooms).

Just to the south is Dupont and SCEG power.

[Rob White, not Bob White]

John M. That's very interesting. The only way I knew anything about the area was knowing that the plantation had been called Cote Bas, and then looking around on Google Earth in the area. I found a Cote Bas landing marked right by the power plant, and then today I found Cote Bas Road (I think), which appears to be on a military base (I could see a small golf course - Red Bank Golf Course).

I emailed Daddy to ask if the Mr. Mead he knew had a son, Bobby Mead. My father is 88, and has a pretty sharp memory, so maybe he will remember. I don't know how old my grandfather was, but I feel certain the elder Mr. Mead was a contemporary of my grandfather.

[Mills]

Interesting story and hope it turns out well for you. Yes, it sounds like a plantation in the Cooper River district which is under threat of development but has a robust conservation movement too. Hope you join PGCA and join the addiction so many of us are under. We need a few more Georgia members anyway

[John Cleveland]

Last Sad Ending.
It is with great sadness that I report that Rob died this summer from a systemic fungal infection arising from a kidney transplant this past spring. He had been very hopeful that the transplant was taking and leading to a happy ending. It was a blow to all of his hunting friends at South Fork Hunting preserve where he guided and trained dogs.

He is missed every hunt I take there this fall. Godspeed Rob !

[Mike Franzen]

Good Lord! May he rest in peace.