Statewide County HI Archives Biographies.....Parke, William Cooper September 21, 1821 - May 29, 1889
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
J. Orr orr@hawaii.com October 7, 2009, 2:16 pm

Source: The Story of Hawaii and Its Builders. Published by The Honolulu Star Bulletin, Territory of Hawaii, 1925.
Author: Edited by George F. Nellist

WILLIAM COOPER PARKE, Former Marshal of the Kingdom. Marshal of the Kingdom of 
Hawaii for thirty-four years, during which period he served under five kings, 
member of the king’s privy council under Kamehameha V, and beloved friend and 
helper of the Hawaiian people, William C. Parke for decades was one of the 
most notable figures in the islands.
  Loved alike by court officials and the public at large, Mr. Parke’s forced 
retirement from the office of marshal in 1884, at the request of the King, who 
was actuated by political motives, was most sincerely lamented by everyone, 
and to him was paid the unusual tribute of a public resolution of regret, 
voiced through a joint meeting of the Supreme Court, members of the 
Legislature and the bar of Hawaii. He was lauded as the highest type of public 
official, and, in the words of Chief Justice McCully, was designated as “the 
chief officer of the executive arm of the judiciary department.”
  “Marshal Parke was more than honest,” Judge McCully said in his eulogy. “He 
never lived merely for himself. He was always at the service of some one, 
either officially or in private. He made himself ex-officio a helper of the 
court and bar, and in serving the government he never forgot his duty to his 
fellow man.”
  At the conclusion of the ceremonies of public regret, Mr. Parke was granted 
a permanent settlement of $1200 a year by the Legislature, and was given a 
license to practice law.
  Born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on September 21, 1821, Mr. Parke was the 
son of William C. and Susan (Wilde) Parke, and a descendant of Captain Matthew 
Parke, who sailed with John Paul Jones as a captain of marines in the United 
States Navy, and returned from the cruise in command of the frigate “Alliance.”
  Mr. Parke attended the public schools of Boston, but when nineteen years old 
ran away from home and stowed away in a sailing ship bound for Honolulu, one 
of the ships which his father was frequently called upon to outfit at Boston, 
where he was in business as a commission and shipping merchant.
  Coming to Honolulu in 1843, Mr. Parke went into the cabinet making business 
for a short time, and when the gold-rush excitement in California was at its 
height in 1849 he sailed to San Francisco. He located a claim in the vicinity 
of General Sutter’s mill, near Coloma, became a close friend of General Sutter 
and bore back with him to Honolulu some of the original gold discovered at the 
mill.
  Upon his return to the islands in 1850 he was commissioned as Marshal of the 
Kingdom on June 1, by Kamehameha III, and this position he held until asked to 
resign for political reasons by King Kalakaua in 1884. Responsible for the 
maintenance of public order throughput the Kingdom, Mr. Parke organized a fine 
police system and administered this arm of the government efficiently.
  Perhaps his greatest contribution to Hawaii was his work during the great 
smallpox epidemic of 1853. The entire country was stricken, and one-third of 
the population died. With his characteristic tireless energy and love for 
mankind, Mr. Parke threw himself wholeheartedly into the task of aiding the 
suffering thousands, and organized relief parties who took charge of the 
entire situation.
  One exciting incident in the life of the former marshal occurred on the day 
of the election of King Kalakaua as ruler of the islands. The populace was 
divided into rival factions, and one group of malcontents descended upon 
Marshal Parke’s office, where he had hidden the late Samuel G. Wilder and the 
late A. S. Cleghorn, prominent members of the legislature. Marshal Parke 
defied the intruders, and with the assistant of Sanford B. Dole and his 
brother, George Dole, his two friends were saved.
  He was a true and trusted friend of the native Hawaiians, and scarcely 
another man of his time had such a large share of the native’s affection and 
confidence. They came to him whenever in trouble or in need of advice, and 
frequently a line of natives would be at his door in the morning awaiting his 
counsel.
  At one time he managed the business affairs of the Catholic Mission, and at 
various intervals he headed other religious and philanthropic affairs.
  One of the original founders of Lihue plantation, on the island of Kauai, 
Mr. Parke left large sugar interests upon his death, which are still held by 
his daughters. He was decorated with the Order of Kamehameha I by King 
Kalakaua, and he was also a 33 degree Mason, Odd Fellow and a member of the 
Pacific Club.
  In 1856 he married Annie Severance, daughter of Luther Severance, former 
American Commissioner in Honolulu, and upon his death on May 29, 1889, he was 
survived by four children, two of whom are now living, Miss Annie Parke and 
Mrs. Bernice Walbridge. His other two children were Miss Jane Severance Parke, 
and William Cooper Parke, who practiced law in Honolulu for many years.


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