Joel Webster Parker Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1074-1078 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				JOEL WEBSTER PARKER. 

	In the later years of his life Joel Webster Parker was a man of 
patriarchal appearance His hair was silvered over and his long flowing 
white beard made him seem venerable but "though the snows of many 
winters were on his head, the flowers of spring blossomed in his 
heart." In other words Mr. Parker remained young in spirit and in 
interests and his life was one of intense usefulness. For a 
considerable period he was closely associated with the lumber trade in 
Sioux Falls and that he embodied the highest principles of manhood and 
conduct in his business affairs was indicated by the high regard in 
which he was everywhere held by his contemporaries and his colleagues. 
He was descended in both the paternal and maternal lines from English 
ancestry, although both the Parker and Benham families were early 
established on New England soil. His maternal grandmother was a cousin 
to Noah Webster. His father, Joel Parker, Sr., was born in Berkshire 
county, Massachusetts, and wedded Mary Benham, a native of Hartford, 
Connecticut. They were married at Bridgewater, Oneida county, New York, 
and in Sangerfield, that county, their son, Joel Webster, was born 
March 28, 1817. Several moves were made in the Empire state, the last 
to the town of Jerusalem, Yates county, and thence in 1835 the family 
removed to New London, Huron county, Ohio. 

	Webster Parker, as the subject of this review was called, 
remained at the paternal homestead during the greater part of his 
youth, dividing his time between the work of the fields and his books, 
making good use of such opportunities for education as fell to his lot. 
In 1841 he left Ohio for what was then the far west and for several 
years traveled through the lead mining region of northern Illinois and 
southern Wisconsin, selling merchandise from a wagon, as was the 
general custom of the locality and period. He was a commercial traveler 
of those early days in the west, carrying not a sample case but his own 
stock in trade. A letter dated 1845, from one relative to another, 
says: "He has a very pleasant, comfortable conveyance and he drives an 
elegant span of horses, to which he is very much attached." It is 
certain that the young man received a warm welcome wherever he went in 
that new western country, his genial disposition winning him many 
friends. In 1846 he settled at Babel, Illinois, where he opened a store 
and a few years later he engaged in farming for a time. But the 
mercantile business better suited his inclinations and in 1852 he 
located at Warren, Jo Daviess county, Illinois, where he soon developed 
a profitable business, in which he engaged for sixteen years, 
conducting a general store. In 1868 he removed to Hillsboro, Vernon 
county, Wisconsin, where he was the proprietor of a general store until 
1875, when he went to Millston, Jackson county, Wisconsin. At that 
place he engaged not only in merchandising but also in the lumber 
business. That move, however, was made only as a temporary one and in 
1879 he came to Dakota and established his home in Sioux Falls, which 
was then a little village upon the frontier and gave little promise of 
becoming the progressive, enterprising city which it is today. Here he 
entered into partnership with his son, James W. Parker, for the conduct 
of a lumberyard, business being carried on under the firm name of J. W. 
Parker & Son. With the admission of James W. Leverett to the firm the 
style of the Sioux Falls Lumber Company was assumed and the business 
during the lifetime of James W. Parker was conducted under that name. 
In 1886, Mr. Parker disposed of his interest and devoted his efforts 
largely to the management of his investments and property holdings. 
Success attended him upon the journey of life because his methods were 
reliable, his enterprise unfaltering and his judgment sound and 
discriminating. Of slight physique, but endowed with indomitable energy 
and courage, he faced bravely the exigencies of business life. 

	On the 26th of February, 1845, Mr. Parker was united in marriage 
to Miss Mary W. Colburn, who departed this life December 6, 1846. On 
the 23d of January, 1848, he married Miss Rebecca Brown Colburn, who 
survives. She was born at Sacket Harbor, New York, a daughter of 
Charles and Rebecca Colburn and a lineal descendent of Rev. Samuel 
Whiting, of Lynn, Massachusetts, who sailed from England for the new 
world in 1636. Mrs. Parker was a member of the Presbyterian church in 
early life but later joined the Freewill Baptist church, of which her 
husband was a member. In her Mr. Parker had an efficient helpmate whose 
life has ever been characterized by strong religious faith, devotion to 
family and friends, deep sympathy and remarkable fortitude. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Parker were born seven children: George and Mary E., both now 
deceased; Carrie A.; James W., who has also passed away; Jessie R.; 
Fannie C.; and Sarah, who is deceased. 

	Mr. Parker possessed in large measure "the saving sense of 
humor." He was ever recognized as an earnest, consistent Christian man 
and in the faith of his church he passed away on the 14th of April, 
1893, at the age of seventy-six years. The Freewill Baptist church 
found in him a most earnest and consistent adherent and worker and he 
gave generously to its support at all times. In his later life he voted 
with the prohibition party, for he was a strong advocate of temperance 
principles and regarded the question of the abolition or control of the 
liquor traffic as the paramount one before the people. He held to the 
highest standards and ideals of life. Ever in the vanguard of reform, 
he was an early and earnest supporter of abolition principles. He 
advocated woman suffrage long before there was any general interest in 
the subject. He also employed women clerks fifty years ago a decided 
innovation at that time. He was fond of animals; kind to them himself 
and intolerant of their ill-treatment by others. He loved children and 
they, in turn, loved him; he was in truth the children's friend. With 
Mr. Parker, as with so many others, education was less a matter of 
schools than of lessons in the world's university, in which he was a 
diligent learner. Moreover, his tastes were scholarly; he was a 
careful, appreciative reader of solid literature In a practical way he 
was a student of natural history. He loved trees, taking great pleasure 
in planting them and watching their growth. Hundreds of them were 
planted by him in Sioux Falls. 

	Of the funeral, which was a remarkable demonstration, a local 
paper said: "The funeral of Joel W. Parker was an event without a 
parallel in the history of this city, and one which will probably never 
be equaled in many particulars,—the result of a life without a spot or 
blemish in the eyes of the community. The attendance of sympathetic 
friends took in all grades of society from the president of a bank to 
the most humble citizen—just as the sympathy and charity of the 
departed had done during all the years he had been a resident of the 
Queen City." One who knew him well said of him: "He was a most kindly, 
lovable Christian gentleman, and all of his friends and acquaintances 
are the better for having known him." A contemporary biographer has 
written of him: "Mr. Parker did much for the material advancement of 
Sioux Falls having erected a number of good buildings and having been a 
generous subscriber to public enterprises. In politics he gave his 
allegiance and stanch support to the prohibition party, and thus showed 
in a significant way, as he did in all relations of life, that he had 
the courage to stand boldly forward as an advocate of and worker for 
those principles which he believed to be right. He was humanity's 
friend, and as such did all in his power to uplift his fellow men and 
enrich their lives, this spirit, not less than definite principle, 
accounting for the exalted attitude which he maintained in political 
matters. He was an uncompromising foe to the liquor traffic, as he was 
to all else that tends to lower the standard of human ideals, and his 
labors in the moral field, in which he taught not less by personal 
example than by precept and kindly admonition, were such as to justify 
the revering of his memory for all time to come."