Parker, Albert

Born: 1827-09-22 Columbus, Ohio

Died: 1895-04-08 San Diego, California

Flourished: 1858 to 1867 Livingston County, Illinois

Albert Parker, farmer, settled in Tazewell County, Illinois with his family at the age of eight. Parker married Julia B. Cullom, the sister of Shelby M. Cullom, in 1856. In 1857 he helped to establish the Investigator, a newspaper in Washington that was in existence for about three years. By 1860 Parker and his family had moved to Livingston County. Upon the advent of the Civil War, Parker and Shelby M. Cullom assisted in organizing a Livingston County regiment. Parker was described as an active supporter of the presidential administration of Abraham Lincoln, and in 1862 he ran unsuccessfully as a Republican candidate for Illinois General Assembly. During his years in Illinois, Parker was a dealer in livestock, grain, and agricultural real estate, and by the time of the 1860 census owned real estate valued at $25,000 and personal property worth $1,550. He remained in the state until 1867, when he relocated to Sedalia, Missouri. Parker was survived by his wife and three children.

The History of Livingston County, Illinois (Chicago: Wm. Le Baron, Jr., 1878), 266-67, 461-62; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Tazewell County, IL, 43; For a detailed list of Parker’s land purchases, search “Parker Albert,” Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, https://apps.ilsos.gov/isa/landsrch.jsp; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Tazewell County, 8 April 1856, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Franklin William Scott, Newspapers and Periodicals of Illinois, 1814-1879, vol. 6 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1910), 349; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Livingston County, IL, 184-85; Illinois Daily State Journal (Springfield), 15 September 1862, 2:2; Chicago Daily Tribune (IL), 3 October 1862, 1:2; The San Diego Weekly Union (CA), 11 April 1895, 5:6; Gravestone, Mount Hope Cemetery, San Diego, CA.