PARKER, JOHN M., Claiborne County, MS., then Orleans Parish, Louisiana

Parker, John M., was born in Claiborne county, Miss., 1838, and died at New
Orleans, May 4, 1893.  He was yet in the full vigor of manhood when death
stilled his noble heart and bereaved the city of New Orleans and the state
of Louisiana of a sterling, upright, and progressive business man and an
honored citizen of the highest type, depriving a loving household of its
mainstay, counselor, and revered chief.  His parents were Dr. James Porter
and Mary (Milliken) Parker.  The father was a native of Lexington, Ky. and
a son of Robert Parker, a native of Pennsylvania, and a captain in the
colonial army of the American revolution.  Capt. Parker removed from
Pennsylvania to Kentucky while yet a young man, and married in that state,
his wife being a daughter of Col. Andrew Porter, on whose staff Capt.
Parker had previously served.  As a young graduate physician, Dr. James
Porter Parker located at Port Gibson, Miss., and, through exceptional
professional ability and his high character, became a prominent and honored
citizen of his adopted state.  Dr. Parker married Mary Milliken, daughter
of John Milliken, a prominent planter, for whom Milliken's Bend was named.
John M. Parker graduated from Princeton college in the class of 1857, and
soon after completing his education engaged in mercantile pursuits.  He
removed to New Orleans in 1872, and shortly thereafter became a member of
the firm of Harris, Parker & Co., brokers and cotton factors.  This firm
later succeeded by that of the John M. Parker Co., of which Mr. Parker's
eldest son, John M., is now the senior member and president.  The senior
John M. Parker was also engaged in the wholesale grocery business at the
same time, and both this and the cotton business prospered and continually
expanded under his able management.  He was very successful in business and
his fortune continued to increase by reasonable degrees, but never did
reproach touch his name.  Throughout an unusually large circle of
acquaintances, business and otherwise, he was regarded as a man of the very
highest personal honor.  Nor did he allow business to monopolize his
attention.  He had the keenest appreciation of the obligations of
citizenship, and any movement that had for its object the common good, at
all times received his earnest encouragement and support.  In cases of need
among his fellowmen, his means and his personal service were at their
command.  He was an active member of the Cotton exchange and the New
Orleans Board of Trade, and became identified with several of the most
substantial business concerns of the city.  In 1882 Mr. Parker was elected
a member of the police commission of New Orleans, and continued in that
position to the time of his death.  His reputation as a member of this
board was soon established as being unalterably opposed to abuses of all
kinds, and of strictest adherence to established rules and regulations, his
decisions being always tempered with the soundest judgment, and a generous
consideration for the weaknesses of human nature.  Mr. Parker's social
qualities were preeminent, and his friends many.  In 1860 Mr. Parker was
married to Miss Roberta Buckner, a daughter of Robert H. and Sarah
(Freeland) Buckner, of Claiborne county, Miss.  The Freeland family removed
from Maryland to Mississippi, and of Buckner from Kentucky.  Robert H.
Buckner was a distinguished lawyer and jurist, and was chancellor of
Mississippi from 1839 to 1845.  Five sons and 1 daughter were born to Mr.
and Mrs. Parker, namely:  John M.,  William E.,  Robert B.,  J. Porter,
Arthur D., and  Sarah.  The daughter, now deceased, became the wife of
William G. Montgomery;  Robert B., also deceased, had become prominent as a
wholesale grocer of New Orleans;  William E., is a practicing physician at
Hot Springs, Ark.;  J. Porter, elsewhere referred to in this work, is judge
of the Civil district court at New Orleans;  John M. is president of the
John M. Parker Co., New Orleans, above referred to.  The mother of these
children survives her husband, and resides in New Orleans.

Louisiana:  Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions,
and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), pp. 785-786.  Edited
by Alc e Fortier, Lit.D.  Published in 1914, by Century Historical
Association.

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