Richard E. Parker

Richard E. Parker

Richard Elliot Parker (born December 27, 1783 in Westmoreland County , Virginia , †  September 10, 1840 in Snickersville , Virginia) was an American lawyer and politician ( Democratic Party ) who represented the state of Virginia in the US Senate .

Richard Parker was born on Rock Spring , his family's farm in northern Virginia; he was the grandson of Richard Parker , who was a respected lawyer and state politician at the time of the Revolutionary War . He also studied law with him . After his admission to the bar he began to practice in Westmoreland County, which he, like his grandfather, also represented in the Virginia House of Representatives.

During the British-American War , Parker served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the 35th Virginia Militia Regiment, where he was wounded during the British attack on Washington, DC on September 16, 1814. He returned to his work as a lawyer, which he practiced in the following years. On December 12, 1836, he was elected US Senator after Benjamin W. Leigh resigned from office. But he only remained in Congress until March 4, 1837 ; The reason for his resignation was an appointment as a Justice of the Virginia Supreme Court . When US President Martin Van Buren made him an offer a little later to become Attorney General in his cabinet , Parker resigned. He died in September 1840 at his country estate, Soldier's Retreat .

Web links

• Richard E. Parker in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Literature by and about Richard E. Parker in the WorldCat bibliographic database