Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 7).djvu/252

210 who had been starved to death by the Spaniards, died, leaving him heir to the largest estate in east- ern Cuba. Knowing Mr. Palma's influence the Spaniards, on the termination of hostilities, offered to restore his estate, which had been confiscated, and to appoint him to a high post in Cuba on the sole condition that he take the oath of allegiance to Spain. This he declined to do and left Spain for Honduras, where for a time he taught ni a small college. He subsequently became postmas- ter-general of Honduras and married a daughter of President Guardiola. On his arrival in the United States he settled at Central Valley, N. Y., where he established a school for Spanish-Araeri- •can children. During this period he found time to assist Jose Marti in his plans for organizing a fresh revolution, and on the death of the latter, in May, 1895, succeeded him as delegate of the Cuban republican party. He was subsequently, in 1895, appointed delegate-at-large and minister pleni- potentiary for the Cuban republic, and was re- elected in 1897 for a second term.

PALMER, Potter, capitalist, b. in Albany county, N. Y., about 1826. At the age of eigliteen he became clerk in a store in Durham, N. Y., and afterward conducted business enterprises on his own account in Oneida county, and in Loekport, N. Y. Later he removed to Chicago, where he established a dry-goods store, and in 1865 he re- tired from active connection with it, having accumu- lated a fortune. He then devoted himself to the pur- chase and improve- ment of real estate in Chicago, and did much to better the appearance of the city, building, among other struc- tures, the original Palmer house. At the time of the great fire of 1871 he was one of the largest property- owners in Chica- go, and suffered a greater loss than any one person. He was especially active in the subsequent rebuilding of the burned district, erecting the present hotel that bears his name, and doing mucli to stimulate the courage of others by his activity. He is among Chicago's wealthiest citizens, and took great interest in the World's Columbian exposition of 1893, giving .|200,000 to the Woman's building. His wife, Bertha Hoil- «r6, daughter of Henry II. Honore, of Chicago, whom he married in 1870, was president of the board of lady managers of the exposition.

PAREJA, Juan de (pah-rav-hah). Spanish art- ist, b. in Santo Domingo in 1608; d. in Madrid, Spain, in 1670. lie was a half-breed Indian, and, according to some authors, was born in Seville in 1610, but later researches have proved that his place of birth was Santo Domingo, and that his mother was a Carib woman, descended, it is claimed, from a cacique. He was taken in his youth to Se- ville, was a slave of the noted painter Velasquez, and secretly studied the style of his master, who, becoming interested, admitted him among his pupils. King Philip IV. saw the young slave dur- ing a visit to the artist's studio, and, hearing his story, liberated him. Pareja studieil for several years afterward with Velasquez, and imitated the master's style so perfectly that their paintings are still often confounded by experts. Pareja's mas- terpieces are " The Calling of St. Matthew," in the Dominican convent at Aranjuez, and the "Baptism of Christ," in the cathedral of Toledo.

PARENT, Simon Napoleon, Canadian poli- tician, b. in Quebec, 12 Sept., 1855, was educated in law at Laval university, and in 1881 gained the Lome gold medal, becoming an advocate in 1881. He has been mayor of Quebec since 1894. He en- tered the legislature of Quebec province in 1890 as member for St. Sauveur, and in 1897 joined the liberal government of Hon. Felix G. Marchand as commissioner of crown lands and colonization. Mr. Parent is president of the Quebec bridge company. PARKER, Alton Brooks, jurist, b. in Cort- land, N. Y., 14 May, 1851. He is the son of a farmer, and at the age of sixteen taught school with a view to educating himself without cost to his father. While teaching in Ulster county he studied law in a Kingston office, graduating from the Albany law-school in 1872. Five years later he was elected surrogate of Ulster county, being re-elected for six years in 1883. He was a dele- gate to the Democratic national convention which nominated Gov. Cleveland for president, and aided in the election of David B. Hill as his suc- cessor. When Judge Westbrook of the supreme court died, in 1885, Gov. Hill appointed Parker his successor. His election toUowed the next year, and in January, 1889, he was appointed to the court of appeals, being the youngest man who ever sat on that bench. He retained this office till the dissolution of the court in 1892. Then, at the request of other judges, he was appointed by Gov. FlovVer a member of the general term of the supreme court of the first department, and con- tinued at work in New York city until the crea- tion of the appellate division of the supreme court, when he resumed the duties of the trial terms in his own district. In 1897 Judge Parker was a member of the appellate division of the supreme court in New ^ ork city part of the year in consequence of the illness of Judge Barrett, and in November of that same year he was elected chief judge of the court of appeals.

'''PARKER. Horatio Gilbert''', Canadian novel- ist, b. in Addington, Ontario, 12 April, 1859. After being employed in teaching several years he was ordained deacon in 1882, and in the following year was graduated at Toronto university, which in June, 1898. gave him the degree of LL. D. Later he was a curate and hehl a position in the deaf and dumb institute of Belleville. In 1886 he went to Australia, where he was an associate editor of the "Sydney Evening Herald." and where he wrote several plays. Removing to England, he entered upon a literary career, and has since spent a portion of his time in Canada and the United States, where, in 1895, he married an American. In the winter of 1897-8 Mr. Parker visited Egypt and the Holy Land. His principal works are "A Lover's Diarv," a volume of poems ami sonnets (1890); "Pierre and his People" (1892): "The Translation of a Savage," "Chief Factor." and "The Trespasser" (1893); "The Trail of the Sword " and " Mrs. Falchion " (1894) ; " When Val- mond came to Pontiac " (1895); "The Seats of the Mighty" and " Komanv of the Snows" (1896); "Pomp of the Lavilettes " (1897) ; "Battle of the Strong" and "The Adventures of the North" (1898); and "Hill of Pains" (1899).