Background
Samuel Parker was born on April 23, 1779 in Ashfield, Franklin County, Massachussets, United States. He was a son of Elisha Parker, a Revolutionary soldier, and of Thankful (Marchant) Parker.
Samuel Parker was born on April 23, 1779 in Ashfield, Franklin County, Massachussets, United States. He was a son of Elisha Parker, a Revolutionary soldier, and of Thankful (Marchant) Parker.
Samuel Parker was graduated from Williams College in 1806, served for a time as principal of an academy in Vermont, entered Andover Theological Seminary, and graduated in 1810.
Home missionary work in western New York then occupied Samuel Parker until 1812, when he became pastor of the Congregational Church of Danby, New York, being ordained December 23. Here he continued till 1827. Thereafter, he acted as agent for the Auburn Theological Seminary, preached at Apulia, New York, 1830 - 1832, and at Middlefield, Massachussets, 1832 - 1833, and taught a girls' school at Ithaca, New York. The venture which forms his chief claim to remembrance was his exploring trip to Oregon for the purpose of selecting sites for Indian missions. His decision to become a missionary was evoked by an account, published in the Christian Advocate of March 1, 1833, of four "wise men from the West" who had come to St. Louis seeking for their people the white man's religion. Illustrated with the picture of a monstrous flatheaded Indian, this story called forth volunteers for the missionary cause, among whom were Parker and Dr. Marcus Whitman. Since Parker was fifty-four years old, and not in robust health, his first offer of his services to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions proved fruitless, but later, having secured assurances of financial support from a local organization at Ithaca, he succeeded in obtaining a commission.
Prepared to start for Oregon as early as April 10, 1833, Samuel Parker actually went to St. Louis in the early summer of 1834, but arrived after the fur-trade caravan for the Rockies had departed. He thereupon returned to the East and spent the next few months in an attempt to enlist missionaries for Oregon. In the spring of 1835, the Board gave him Marcus Whitman as an associate and the two set out, joining at Liberty, Missouri, the caravan of the American Fur Company, with whom they continued, from May 15 to August 12, when they reached the rendezvous on Green River. Finding the Flatheads and Nez Percés assembled there eager for missionaries, Parker went forward alone, under their escort, while Whitman returned to the East with the trading caravan to organize a missionary party. Parker spent the winter of 1835 - 1836 at Fort Vancouver. He then explored the interior, selecting sites for proposed mission stations, and on September, before the arrival of Whitman's party, sailed to the Hawaiian Islands and thence, on a whaler, around the Horn. He reached New London in May 1837.
The following year his book, Journal of an Exploring Tour Beyond the Rocky Mountains (1838), was published at Ithaca. Several later editions were brought out in America and it was also published in Great Britain. The Whitman Mission was fitted into the scheme resulting from Parker's survey. Parker seems to have been vigorous, but dogmatic and somewhat arrogant, ill-fitted to conciliate men's opposition or to gain their eager cooperation. He displayed good judgment of the Indian character, however, and wisdom in the selection of sites for missionary labors among the tribes is Yankee shrewdness also guided him in estimating the agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing possibilities of the Oregon country. Samuel Parker died on March 21, 1866.
Samuel Parker's first wife was a Miss N. Sears of Ashfield, Massachussets. In 1815, he married Jerusha Lord, of Salisbury, Connecticut, a niece of Noah Webster. By her he had a daughter and two sons. The youngest son was Henry Webster Parker, clergyman, scientist, and author.