The Savannah morning news., 1904-07-10
uIDGE PARKER--THE
NEXT PRESIDENT.
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NEAt ] tAA0t6 6ia
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=, - 90 to Cornell University. and
ae saving money for that purpose,
49, his fathers necessities drew from
~ sIander income and his hopes of
University course failed. He moved
:, kingston and entered the law Of
So of Schoonmaker & Hardenbergh
as a clerk. Then ne entered the AL
Inv Law School, and. upon gradu-
ing. he returned to Schoonmaker &
t5ardenbergh. Within a few months
he took a partner named Kenyon and
nnened a law Office at Kingston.
For twelve years the young lawyer
rracticed his profession in Kingston.
lie had a good income and won sew
eral important cases.
Elected Surrogate.
In 1877 he was elected surrogate of
ulster county, and was afterward
elected for a second term. That was
his first experience in public office.
His entrance into politics was due
simply to his love for his old employer.
Judge Schoonmaker, who had been
driven out of politics. He believed
that the judge had been wronged and
set out to restore him to popular favor.
So earnest was his campaign that he
soon became a recognized political fac
TOR in Ulster county, being a favorite
of Mr.. Tilden and Mr.. Manning, who
trusted and consulted him. In 1885 he
was induced to become chairman of
the Democratic State Executive Com
mittee, and in the campaign which he
managed David B. Hill was elected
Governor.
In 1884 he was a delegate to the con-
vention at Chicago that nominated
Grover Cleveland for President, and
he helped pull the candidate through
year.
When Mr.. Cleveland was fill
ing up the offices in Washington he
offered the position of first assistant
postmaster general to Judge Parker,
and the offer was declined.
Gov. Hill appointed him to a seat
on the Supreme Court bench when
Justice Westbrook died.
On Supreme Court Bench at 81.
When Judge Parker was SO years old
he was unanimously nominated for the
Supreme Court bench by the Demo-
Gratis The Republicans would not
nominate an opponent. Not vote
was cast against him. He served on
the Supreme Court bench until his cleo
ton as chief judge of the Court of APP
peas in 1897, by a plurality of about
$4,000 votes.
During his nineteen years on the
bench he has ignored politics. In 1896
and 1900 he voted for Mr.. Bryan, but
it was we'll understood that he was a
sound-money man and merely accept
ed the will of the majority in his party.
Judge Parker's Ancestors.
On his fathers side the judge comes
of old English stock. His eat-grand-
I'll, De-.
at Worcester Mass He was a hard
working farmer. When the war for in
dependence broke out he left his plough
and served as a private under Wash
ington until the American republic was
established. Little is known of him
except that he was a man of pluck
and independence and was greatly re-
spected by his neighbors. His son, John
Parker, was an intelligent man, highly
educated and public spirited In 1903
he went to New York state and bought
q farm at Cortland, the same farm
which his distinguished grandson owns
and cultivates to-day He had
large family, and when his health broke
down the burden fell heavily upon his
son John, the father of Judge Parker.
Those who remember the judges IA
Their say that he was man of studious
habits. In spite of his bitter struggle
for life on the farm he read widely and
deeply He was especially fond OF COM
hitting rare passages to memory, and
every spare moment found him por-
ing over a good book.
On his mothers side Judge Parker
derives good New England blood. His
Vhite-haired mother, who lives at
Derby, Conn, is a woman of refine
ment, education and strong character.
In the summer time she spends the
judges vacation with him at Esopus.
She is a member of the Woman's
Christian Temperance Union. Her con-
slant aim is to warn him against am
bitton. When the newspapers grow too
loud in his praise he is sure to get a
letter from his mother exhorting him
10 be humble.
His Farm Mt Esopus.
At the end of every week and dur
ing the summer vacation Judge Parker
IS to be found on his picturesque farm
at Esopus, which overlooks the Hud-
son river He has three farms in New
York state-one of $50 acres at Cort-
land, another of $50 acres at Accord
and still another of ninety acres at