HARNETT COUNTY, NC - BIOGRAPHIES - Francis Marion Parker
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Greene County, Indiana Biographies


Francis Marion Parker


Francis M. Parker was born in Harnett county, North Carolina,
February 13, 1844, and was the son of Jacob and Eliza (Spence)
Parker, natives of Cumberland county, North Carolina, where 
they were joined in marriage before coming to Indiana.  Jacob
Parker followed the profession of teaching, and also farming.
He was a man of original thought and independent temperament,
which showed itself in his political affiliations, having
been successively a Democrat, then a Whig, and later a Republican.
Mrs. Eliza Parker departed this life in 1862, having become 
the mother of seven children.  She was a devout member of the
Christian church and was held in high esteem by friends and
acquaintances.  Mr. Parker was married a second time, taking
as his companion Mary Beaty, a native of Greene county, Indiana,
also deceased.  She was the mother of four children.

Our subject, Francis Marion Parker, was the oldest of the first
family; Effie is the widow of Daniel Cox, of Lyons; James Daniel,
a retired miller of Jackson township, this county; John, who
followed teaching, died in July, 1882; Marshall, a farmer and
later a minister in the Christian church, is deceased; Sarah, wife
of a Mr. Green, lives at Harrodsburg, Indiana; Mary, wife of
Lindsey Cox, lives at Windsor, Illinois; Amanda married W.M. 
Ashcraft, of Idaho; Eliza became the wife of William Noel, of
this county; Robert follows farming in Center township, this 
county; William is also farming in Greene county.

Mr. Parker attended the local schools and followed this work
at the State University, from which he graduated with honors
in 1875.  He followed teaching for five years and, having
evinced a good knowledge of mathematics and civil engineering,
was chosen surveyor of Greene county in 1879, and held the 
office for eight years.  He was then appointed commissioner
of drainage and served in that capacity for sixteen years, at
the same time doing civil engineering, retiring in 1904 on 
account of ill health.

On the 18th of February, 1880, Mr. Parker was united in marriage
to Virginia Bottorff, of Charleston, Indiana, daughter of Joel
and Josephine (Harbolt) Bottorff, the former a native of 
Charleston, Indiana, and the latter of Louisville, Kentucky.
The father died in 1864 at the age of forty-one and the mother
departed this life on December 5, 1894.  She was the mother of
five children, as follows:  Florence, the wife of Cornelius
Hisey of Corydon, Indiana; Virginia was born October 1, 1856;
Thomas J. is deceased; Josephine married Wesley Clogston,
of Lyons, Indiana; Charles is a business man at Charleston,
Indiana.

Our subject and wife have become the parents of four children:
Charles C. is a civil engineer and is surveyor of Greene county,
elected in 1905.  He was educated in the Bloomfield schools,
completing the high school course.  He then attended Rose 
Polytechnic Institute, and later Valparaiso University; Lowell
Francis, the next son, is a graduate of the Bloomfield high
school, follows civil engineering, having served as deputy
county surveyor; Ruby Blanche is a graduate of Bloomfield high
school and an accomplished musician, attended DePauw University,
and is now taking music and literary work at Indiana State
University; Verna Pearl also attended DePauw and is now attending
the State University at Bloomington.

In August, 1862, Mr. Parker enlisted in Company E of the 
Niney-seventh Indiana Volunteer Infantry, going into drill
at Terre Haute.  Subsequently he saw active service in the Middle
West, participating in such engagements as the ones at Memphis,
Vicksburg, Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge and many others.  His
company accompanied General Sherman through Georgia to Atlanta
and on the matchless march to the sea.  He took part in all of
the important later conflicts of the war, and marched in the 
grand review at Washington, D.C.  During this service he endured
a severe attack of measles and when unfit for duty at the front
was assigned to do guard work at the army headquarters.

Mr. Parker has always been a church member, and belongs to the
Christian denomination.  He has done much as a public-spirited
citizen, having had considerable influence in promoting the 
movement for good roads in the county.  He is widely known and
has a host of warm friends throughout this vicinity, whose 
esteem he has gained through his patriotic spirit and genuine
integrity.



Source:  "Biographical Memoirs of Greene County, Ind. 
with Reminiscences of Pioneer Days", B.F. Bowen & Co., 
Indianapolis, IN, 1908."