Brown County IN Archives Biographies.....Parks, Samuel 1871 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com March 4, 2007, 10:50 am

Author: B. F. Bowen (1904)

SAMUEL PARKS.

   Few of Brown county's representative citizens are as widely and favorably
known as the prosperous young farmer and popular and efficient public servant
whose name furnishes the caption of this review. Samuel Parks, who is now
holding the responsible and exacting office of sheriff, is one of Brown county's
native sons and dates his birth from January 18, 1871. His father, Samuel Parks,
was born in Virginia, and his mother, who bore the maiden name of Martha Helms,
was a native of Ohio, both having been married previous to meeting each other in
Brown county, their former unions resulting in the birth of five children each.
Of the three children born to the second marriage, Samuel, of this review, is
the youngest.

   Samuel Parks, Sr., left Virginia in an early day and moved to Owen county,
Indiana, where he resided until i860, in which year he came to Johnson township.
Brown county, and purchasing a small tract of wild land, cleared and otherwise
developed a farm, on which he spent the remainder of his life, in due time
becoming one of the well known men of his community. He was a member of Company
K, Fourteenth Indiana Infantry, in the late Civil war, served one year at the
front and at the expiration of his period of enlistment returned to his home in
Brown county, where his death occurred in the year 1883. He was a man of
excellent character and high repute, hard working and industrious, and while not
so successful as some in the matter of accumulating wealth, yet lived to good
purpose and left the impress of his individuality on the community of which he
was so long an esteemed and honored citizen. In religion he was a Baptist and as
such exercised a wholesome influence among those with whom he mingled, his daily
life being a practical exemplification of the faith which he professed. Mrs.
Parks, like her husband, was highly respected by a large circle of neighbors and
friends, who deeply lamented her death, which sad event took place on February
10, 1903. Her nature was also religious and for a number of years she was a
faithful and constant communicant of the Christian (or Disciple) church, in the
teachings of which she was reared by pious parents.

   Samuel Parks, the direct subject of this sketch, was twelve years old when
his father died and immediately thereafter he took charge of the little farm and
assumed the responsibility of looking after his widowed mother's interests. For
one so young these were no small undertakings, yet with true filial regard he
resolutely accepted the responsibility and during the years that followed
managed affairs so judiciously and well that in due season he was enabled to add
to the acreage of the homestead by purchasing land contiguous thereto. Being
early, deprived of a fathers care and guidance, he learned the valuable lesson
of self-reliance and the necessity of continuous effort, and while looking after
the farm and attending to his other business affairs, he devoted the winter
seasons until his eighteenth year to study in the district schools. Realizing
that little of his time could be spent in acquiring an education, he made the
most of his opportunities and by devoting his leisure hours to the acquisition
of knowledge, supplied in a large measure the difficulty caused by his father's
decease.

   Without following in detail the career of Mr. Parks from the time he became
manager of the farm and practically the head of the family, suffice it to state
that his progress has been eminently satisfactory and his success far greater
and more marked than that of the majority of young men who have had nothing in
the way of responsibility or discouragement to hinder or impede. With an
intelligent comprehension of the situation and a determination as rare as it was
admirable, he started out to achieve his purposes and that he has succeeded in
this laudable desire is attested not only by his success in a material way, but
also by the active interest he has manifested in public and political circles
and the honored official position to which he has been chosen by the suffrage of
his fellow citizens. In addition to the original homestead to which he succeeded
after his father's decease, Mr. Parks, by consecutive energy and tactful
management has increased his holdings until he is now the owner of two hundred
acres of land, one hundred and sixty being the direct result of his own
industry; of this he has cleared and reduced to cultivation about sixty acres,
making the sum total of his tillable land a little in excess of one hundred
acres, his farm being one of the most productive as well as one of the best
improved in the county.

   Mr. Parks began taking an interest in political matters when a mere youth and
since old enough to cast a ballot he has been an uncompromising supporter of the
Democratic party and of recent years one of its leaders in the county of Brown.
In recognition of his services to the party as well as by reason of his fitness
for the position, he was nominated in the summer of 1902 for the office of
sheriff and the county being normally Democratic, his election followed as a
matter of course in the fall of the following year.

   The better to discharge his official functions, Mr. Parks shortly after being
elected changed his abode to Nashville, where he has since resided, his career
the meanwhile in his responsible position meeting the approval of the people of
the county irrespective of politics. So ably and fearlessly did he discharge his
duties and so well satisfied was the party with his administration during his
first term that on November 27, 1903, he was renominated.

   In transacting the business of his office Mr. Parks shows no favor, but is
absolutely fair and impartial, making duty to the public the paramount
consideration, and everything else subordinate thereto. Courteous in all his
relations and the embodiment of honor in his official affairs, he has won
popularity among all classes and conditions and, without invidious comparison,
it can be truthfully said that Brown county has never been served by a more
capable, painstaking or obliging official. Although pronounced in his allegiance
to the Democracy and a resourceful partisan, a successful organizer and an
untiring campaigner, he is by no means offensive in his political methods, many
of his warmest friends and most sincere admirers holding opinions directly
contrary to his own. Not the least of the factors that have won him popularity
are his splendid social qualities, which make him a favorite in whatever circle
he may be found. He is essentially a man of the people and never loses sight of
their interests, while his sound judgment, tact and fertility of resource prove
him a natural leader and eminently qualify him to fill worthily high and
important trusts.

   Fraternally Mr. Parks is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
the principles and precepts of which excellent organization he exemplifies, in
all of his relations with his fellow men. In religion he subscribes to no creed
except the Bible and belongs to a branch of the church which takes the sacred
volume alone as its rule of faith and practice. For a number of years he has
been a member of the Christian church and the congregation to which he belongs
has felt his influence and liberality in many ways, being a liberal contributor
to its support, besides giving generously to its various lines of work both at
home and abroad.

   In common with the majority of humanity, Mr. Parks has experienced many of
the pleasures of life and fortune, but at times he has been called to pass under
the rod and quaff the bitter cup of bereavement. His loving, faithful wife and
companion, to whom he was united in 1893, died on July 9th of the following
year, after a brief but happy and contented wedded experience. Her maiden name
was Ollie Bales, and she was born in 1873 in Brown county, being scarcely
twenty-one years of age when called from the home which her presence adorned and
from the husband who lavished upon her all the wealth and affection of which his
warm heart and generous nature were capable of bestowing. Mr. Parks was again
married on the 10th of January, 1904, to Miss Ida Hedrick, daughter of Shelby
and Catherine (Callahan) Hedrick, of Nashville, where she was born and reared,
becoming his wife.

   In concluding this brief review of one of Brown county's representative
citizens and public spirited officials, it is needless to state that he is fully
entitled to the proud American appellation of a "self-made man." Circumscribed
by a discouraging environment, he never became disheartened, but with noble aims
to lure him on and well defined purpose to be achieved, he persevered in his
well-begun endeavor, gradually surmounted every obstacle in his pathway and by
the sheer force of a strong will and a powerful personality gradually forced his
way to the front until he not only achieved success from a material point of
view, but won the confidence of his fellow citizens and a large place in the
esteem of the public He is still a young man with the greater part of his life
before him, and what he has already accomplished may be taken as prophetic of
the larger measure of honor which his friends are pleased to believe awaits him
in the future.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY
INDIANA

INCLUDING BIOGRAPHIES OF THE GOVERNORS AND OTHER REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF INDIANA

ILLUSTRATED

1904

B. F. Bowen PUBLISHER


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