Theodore Parvin was an American educator, lawyer, librarian, and private secretary to the first Iowa territorial governor.
Background
Theodore Sutton Parvin was born on January 15, 1817, in Cedarville, Cumberland County, New Jersey, United States. He was the eldest of thirteen children. His mother, Lydia Harris, was of Scotch descent; his father was Josiah Parvin, of Scotch-Irish forbears. In 1829 the family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio.
Education
Theodore Parvin's formal education, begun at the hands of an elderly widow, was supplemented with independent and extensive reading. He attended the public schools of Cincinnati, and thereafter, with a scholarship from William Woodward, he was admitted to Woodward High School (later Woodward College) in 1831 and remained for two and a half years.
Career
In 1835 Theodore Parvin was given a teaching position in the public schools of the city. In the same year, he began to study law under the Hon. Timothy Walker, and in 1837 he graduated from the law school of Cincinnati College (now the University of Cincinnati College of Law). Theodore Parvin then read law in the office of Judge John C. Wright and on April 14, 1838, was admitted to practice as attorney and counselor-at-law in the courts of Ohio. In August of that year, Theodore Parvin was granted a certificate to practice in the Territory of Iowa. His diary for November 28, 1838, notes his admission to practice before the supreme court of the Territory. His first criminal case was tried on the day after his admission. Though his client was found guilty, Theodore Parvin succeeded in reducing the sentence from "ten years' imprisonment and $1, 000 fine" to "seven days' imprisonment and $10 fine."
In 1839, as district prosecutor for the second judicial district of the Territory, Theodore Parvin took part in the first term of court in Johnson County, held in a one-story cabin, with the grand jury assembled upon the prairie. In October Theodore Parvin accepted an appointment as United States district attorney. He was probate judge for three terms beginning in 1841, and clerk of the United States district court from 1847 to 1857.
Theodore Parvin had gone to Iowa in 1838 as a private secretary to Gov. Robert Lucas and was soon thereafter appointed by the Governor's territorial librarian, acting in that capacity until provision for the office was made by the legislative council. In 1840 he served as secretary of the legislative council, and in 1857 he became register of the State Land Office, serving for two years. Early in his career, Theodore Parvin urged the necessity of establishing an adequate system of common schools for Iowa. In 1841 he was offered the position of territorial superintendent of public instruction, which appointment, however, he declined.
His connection with the State University of Iowa began at the time of its organization in 1854 when Theodore Parvin was made a trustee. He resigned this position in 1859 to become "curator and librarian," which title he exchanged a year later for that of professor of natural history. Upon leaving the University in 1870 he devoted himself wholly to his duties as secretary of the Grand Lodge of Iowa Masons and Grand Recorder of the Grand Encampment Knights Templar of the United States. He instigated the building at Cedar Rapids of "the only great Masonic Library in the world." Theodore Parvin was among the first curators of the State Historical Society of Iowa and from his collections he contributed to it as well as to other historical institutions. His meteorological records, the only accurate and available data of their kind in the region of the Territory of Iowa led to the decision on the part of the federal government to establish the United States arsenal at Rock Island, Illinois. His attendance at pioneer reunions and at the meetings of the Old Settlers' Association of Johnson County is indicative of the interest he took in history, especially in the pioneer history of Iowa. From 1864 to 1866 Theodore Parvin was secretary of the State Historical Society of Iowa and editor of the Annals of Iowa, the first quarterly magazine of history in the United States devoted to state and local history.
Theodore Sutton Parvin was one of the most valued members of the Pioneer Lawmakers' Association and his historical contributions. He was also one of the founders of the Iowa State Teachers' Association and its president (1867) and of the State Historical Society.
Iowa State Teachers' Association
,
Iowa
State Historical Society
Connections
Theodore Parvin married Agnes McCully on May 17, 1843, in Iowa City. They had six children. Agnes preceded him in death on November 20, 1896, in Cedar Rapids. Theodore S. Parvin died in Cedar Rapids at age 84.