MAJOR W. L. PARKER

PARKER

Posted By: Jake Tornholm (email)
Date: 4/21/2020 at 11:49:54

MAJOR W. L. PARKER was born in Shelby county, Kentucky, February 22, 1820, son of John and Elizabeth Parker, natives of Pennsylvania and Virginia respectively. His father was eighteen
years old when he went to Kentucky with an older brother, Samuel, and settled in Shelbyville, where they engaged in working at their trade, that of cabinet-making. This business John followed for about five years, until he married. He and his wife, nee Elizabeth Weaver, had ten children, of whom Major Parker is the youngest. Four are still living, John Parker was a focal minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church and his brother Samuel, was a regularly ordained minister and a member of the Kentucky Conference. The latter volunteered as a missionary to the South and died in Mississippi in 1818. John died in the triumphs of the Christian faith in 1846. His wife died in 1822. She also was a devoted Christian.

The subject of our sketch began life for himself at the age of ten years by working in a brick-yard in St. Louis, at twenty-five cents a day, off-bearing from the moulder. He subsequently served for a time as cabin boy on a steamboat. At fourteen he commenced learning the trade of bricklayer in St. Louis. This he followed with contracting until the war opened.

In 1862 he enlisted as a private in Company C, Fourth Missouri Mounted State Militia Cavalry, and was soon promoted to Second Lieutenant. In the fall of that year he was promoted to Captain of his company, and while acting in that capacity took a gallant part in the battle of Springfield, Missouri, against General Marmaduke. In 1864 he recruited out of the Fourth and they vet-eraned and formed a part of the Thirteenth Missouri Cavalry, of which Parker was Captain of Company K. Later, he was promoted to Major in the same regiment. He was discharged in January, 1866, His regiment was sent out on the plains to Fort Larned, Major Parker being commander of the fort. Later, his battalion (two companies of cavalry and two of infantry) was sent to Fort Auburn, on the boundary between Colorado and Kansas. They marched from Auburn to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, some 300 miles, encountering several hard snow storms; while on the march they slept on and under the snow every night. From there they were ordered home, and at St. Louis were paid off. He was never wounded or taken prisoner, but on more than one occasion did good running. While in the army he contracted disease from which he will probably never recover.

After the war he returned to the business of bricklaying and contracting in St. Joseph, Missouri. This he continued at that place until 1870, when he located in Evansville, Indiana, and engaged in the same business. In 1878 he began the manufacture of brick by hydraulic pressure, turning out 85,000 brick per day of ten hours, rain or shine. In 1875, his health failing, he moved to New
Albany, and the following year, seeking still further change, he came to Adams county, Iowa. Here he has since presided, engaged in agricultural pursuits, His farm, consisting of 440 acres, is located in section 20, Quincy township, and is six miles northwest of Corning.

Major Parker was first married, in 1844, to Frances Dixon. Her death occurred in 1872. She was a Christian lady and a member of the Methodist Church. In March, 1875, he wedded Mrs. Fanny C. Montgomery, widow of the late Captain James Montgomery and a daughter of William and Abigail (Tower) West, her father a native of Virginia and her mother of Massachusetts. She is the third born of their twelve children, seven of whom are still living. Her father died during the war at about the age of seventy years, and her mother, in August, 1873, at the age of sixty-eight. Most of their married life was passed near New Albany, Indiana. Mrs. Parker’s first husband, Captain James Montgomery, was one of the leading river men of his day. He arose from a poor boy to a position of influence, and at the time of his death was one of the most prominent men of New Albany. He held official positions in the Methodist Episcopal Church; was associated with the Masonic fraternity, and was in politics a Republican. While on the river, he commanded a number of boats, being president of the mail line between Louisville, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio, for seven years. While in this position, he was credited with breaking up gambling on all boats of that line.

During the civil war, he served for about two years in the Union navy, being the first pilot of the gunboat Monarch, next of the flagship Hartford and afterward of the gunboat Switzerland. While on the last, he was one of the first to volunteer to run the blockade at Vicksburg, piloting the first boat through. After the war he was never engaged in any active business. His death occurred
February 3, 1872.

By her first marriage, Mrs. Parker had two children, Fanny E. and James B. Montgomery.
Major Parker is a member of the G. A. R. Post; politically is a Republican; fraternally a member of the I. O. O. F., and religiously, of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mrs. Parker is also a Methodist. She is a lady of taste and refinement and show's much of that culture which comes from an acquaintance with books. Her library is composed of select volumes and the latest works of the most popular authors.