Bios: JOHN PARKER : Lawrence County, Pennsylvania

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  Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Lawrence Co transcribers.
  Coordinated by Ed McClelland

  Copyright 2004.  All rights reserved.
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
 
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  Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens
  Lawrence County Pennsylvania
  Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo, N.Y., 1897
  
  An html version with search engine may be found at 
  
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/lawrence/1897/
  
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    JOHN PARKER,
    
    [p. 406] a gentleman in the prime of life and an enterprising citizen of
  Wayne township, actively engaged in doing custom and repair work in carriage
  ironing and in carrying on light farming, raising of small fruits, etc., on
  his farm near Hazel Dell, is of sturdy Irish parontage, springing from that
  race that has contributed so much to the prosperity and growth of Western
  Pennsylvania. His existence began in County Down, Ireland, on Aug. 25, 1845,
  as a son of John and Agnes (Jackson) Parker. The father was Scotch by birth,
  and in 1859 emigrated to America with his family, his wife's family having
  previously come to Allegheny County, where the Parkers stopped two years. In
  1861, our subject's father brought the family to Wayne township, where he
  bought sixty acres of the old Matheny farm from Mr. Fombelle. The property
  was partially cleared and had a log-house on it, which he made the family
  home until his circumstances allowed him in 1877 to build a new home, the
  farm having been cleared and made productive of a comfortable revenue. When
  he decided to give up active labor, he retired to Wampum, where he resided up
  to the time of his death, which occurred in May, 1897. She was taken from him
  several years since. John Parker, Sr., was in many essential respects a
  self-made man; he arrived in this country after a journey of three weeks and
  two days on the sailing-vessel Constitution practically without means. He
  made a home for his family of six children, who lived to reflect much honor
  on their name, the sons inheriting to a large degree the energy, enterprise
  and perseverance of their father; one of the sons served in the late war as a
  wearer of the loyal blue, and another is a United Presbyterian minister. He
  was respected and esteemed by his neighbors and the community at large, and
  possessed all those qualities which entitled him to be classed as an honest
  man and a good citizen. The children born to him were: John; William; Sarah;
  Samuel; Agnes; and James. The Parkers are adherents of the United
  Presbyterian Church, and the father was a loyal Republican.
    
    After obtaining a rudimentary education, John Parker, Jr., served an
  apprenticeship at carriage ironing in Noblestown, Pa., and worked as a
  journeyman at his trade for fifteen years, much of the time serving as
  foreman in carriage manufactories in Allegheny, McKeesport, and Steubenville.
  In 1880 he invested his savings in his father's farm, when that gentleman
  retired from active work, and erected a carriage repair shop with the
  intention of doing custom work, and he has had plenty to do. In 1885, he
  built a new house, and five years later still further improved his property
  and increased the conveniences by erecting a spacious barn. As he devotes
  time and land to the culture of small fruits, he has found a dairy
  profitable, also.
    
    Mrs. Parker was formerly Sarah Roberman, whose father was Henry Roberman of
  Morgan Co., Ohio. To our subject and wife ten children have been given, of
  whom only John, the eldest, is deceased. Carrie married John Hassler, a
  telegraph operator of Ellwood City, and has two children, John and Sarah;
  Howard assists in the work about the home; Estella wedded F. E. Cole, and
  bore a son, Andrew J.; Harry is attending the State Normal School and
  preparing himself for the profession of a teacher; Blanche is also attending
  the Ellwood High School; while the younger children, Grace, Ralph B., Etha M.
  and Nellie R., remain at home and attend the common schools of the
  neighborhood. Mr. Parker's farm has such an advantageous location in respect
  to Hazel Dell, for he has found a profitable sale for a part of his farm in
  building lots. He is a faithful Republican, and has served two terms as
  school director, and two terms as township auditor. The doctrines of the
  Presbyterian Church they accept as the grounds of their religious belief.