James Parker was born on March 3, 1776 in Bethlehem, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. He was the son of James and Gertrude (Skinner) Parker. His father was a member of the Provincial Council and of the Board of Proprietors of the colony. The family had taken refuge in Hunterdon County during the Revolutionary struggle but returned in 1783 to the ancestral home in Perth Amboy.
Education
James Parker was educated by the Reverend Joseph I. Bend, Rector of St. Peter's Church, before going to a preparatory school at Amwell, Hunterdon County. He entered Columbia College, New York, in 1790 and was graduated second in the class of 1793. He was placed in the counting house of John Murray, then a leading merchant in New York, but the death of his father in 1797 obliged him to return home to take up the management of the family estate.
Career
In 1806 James Parker was elected to the New Jersey Assembly from Middlesex County. He was reëlected annually until 1811, and again in 1812, 1813, 1815, 1816, and 1818. During his legislative career he was particularly interested in the act of 1817 establishing free schools in the state, the act authorizing aliens to purchase and hold real estate in New Jersey, and the act passed in 1820 prohibiting, under the severest penalties, the exportation of slaves from the state. Parker returned to the legislature in 1827 chiefly for the purpose of promoting the construction of a canal between the Delaware and Raritan rivers. Although the bill which he reported did not pass in the legislative session of 1827-1828, he had the satisfaction a few years later of witnessing the actual construction of a canal essentially the same as that which he had proposed. When the Delaware and Raritan Canal Company was organized, he became a director and held this post until his death. His interest in the boundary question between New York and New Jersey led him to serve on the different boundary commissions until a settlement was reached in 1829. In 1815 and again in 1850 he was chosen mayor of Perth Amboy.
Although he had always been a Federalist, he supported the candidacy of Andrew Jackson for the presidency and served as presidential elector in 1824. When Jackson became president in 1829, Parker was appointed collector of the port at Perth Amboy, which at that time had considerable foreign trade. While serving in this office, he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1832 and was reelected in 1834. His distrust of Martin Van Buren led him to align himself with the Whig party in 1840 and to support its candidates until the fifties, when he joined the Republican party. His interest in education was recognized by his election to the boards of trustees of Rutgers College and of the College of New Jersey. For many years he was a vestryman of St. Peter's Church, Perth Amboy, and usually represented that parish in the Protestant Episcopal Convention of New Jersey.
Freed from the necessity of earning his own living by a generous patrimony, he was always willing to answer the call to public service. He died in Perth Amboy, New Jersey on April 1, 1868.
Achievements
Membership
James Parker was elected vice-president of the New Jersey Historical Society at its formation and subsequently became its president.
Connections
James Parker was twice married: on January 5, 1803, to Penelope Butler, daughter of a once wealthy Philadelphia merchant, who died in 1823, and on September 20, 1827, to Catherine Morris Ogden, sister of David B. Ogden. John Cortlandt Parker was a son by the first marriage.