Isaac N. Parker

 

SOURCE: "The Biographical Record of Champaign County, Illinois," The S. J. Clarke Publishing company, Chicago, 1900

SURNAMES: BOLEY, BRADEN, COOK, JENKINS, PARKER, SEWARD, WOLEVER

ISAAC N. PARKER, a thorough and systematic farmer and stock-raiser residing on section 11, East Bend township, Champaign county, Illinois, was born in Hardy county, West Virginia, June 23, 1837, and belongs to an old Virginian family of English origin. His father, Joseph PARKER, was a native of Jefferson county, West Virginia, and there wedded Mary JENKINS, a native of the same state, and a daughter of Benjamin JENKINS. Both died in Hardy county, where the father was engaged in farming for many years. In their family were ten children, six sons and four daughters, of whom four are still living, namely: Jane,wife of Washington COOK, of this county; Joseph J., a resident of Fayette county, Ohio; Eli,of Hardy county, West Virginia; and Isaac N., of this review.

Our subject grew to manhood in his native state, and at the opening of the Civil war was drafted in the Confederate army, but his sympathies being with the north, he enlisted August 4, 1862, in Company G, Ninety-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which was assigned to the Army of the Tennessee. His first engagement was at Richmond, Kentucky, and was followed by the battles of Jackson, Mississippi, Black River Bridge, the siege of Vicksburg, the second battle of Jackson, and the engagement at Guntown, Mississippi, where he was taken prisoner, being held in captivity at Cahaba, Alabama, for nine months. After being exchanged at Black River Bridge, he started for home on the steamer Sultana, which was blown up near Memphis, Tennessee, sixteen hundred out of the twenty three hundred on board being lost. The others were all more or less injured. Our subject was taken to Memphis, where he was cared for a short time, and was then sent up the river to Cairo, and on to Camp Chase, Ohio, where he was honorably discharged May, 1865.

Mr. Parker then went to Clark county, Ohio, where the family had removed during the war, and where he engaged in farming that summer. In the fall of 1865, he was married in Madison county, Ohio to Miss Lucinda R. STANLEY, a native of that county, and a daughter of John STANLEY, an old settler from North Carolina. By this union were born eight children who are still living: Mary, now the wife of George SEWARD, of Quincy, Illinois; Sarah, wife of Frank BOLEY, of Jackson, Mississippi; Frances, wife of Edward WOLEVER, a farmer of this county; Lulu, wife of Samuel BRADEN, a farmer of East Bend township; Charles Edward, who holds a business position in Elmwood, Illinois; John, who is employed in Quincy; Clarence Standley, who assists his father on the farm; and Frank, a student in the home school. Two children of this family died in infancy, and Etta May at the age of five months.

After his marriage Mr. Parker engaged in farming upon rented land in Clark county, Ohio, for several years, and in 1870 came to Champaign county, Illinois, and purchased forty acres of land in East Bend township, where he erected a small house, making that his home for four or five years. He then sold the place, and after renting another farm for two years he moved to the farm where he now resides, but did not purchase the place for some time afterward. It consists of one hundred and sixty acres, which is well tiled and under excellent cultivation, while the improvements thereon are good and substantial, including a comfortable residence erected by our subject.

By his ballot Mr. Parker supports the men and measures of the Republican party, and cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1864. He has efficiently served as a member of the school board for a number of years, but has never cared for political preferment, although he always takes an active interest in everything tending to promote the public welfare. He is a member of Dewey Post, No. 282, G. A R., and both he and his wife are consistent and faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Harmony.