Biography - Isaac Parker
HON. ISAAC A. J. PARKER, who lives in the city of Vienna, Johnson County, was born in Tishomingo County, Miss., October 27, 1840. His father, Moses D. Parker, was born, it is thought, in Giles County, Tenn., to Edmond Parker, who, it is believed, was a native of North Carolina and of English ancestry. His father, that is the great-grandfather of the Hon. Isaac A. J. Parker, was a pioneer of Bowling Green, Ky., who reared three sons: Edmond, William and David. Edmond Parker, the grandfather of our subject, removed from Bowling Green, Ky., to Giles County, Tenn., and from there to McNairy County, where he lived the rest of his life. Moses D. Parker was reared in Tennessee and went from that State to Lawrence County, Ala., where he was married. His advantages for securing an education, as may be inferred from the section of country in which he lived at that time, were somewhat limited, but he commenced when a young man teaching school and studying privately until he had acquired considerable knowledge on special and general subjects. He afterward removed to Mississippi, where he continued the same course of life for some time, and also served there in Tippah County as Tax Assessor and County Surveyor. He was a resident of that county when the war broke out. However, loyal to the Union, he joined the Eleventh Illinois Cavalry July 12, 1862, at Bethel, Tenn., serving the cause until his death, which occurred November 30, 1863.
The maiden name of the mother of the Hon. Isaac Parker was Louisa Elizabeth Jackson, who was a native of Lawrence County, Ala., and a daughter of James and Rebecca (Weathers) Jackson, of North Carolina. She is still living and resides with her daughter, Mrs. O. P. Miller, in Johnson County, aged seventy-four years. She has had fifteen children, eight of whom reached maturity.
The Hon. Isaac A. J. Parker was reared and educated in Tippah County, Miss., and resided there until the breaking out of the war, when, the family being all strong sympathizers with the cause of the Union, their property was confiscated and they were compelled to leave the State. On the 7th of October, 1862, Mr. Parker joined the Hatcher scouts at Corinth, Miss., and served until the company was honorably discharged, after which he enlisted in the Mississippi Rangers, which were soon afterward incorporated with the First Alabama Cavalry. He was commissioned First Lieutenant and served as such until the expiration of his term of enlistment, January 8, 1864, when he served a few months as recruiting officer at Memphis, Tenn. In January, 1865, he removed to Illinois and settled in Johnson County, purchasing a farm near Vienna, which he has occupied continuously ever since. He commenced teaching school in Mississippi when seventeen years of age, and continued to follow that profession until the breaking out of the war. Soon after locating in Johnson County, he resumed his former vocation and taught school a portion of each year for nineteen years. In 1858 he was converted and joined the Christian Church at Hickory Flats, Miss., and in 1882 was ordained a preacher in that denomination.
In December, 1891, our subject engaged in the sale of agricultural implements, wagons, carriages, musical instruments, etc., and during all this time he has superintended the improvement and cultivation of his farm. In 1858 he married Miss Jemima J. Clary, a native of Indiana and a daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Charles) Clary. Mr. and Mrs. Parker have had ten children, viz.: Charles Addison, Lucas E., Augustus N., Lilly A., Mary Oma, Willis A., Beverly E., Olive Ethel, Alice Myrtle, and Miletus, deceased. Mr. Parker is a Democrat in politics and in 1888 was elected a member of the Thirty-sixth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, in which he served, with fidelity and distinction. Since then he has been content to remain in a private station and to give his attention to his own personal affairs.
Extracted 15 May 2002 by Rick Girtman from 1893 Biographical Review of Johnson, Massac, Pope, and Hardin Counties, Illinois, pages 387-388.
