The following is reprinted from "Looking Back: Winn Parish 1852-1986," by Dhale and Eugene F. Love of Winnfield. Mr. Love is a retired Winn Parish educator, having served as a vocational agriculture teacher and high school principal at Winnfield, and as Winn Parish Superintendent of Schools. The biography of Dr. Joseph Benjamin Parker, a country physician of the last century in the Sikes community, was written by his daughter in 1985.

By LENA PARKER EMMONS

Dr. Joseph Benjamin Parker was born two miles south of Sikes on November 1, 1874. The son of Rev. Jesse Parker and Rose Ann Drake Parker , he was the oldest of 16 children, 10 boys and 6 girls. Two children died in infancy. All the others lived to be married and have families of their own. All are deceased (as of 1985) except the youngest son, Ross Parker, of Dodson, Louisiana.

Dr. Parker grew up on a farm. They produced what they ate. His Granny Drake lived with the Parker family. Granny Drake spun thread on a spinning wheel to make socks and caps. The family made their soap from tallow, grease, and oak ashes. I don't know how much local schooling he had, but it was very little. He taught school at the old Mabry Schoolhouse, located south of the L.W. Gulledge home. He also taught at Crain School where the church now stands. My mother attended school there earlier. He also taught singing schools.

Dr. Parker went to college at Mt. Lebanon located in Bienville Parish near Arcadia. This was in the early 1900s. When he completed his schooling he returned home and built a small office across the road from his father's house. The office was made of logs.

In 1906, Dr. Parker built a house on land he bought west of Sikes about two miles across from the Woodrow Fordham place. The place is known today as the Charlie Thompson place. He completed the house before he married. The house is still tere, has been remodeled byt never torn down. It is a beautiful home site. Jerald Thompson lives there today.

Dr, Parker completed the hosue in 1906. He then married Nancy Erskins. They moved into the new home and used one room for his office practice. I was born there and so was my sister, Maud.

Dr. Parker secured a buggy and two horses that he used to make house calls to see sick patients. The house and office was so far from anyone that his brother, Uncle Jess Parker, stayed with us when he made house calls.

After four years, Dr. Parker moved his family to a house south of town. By this time there were three children. One child had died when only seven days old. My mother's health was bad and sometimes Daddy took here with him to make house calls. Roads were terrible in winter month, early impossible to get over, riding in a buggy or on horseback. He often had to spend the night somewhere, when flu epidemics, colds, or pneumonia was raging.

Sikes was first located north of the road and east of Caney Branch. We lived there at one time too, in a house known as the Don Smith house. P.W. Smith, Stanley's father, had a store there, also Newt Thompson and others.

A salesman from Upjohn Company called on Papa to supply his medical needs. He stayed at our house overnight. He came in on the train and had to wait for the return trip. Everyone rode the train to Winnfield to see the dentist.

We later moved on the hill where we lived for several years. Paper's office was in the house and we played with the empty bottles. He couldn't buy bottles; all he had was those brought in by individuals. The bottles were washed and stored to put medicine in. Papa bought his medicine in gallon bottles, and filled his own prescriptions. He mixed the liquid medicine and quite often mixed the powdered medicine. Only in his last few years of practice could he buy empty bottles.

Sickness at the turn of the century was different from sickness today, and was treated with different kinds of medicines. when someone had diphtheria, he had to send someone to Dodson on horseback to get the serum. The most common medicines were castor oil, turpentine, calomel tablets, quinine in capsules, Frederline liquid quinine for babies, cathartic pills ad paregoric. Ten calomel tablets was a good prescription. Sometimes we'd take them all at once, and then sometimes one every hour. You've never been really sick until you had a round of calomel. People had lots of colds, flu, typhoid fever, carbuncles, bone felons (on your finger), and boils. Paper helped another doctor operate on one patient for appendicitis. Papa set bones, broken arms and legs with no x-rays.

There were no telephones in the Sikes area until a little while before I left home and only few people had them. Everyone was on the same line, but had a different number of rings. When a bad cloud came up, we had to go unhook the telephone wire from the house because of lightning.

• To Be Continued

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