Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/208

 PARKER

PARKER

Massaclmsetts. He was educated in the academy at Cortland, and at the Corthmd Normal school; studied law in the office of Sclioonmaker & Har- denburgh, at Kingston, N.Y., and taught school in Ulster county. He was graduated at the Albany Law school in 1872. He was married Oct. 16, 1873, to Mary L., daughter of M. I. and Phebe (Decker) Sclioonmaker, of Rochester, Ul- ster county, N.Y. He practiced law in Kingston, N.Y., in partnership with W. S. Kenyon, 1872-78, and afterward alone until November, 1885. He was surrogate of Ulster county, 1877-85, a dele- gate to the Democratic national convention in 1884, and declined the office of first assistant postmaster-general, in 1885. He was chairman of the Democratic state executive committee in 1885; was appointed a justice of the supreme court of New York in 1885, and the year follow- ing w;is elected to that office without opposition, serving, 1886-98. He was a member of the court of appeals, 2d division, 1889-92, and on the disso- lution of the court in 1892, became a member of the general term of the supreme court of New York, serving 1893-96, and of the appellate divi- sion of the supreme court, 1896-97, and on Jan. 1, 1898, became chief judge of the court of appeals of New York.

PARKER, Amasa Junius, jurist, was born in EUswortli. Conn.. June 2, 1807; son of the Rev. Daniel and Anna (Fenn) Parker; grandson of Amasa Parker, of Wallingford, Conn., and a de- v-endant of William Parker, of Hartford, Conn. His parents removed to Hudson, N.Y''., in 1816, and he received a good education under the tutelage of his father. He was princii^al of the Hud- son academy, 1823- 27; was graduated from Union college, Sclienectady, N.Y., on examination, in 1825; was admitted to the bar in October, 1828, and became a partner of his uncle, Amasa Parker, at Delhi, N.Y. He was married Aug. 27, 1834, to Harriet Langdon, daughter of Edmund and Catliarine Whipple (Langdon) Roberts, of Portsmouth, N.H. He was a member of the state a.ssembly, 1833-34; was district attorney of Delaware county, N.Y., 1834-37; was a Demo- cratic representative in the 25th congress, 1837- 39, anil was vice-chancellor and circuit judge of the third circuit, 1844-47. He presided at the anti-rent trials of 1845. and disposed of 240 cases

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in three weeks. He was judge of the supreme court, 1847-55, during one year of which he was on the bench of the court of appeals. In 1856 he was the Democratic nominee for governor of New York, John A. King, Republican, being elected. Erastus Brooks, Native American, was also his opponent. In 1858 he was again defeated for governor, Edward D. Morgan, Republican, be- ing elected. He was appointed U.S. district at- torney for the southern district of New York, by President Buchanan, in 1854, but declined the position and also that of U.S. minister to Russia. He was a delegate to the state constitutional con- vention of 1867 and 1868. He was a member of the board of regents of the University of the State of New York, 1835-44, the youngest regent ever elected in the state; was president of the board of trustees of Albany Female college for many years; trustee of Cornell university, 1871-90, and a trustee of the Albany Medical college, and president of the board of trustees, 1875-90. In 1851, in conjunction with Amos Dean and Ira Harris, he founded the Albany Law school in which he filled an important professorship. He was a corresponding member of the Buffalo His- torical society for twenty-one years. The honor- ary degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by (Geneva) Hobart college, in 1846, He edited: Repoi'ts of Criminal Cases (6 vols., 1855-69), and assisted in editing the Revised Statutes of 1S59 (3 vols. ), and was a commissioner of revision of the New York statutes. He died in Albany, N.Y"., May 13, 1890.

PARKER, Amasa Junius, lawyer, was born in Delhi, N.Y., May 6, 1843; son of Judge Amasa Junius and Harriet Langdon (Roberts) Parker. He attended the Albany academy, and was gradu- ated at Union college. A.B., 1863, A.M., 1866, and at the Albany Law school, 1884; and was a law partner with his father, 1865-90. He was major and aide-de-camp, 3d division, N.G.S. N.Y., 1866; lieutenant-colonel, 1875; colonel, 10th regiment, 1877, and brigadier-general command- ing the 3d brigade, 1886-91. He was president of the National Guard association, 1878-80; member of the state as.sembly, 1882, and state senator, 1886-87, 1892-93 and 1894-95. He compiled the new military code adopted by the state legisla- ture in 1883. He .served as president of the Albany Young Men's association; president of the board of trustees of the Albany Law school; trustee of the Albany Medical college; trustee of Union college, 1878-82; president of the board of tru.stees of the Young Men's a.ssociation of Albany; trustee of the Union Trust company of New Y'ork city, and president of the board of managers of the Hudson River State Hospital for the Insane, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., for sixteen years. After 1890 he continued the practice of law alone.