Rev. John Overton Parr was born in Lincoln County, Tennessee, September 20, 1817. He was the oldest of eleven children. His father, B. T. Parr, was of English lineage; his mother, Miss Martha George, of Irish descent. The family moved in the thirties to Cane Hill, Ark., and thence to Barry County, Mo. This section was then frontier, hence educational advantages were meager. His father was a Cumberland elder, and late in life joined Presbytery, and was licensed to preach, but died soon after and was never ordained.
Brother Parr was married to Miss Elmira Crofford, January 24, 1843, in Maury County, Tenn. She had been a Christian and a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church from ten years old. She possessed superior business tact and was a helpmeet indeed. She stayed at home and with the help of the children kept things going while he preached the gospel.
He was eminently a missionary worker. Never sought strong congregations, but worked on the farm for support, and preached to waste places and in school-houses and built up churches. He never had a church that paid him over $100 a year, with the exception of one--Elysian Fields Church--where he had preached for a number of years, and built up a strong congregation. Another preacher came in and wanted it. He said: "Yes, I will hunt me another school-house." But the unconverted men of the community said: "No, he shall preach to us and we will pay him ourselves." And this they did. Many times the farm work was so heavy he could not go on Saturday to his appointment. So Sunday morning he would light a pine torch before day and start for eighteen or twenty miles ride through the forest, preach at eleven and again at night, then back to his farm work Monday.
He was a born orator, and a man of Holy Ghost power. At a camp-meeting in East Texas the services were cold and lifeless, one of his elders said, "I want you to give my preacher a chance." They assigned him the Sunday afternoon hour. The witnessing power of the Holy Ghost fell upon the audience, shouts went up throughout the camp, sinners were convicted, and a glorious revival started. On another occasion he went with a surveying party to locate some land on Big Sandy, near where Bowie is now located. Sunday morning he called together the scattered settlers, with his surveying party, and preached to them. In 1857 he purchased a farm in Grayson County. With a family of six children, the eldest only fourteen, he built a home and a place of worship in this frontier country. When spring came he was ready for missionary work again, and made a circuit of Grayson, Collin, Dallas, Tarrant, Cook, and Montague Counties. He even crossed Red River and preached to the Indians.
When the war broke out his oldest son joined the army. The Indians stole his cattle. He traded his farm for property in Dangerfield, and died at this place, January 11, 1868. His wife and six children later moved to Denton County.
There are many of the Parrs in this section of Texas. When you find one you may rest assured you have found a good Christian, a loyal and useful citizen, and an out-and-out Cumberland Presbyterian. Among these, I mention Mr. B. T. Parr (Uncle Berry as he is familiarly called) who lives at Bellevue, Tex. He is seventy-nine years old, and the only surviving son of the subject of this sketch. Other relatives, abundantly worthy of note, are Mr. J. D. Parr of Bowie and Mr. J. C. Parr of Denton. May the mantle, and if possible, "a double portion of the spirit" of Rev. John Overton Parr fall on some of the younger members of the Parr family.
[Source: Our Senior Soldiers: The Biographies and Autobiographies of Eighty Cumberland Presbyterian Preachers.Compiled by The Cumberland Presbyterian Board of Publication. The Assistance of Revs. J. L. Price and W. P. Kloster is Greatfully Acknowledged. Nashville, Tenn.: The Cumberland Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1915, pages 171-173]