The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-05-30
DEATH OF HON. W. C. PARKE.


the Doth inst, WILLIAM COOPER
PARKE died at his residence at the
Hawaiian Hotel He had been suf-
fering from heart disease for several
months, but it was only quite re-
Gently that the malady gained such
an ascendency that no medical skill
could avert the fatal result.
Mr.. Parke was born in Ports
mouth, New Hampshire, September
q, 1921, and was consequently in
his sixty-eighth year. His boyhood
was spent in that city, and he at
tended there a school taught by the
father Of the late Chief Justice
Harris, the latter being one of his
schoolmates. Later on, the family
removed TO Boston, where William
went into a cabinet and furniture
establishment and learned the trade.
On arriving Of age he decided to mi
CRATE to these islands, where some of
his acquaintance had preceded him,
among them Capt. Charles Brewer,
Jas. +. b. Marshall, H. A. Pierce, O..
d. Gilman and others. He left
Boston in the fall of 1912, in the
brig Delaware, of which Capt. David
z. Penhallow, an old Portsmouth fell
lCw-townsman, was master, and arrlv-
ed here in the spring of 1913. He soon
after went into partnership with the
late r.. A. S. Wood, and for several
years they did a good business, on
Hotel street In 1S49 he visited the
gold mines in California, and re-
turned in 1850.
Soon after, Governor KekuanaOa
appointed him Marshal of the Ha-
waiian Kingdom, which Office he
filled we'll and honOrably for thirty
four years, or till 1884. He was the
only person who could ever say that
he had assisted in the accession and
burial of four Kings of Hawaii, from
Kamehameha III. to Kalakaua l.,
the Marshal in those days having
had charge of royal burials.
During his long incumbency of
the Marshalship, he probably did
more to give stability to the Govern
ment, and to secure peace and quiet
TO the people than any other one
man. We remember two occasions
illustrating these pOints-one being
the sailor riot, in which Consul
Allen and the Marshal went boldly
in among the defiant crowd that held
possession of the water front, and
brought the rioters to standstill,
followed soon after by peace. The
other was when the gang of fillibus-
ters arrived here in the clipper ship
Game Cock, with the avowed pur-
pose OF Overturning the Government.
1t was III great measure owing to
his firmness and determination that
they accomplished nothing, and re-
turned to San Francisco wiser if not
better men.
Throughout his whole official
career of thirty-four years, he ex-
ercised great influence over the
several reigning Kings and people,
and on very many occasions he was
sent for to give advice on the ques-
tions of the day About fifteen years
ago he was made Privy Councillor,
and was decorated with two of the
royal orders. His dismissal from
Office in 1884, by the Gibson ad-
for no fault or NAL
but solely because
he would not consent to be made a
tool of, was a gross injustice and
insult, which received the prompt
condemnation of the Judges of the
Supreme Court and the members of
the bar, without a single exception.
He simply shared the fate OF many
other faithfuI Government officers,
who were dismissed about the same
ime, and in the same scandalOus
manner.
In the year 1847, he with a number
IF residents organized the Excelsior
lodge of /. .. @. F., and was
me of it's original charter mem
Ders; only one of whom is now
living, O.. ID. Gilman, Esq. of
Boston He was always an active
member, and will always be remem- !
)ered by his brethren here and |
abroad for his unfailing generosity |
mo kluuu6SS 10 strangers ana |
friends, some of whom had no claim |
IN him. Mr.. Parke was a member of |
he Masonic order, and of several |
societies.
In 1856, Mr.. Parke married Miss /.
Anna Severance, daughter of a
ormer American Minister Resident
lere Of the United States, and she
With their four children survive him.
wo, Ga son and daughter) being now
n Boston, though they are expected
,ut in July. Mr. H. w. Severance
If San Francisco, and Luther Sever
nee, postmaster of HilO, (the latter
low in town. are his brothers-in-law.
During his long residence in this
ity of over forty six years, he has
Oeen held in high estimation bv all
Who knew him, and by none more
han by those who have had frequent
business transactions with him. His
tticial duties were of such a nature
5 to bring him often in conflict with
he private interests of many peopIe.
ct his conduct and dealings with
hem seldom failed to inspire them
nth respect, however harshly he
nay have had TO deal with them
Iany a culprit has found that he
assessed a kind and forgiving heart.
5 one of his associates remarked.
g would work night and day to con
let a rogue, and yet, if the fellow