The Irish standard., 1903-06-13


bench. He finds his greatest enjoy
| ment in his own home and in the
society Of few friends in Albany
whose homes are open to him without
formality during the winter months
when he is compelled to live in hotel.
Judge Parker was 81 years old OH
the 18th of May. He comes from
good old New England stock. His
grandfather was an officer in Wash
ington's army during the revolution
and after the war took up land in
Cortland county, New York. His
father still lives in the old home in
which he and his distinguished son
were born. 1t is an interesting fact
that Daniel S. Lamont was born in
the same town one year earlier than
Judge Parker and they were boys to-
gether, although there was no special
intimacy between them until they met
again at Albany many years later.
Until the present generation the
Parkers have been nothing but farm
ers and the judge still considers him
self member of the agricultural
classes" Like other boys of similar
circumstances, he went to the little
red schoolhouse at the country cross
roads winters, and, as he grew older,
to the academy in the village of Cort-
landt, doing the chores at home night
and morning and helping ON the farm
during the summer. He was ambi-
tious to obtain an education and when
II years old obtained a position as
school-teacher at Napanoch, Ulster
county, in order to earn money to pay
his way through college, as his father
could give him little or no assistance.
While teaching at Napanoch he
made the acquaintance of Miss Mary
L. Schoonmaker the daughter of one
of the most eminent lawyers i'll that
part of the state. Her father took an
interest in the young man and offered
him place in the law Office of Schoon-
maker 4 Hardenberg, where he served
as janitor, errand boy, clerk and copy
list, and read the books on the shelves
under Mr.. Schoonmaker's supervision.
1t was the old-fashioned, practical
way of studying law He soon won
the esteem and confidence of his en-
ployers, who assisted him to attend
lectures at the law school in Albany,
and there, in 1872, he passed his ex-
aminations for admission to the bar,
received his cherished diploma and
started out for the battle of life. The
next year he married Miss Mary, the
daughter of his benefactor, and set.
tied down to practice in Kingston. OF
this marriage there were two chill
dren, son who died in infancy and
daughter, who is the wife Of Rev.
Charles Mercer Hall, the rector of the
Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross
ut Kingston.
Judge Parker is by nature a politi-
clan and by heredity a Democrat. His
SfdlluIiIlleF WIS Il JclciSOllldtH hclIlO-
crat. 1t would be impossible for him
to belong to any other party. While
he was at the law school in Albany he
fell in with remarkable group of
young men, the disciples Of Samuel T.
Tilden, who, under the leadership OF
Daniel Manning, took an active part
on the Democratic side of New York
state politics. Daniel S. Lamont, then
reporter of the Albany Argus, was
another of this group. AS soon as he
became of age Parker began to take
an active part in politics, and in 1877,
when he was 25 years old, became
candidate for the Office of surrogate
of Ulster county. He was elected,
served six-year term and in 1883
was reelected. BY this time he had
become recognized as an important
factor in state politics and as the
Democratic leader in Ulster county
In 1884 he was delegate of his con-
gressional district to the presidential
convention at Chicago and assisted to
nominate Grover Cleveland. After
Cleveland was inaugurated he offered
Parker the position of first assistant