Background
Richard Elliot Parker was born on December 27, 1783 in Rock Spring, Westmoreland County, Virginia, United States. He was the eldest of five children of Captain William Harwar and Mary (Sturman) Parker.
Richard Elliot Parker was born on December 27, 1783 in Rock Spring, Westmoreland County, Virginia, United States. He was the eldest of five children of Captain William Harwar and Mary (Sturman) Parker.
Richard Elliot Parker received his elementary education in the local schools. In 1800, at the age of seventeen, entered Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) where he remained for three years. In 1803 Richard began the study of law under his distinguished grandfather, Judge Richard Parker, of Lawfield, Westmoreland County.
Richard Elliot Parker was admitted to the bar shortly after reaching his majority and a few years later was chosen to represent his native county in the Virginia House of Delegates. The outbreak of the War of 1812 found him already an officer in the Virginia militia and on August 1, 1812, he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the 111th Regiment, composed of troops from Westmoreland and other counties of the Northern Neck, later serving as colonel. He was aroused by General Hull's surrender of Detroit and in an eloquent appeal to Governor Barbour he requested that he be included in any troops sent from Virginia to the West in order to contribute his "mite of service to retrieve the national honor. " Even after it became apparent that no Virginia forces would be ordered to Western duty he continued his pleas, pointing out that the greatest weakness of the militia was lack of training, and that a few officers at least should be sent to the front for experience so that they might return as military instructors, thus anticipating the method of training employed during the World War. But Parker had to rest content with home service, defending the Potomac and Chesapeake regions against British attacks during 1813 and 1814. With the advent of peace he returned to the law which he had abandoned temporarily for the profession of arms but in which he was to gain his greatest recognition.
In 1817 Parker was made a judge of the General Court of Virginia and was a member of that body until 1836. Meanwhile, in 1831, the legislature established the Court of Law and Chancery for Frederick County and he was chosen as its first judge. This necessitated his removal to the Shenandoah Valley and he established his home at Winchester. In 1833 he was recommended by Martin Van Buren for the post of attorney-general in Jackson's cabinet, and in 1836 was chosen to succeed Benjamin Watkins Leigh as senator from Virginia. His senatorial experience was brief, however, for the next year he resigned to become a member of the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia, an office which he held until his death in 1840. Although Parker was not a brilliant jurist he was steady and capable, usually in agreement with the majority of the court but not hesitating to dissent when he deemed that circumstances demanded it. His opinions, clear and in general concise, indicate sound scholarship, humanitarianism, and a high sense of judicial responsibility. A member of a prominent family of the planter aristocracy of the Northern Neck of Virginia, he was an Episcopalian by inheritance and by choice.
Parker died at Soldier's Retreat in Clarke County, Virginia, on September 10, 1840, but the legal heritage of his family lived on in his son, Richard Parker, who, at Charles Town in 1859, presided fairly and courageously over the trial of John Brown.
A member of a prominent family of the planter aristocracy of the Northern Neck of Virginia, Richard Elliot Parker was an Episcopalian by inheritance and by choice.
Richard Elliot Parker was a member of Democratic party.
Richard Elliot Parker married Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. William Foushee, the first mayor of Richmond. They had twelve children of which only six lived to their late teens or adulthood.
