| Notes |
- Research: March 1775, T. Earl of Dartmouth. His Majesty's Council of NJ, 12 names including James Parker, & John Brown Lawrence. Wm. Franklin Gov. NJ Perth Amboy, March.
. 1797 Sept (19?) - James Parker Sr., City of Perth Amboy, WILL wife Gertrude use of estate.
Eldest son John, to be discharged from all debts owed by him to estate.
James Parker, Esq. President of Chief Justice, Council, of Woodbridge, NJ, Publisher of the NY Gazette, Weekly Post Boy.
. The Diary of Lucy C. Whitwell Parker, Brookline, MA., Oct 1890.
When a boy of 13 he was sent, with a quarter of a dollar in his pocket, to visit some friends in New York, on a schooner which left Perth Amboy early in the week & returned at the end of it. This was the only means of communication with the city except by taking a ferry boat to Staten Island & thence by carriage to the end opposite Perth Amboy, from whence a boat would be signaled for; in severe weather the ice afforded a safe passage. While in the streets of New York your grandfather found that some event of importance was transpiring, & having climbed a lamppost, witnessed the inauguration of George Washington, the first President of the United States. At the death of his father in 1797, he left a situation for which he was admirably fitted in a mercantile house in New York to undertake the care of the family & manage the estate rather than declare it insolvent.
He was a man of singular integrity, great fairness of mind & a most kindly heart, which last was sometimes concealed under a rough & impatient manner. His sisters were so fond of him & so unwilling to pain him that when the oldest had engaged herself to a British officer & they were both too poor to marry, she allowed her lover to sail away without saying anything to her brother, who was then the head of the house. When your grandfather was told of this many years after, he said "Why did they not tell me? I would have found some way to arrange it."
He was sent to Congress for 6 years, but would never take any measures for election & could never be depended upon by his party, as he always voted for the man he considered best fitted for the office. In a memoir, published by the Historical Society you will find how large a number of wonderful events occurred during his long life of 92 years & what an honorable part he took in all measures for the public good.
He married Penelope Butler in January 1803, who died July 25, 1823, AE 39, by whom he had 9 children, some of whom died young.
In 1827 he married Catherine Morris Ogden. An admirable woman & a true lover of children who devoted herself to make him & those belonging to him happy, & the old house at "the corner" where she gave to all a loving welcome, was filled in summer to its utmost capacity by his numerous descendants. At the back was a high piazza, 12 feet wide & the length of the house which became their favorite playground. Your father was born in this old house, the picture of which you will find on the first page, July 18th 1807. His mother was bright, cheerful, energetic & a very handsome woman, who sang very sweetly & was always ready to join in all innocent amusements. - - -
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1763 - 1808 (44 years)