Isaac Charles Parker

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American politician (1838–1896)

For other people named Isaac Parker, see Isaac Parker (disambiguation) .

Isaac Charles Parker (October 15, 1838 – November 17, 1896) was an American politician and jurist. He served as a United States representative in two separate districts subsequently from Missouri and was appointed as the first United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas (sitting in Fort Smith, Arkansas on the border), which also had jurisdiction over the adjacent Indian Territory (future Oklahoma , 1907) to the west. He was appointed by 18th President Ulysses S. Grant in 1875 and served in the federal judiciary until his death in 1896.

Parker became known as the "hanging judge " of the American frontier , because he sentenced numerous convicts to death. In serving 21 years on the federal bench, Judge Parker tried 13,490 cases. In more than 8,500 of these cases, the defendant either pleaded guilty or was convicted at trial. Parker sentenced 160 people to death; 79 were executed.

The other 81 either died while incarcerated, were pardoned, or had their sentences commuted .

Early life

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Born in Ohio, Parker was the youngest son of Joseph Parker and his wife Jane Shannon. He was the great-nephew of Ohio Governor Wilson Shannon . He was raised on the family farm near Barnesville, Ohio . He attended Breeze Hill Primary School, followed by the Barnesville Classical Institute, a private school. He taught in a county primary school to pay for his secondary education.

At 17, he began an apprenticeship in law, called "reading the law" with an established firm, and passed the Ohio bar examination in 1859 at the age of 21.

Parker moved to St. Joseph, Missouri between 1859 and 1861, where he joined his maternal uncle's law firm of Shannon and Branch.

On December 12, 1861, Parker married Mary O'Toole, with whom he had sons Charles and James. By 1862, Parker had his own law firm. He represented clients in the municipal and county courts.

Political career

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Photo of Isaac Parker taken between 1860 and 1865

In April 1861, Parker ran as a Democrat for part-time position of city attorney for St. Joseph. He served three one-year terms, from April 1861 to 1863. When the American Civil War broke out four days after Parker took office, he enlisted in a pro-Union home guard unit, the 61st Missouri Emergency Regiment . He had reached the rank of corporal by the end of the war.

During the 1860s, Parker continued both his legal and political careers. In 1864, he formally split from the Democratic Party over conflicting opinions on slavery. He ran as a Republican for county prosecutor of the Ninth Missouri Judicial District. By the fall of 1864, he was serving as a member of the Electoral College and voted for re-election of Abraham Lincoln . In 1868, Parker won a six-year term as judge of the Twelfth Missouri Circuit .

Parker was nominated for Missouri's 7th congressional district on September 13, 1870, backed by the Radical faction of the Republican Party. He resigned his judgeship and devoted his energy to his campaign. Parker won the election after his opponent withdrew two weeks prior to the vote. Parker was elected as a Republican to the U.S. House of Representatives of the 42nd and 43rd U.S. Congresses , serving from March 4, 1871, to March 3, 1875. He was the caucus nominee of his party for U.S. Senator in 1874.

The first session of the 42nd Congress convened on March 4, 1871. During his first term, Parker helped to secure pensions for veterans in his district and campaigned for a new federal building to be built in St. Joseph. He sponsored a failed bill designed to enfranchise women and allow them to hold public office in United States territories. He also sponsored legislation to organize the Indian Territory under a territorial government.

Parker was again elected to Missouri's 7th district in the 43rd U.S. Congress. A local paper wrote of him, "Missouri had no more trusted or influential representative in ... Congress during the past two years".

In his second term, Parker concentrated on Indian policy , including the fair treatment of the tribes residing in the Indian Territory. His speeches in support of the [Bureau of Indian Affairs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_Indian_Affairs "Bureau of India

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