Biographical Sketch of

Ezra Parker

Transcribed by Sandra Boudrou for the Marquette Co WI Pages


Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Green Lake, Marquette and Waushara Counties, Wisconsin, 
published 1890 by Acme Publishing Co., Chicago, Pages 828 - 829 - 830


Ezra A. Parker, who resides on section 24, in the town of Brooklyn, has been an honored resident of Green Lake 
County since 1846, and, with the exception of three years spent in Dartford, has during all that time made his 
home upon the farm where he now lives.  He was born in Ashtabula County, Ohio, Sept. 10, 1823, and is descended 
from Revolutionary stock, both his paternal and maternal grandfathers having aided in obtaining American 
independence.  The branch of the Parker family to which he belongs is not very large.  His grandfather Parker 
was an only son, and his father was an only son.  His grandfather was a New York merchant, but when the 
Revolutionary War broke out he left his business to strike a blow for his country's freedom.  He was severely 
wounded, but recovered and lived to the ripe old age of eighty years, dying in the Buckeye State.
 
The maternal grandfather of our subject, Col. Richard Jones, was born in England, but at an early day came to 
America, and as a British soldier took part in the French and Indian War.  When Lexington was fired upon, and 
the cry "to arms" was heard throughout the country, he espoused the Colonial cause, and rose to the rank of 
colonel.  He, too, settled in New York, where he reared a large family.  He died at the advanced age of ninety 
years.
 
Jared Parker, father of our subject, was born in the Empire State, June 11, 1780, and in his youth learned the 
carpenter's trade, at which he became an expert workman.  As a contractor and builder his entire life was passed, 
his last work being the construction of a bridge across the Susquehanna River.  He served for a short time in the 
War of 1812, and lived long enough after its close to entitle him to a pension, but he never applied for one.  
He was married on the 1st of January, 1807, to Miss Betsy Jones, who was born at Peekskill, New York, Sept. 19, 
1787.  They left the East in 1823, and removed to Ashtabula County, Ohio, where they passed their declining years.  
Both were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and they reared their family in accordance with Bible teachings, 
early impressing upon their minds lessons of honesty, industry and uprightness.  The family numbered nine children, 
seven sons and two daughters, four of whom are yet living, three sons and one daughter.  The father died Sept. 20, 
1852, the mother surviving until 1870, when she was also called home.
 
Our subject was liberally educated in his youth, his elementary education, acquired in the common schools, being 
supplemented by a course in the college at Meadville, Pa., which he attended for a year and a half.  When about 
eighteen years of age, he went to work in a blacksmith's shop owned by his brother, working for about a year, 
when he entered college, as above stated.  Attracted by the West, of which he had heard such favorable reports, 
we find him, in 1844, en route for Wisconsin.  He first stopped for a short time in Milwaukee, and thence went 
to Beaver Dam, coming to Green Lake County in 1846.  He earned his first money in this county by breaking sod 
with an ox-team on the old William Sherwood place.  Many an acre of raw prairie land has been first upturned 
by his plow, and he also assisted in sawing the first log in the old Dart mill.  He operated the first horsepower 
threshing machine used in this section of the country, and has been identified with the work of improvement and 
development continuously since.  Entertaining progressive ideas, he always keeps abreast of the times, and has 
borne no inconsiderable part of the advancement of all that pertains to the upbuilding of town and county.
 
Mr. Parker, on the 11th of December, 1849, married Miss Sarah S. McGlashan, who was born in Cattaraugus County, 
N. Y., Nov. 11, 1830.  Her parents were Robert P. and Sarah (Holmes) McGlashan, the former a native of Auburn, N. Y., 
born in 1785, the latter born in 1800, near Salisbury, Conn.  He was a teacher by profession, but afterward abandoned 
that pursuit and engaged in farming.  With his family, he came to Beaver Dam, Wis., in 1845, his death occurring in 
that city some six years later.  His wife survived him until 1877.  They were both believers in the Universalist 
faith, and in political sentiment he was a Democrat.  Nine of their twelve children lived to mature years.
 
Upon their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Parker settled upon the farm where they are now living, and with the exception of 
three years spent in Dartford, have resided there continuously since.  Laboring long and diligently, Mr. Parker has 
acquired a handsome property, his landed possessions aggregating 606 acres, the greater part of which is under a 
high state of cultivation.  Fair and honest in all his dealings, he has won the confidence and high regard of those 
with whom business or social relations have brought him in contact, and is known to all as a respected citizen.  He 
cast his first Presidential vote for Cass, and from that time up to the present has never wavered in his allegiance 
to the Democratic party.  He has held the office of Assessor for three terms in the town of Brooklyn, was Supervisor 
for one term, and has served on the school board almost continuously since the district was organized.  He was Chairman 
of the first board, and the first school was convened upon his farm.  Socially, he is a member of the Masonic fraternity.
 
Mr. and Mrs. Parker are the parents of seven children:  Lillie; J. R., who married Rosanna Brooks, and has two children; 
William E.; Frank E., who wedded Eva Elliott, and has two children; Iome D., wife of Lyman Fitch, by whom she has three 
children; Jennie M. and E. F.  They have all received good school advantages, and are thereby fitted for the practical 
duties of life.
 
In October, 1864, Mr. Parker enlisted in the 47th Wisconsin Infantry, and was assigned to Company I.  He served until 
the close of the war, and was mustered out at Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 6, 1865.  The brigade was under command of Dudley, 
and much of the time was doing guard duty.  Mr. Parker served for a time as regimental hospital steward, and was transferred 
from that to the commissary department, when he was put on detached duty.  While in the service he contracted chronic 
diarrhoea, from which he has suffered very greatly since.

 





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