Notes
Note N2439
Index
Living with neice, Lousa P. Leebrick.
Notes
Note N2440
Index
According to Egle, the early years of Benjamin Parke were spent on his father's farm in Susquehanna county. He subsequently taught school in the neighborhood, and at the age of twenty-three left home to study the profession of law. November 25, 1828, he was admitted to the Dauphin county bar, and settled at Harrisburg. With William F. Packer, afterwards Governor of the State, he edited and published 'The Keystone', then the central and leading organ of the Democratic party. this paper subsequently passed into the hands of Messrs. McKinley and Peacock, who continued it under the name of 'The Argus', with which Mr. Parke remained as editor two years, in the meantime commencing the publication of 'The Pennsylvania farmer and Common School Intelligencer'. The later was however but short-lived.
In 1834 he was appointed by Governor Wolf prothonotory of the Middle district of the Supreme Court, then consisting of sixteen counties, which position he held until the advent of the administration of Governor Ritner. He also held the office of Commissioner of Bankruptcy, and in 1838 was the principal compiler of Parke and Johnson's 'Digest of the Laws of Pennsylvania'. From 1851 to 1853 he was associated with Prof. charles E. Blumenthal, of Dickinson College, in the editorship of the 'Temple', a monthly magazine devoted chiefly to Masonry. Prior to 1860, Mr. Parke contributed largely to magazines, reviews, etc., and published in pamphlet form upwards of twenty addresses, political and Masonic. Dickinson College, in 1852, conferred upon him the honorary Doctor of Laws.
In 1853, President Pierce appointed him postmaster at Harrisburg and he received his commission, but such was the dissatisfaction among the members of his own party that to harmonize its interests he patriotically gave up the office. With all due deference, there are few individuals who would have surrendered as unconditionally as Mr. Parke. In 1860 he retired to the paternal farm, Parkvale, in Susquehanna county, but several enterprises in which he engaged proving unsuccessful, he removed to Halifax, this county, in 1879.
Mr. Parke was widely distinguished as a Mason, and in 1826, at the beginning of the anti-Masonic crusade, he had the temerity to petition for the three symbolic degrees, which he received at Wilkes-Barre that year; and during the persecution of the members of the craft he was one of their boldest advocates. Upon the revival of Masonry, Mr. Parke was appointed District Deputy Grand Master of the subordinate lodges for nine counties, a position he held for six years. In 1858 he was Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Pennsylvania, and at the time of his death the oldest Past Grand Commander. In 1859 and 1860, he held the office of Most Excellent grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Pennsylvania, having previously served in the different subordinate positions. Among the fraternity, he was well known, highly honored and respected.
Mr. Parke died after a severe and lingering illness of several months at Halifax on Monday, the 29th day of May 1882 aged over four score years.
Also reported in the 30 May 1882 Harrisburg Telegraph
From Dennison's "Westerly and it's Witnesses" we learn the following.
"A descendant of a Westerly emigrant, Hon. Benjamin Parke, LL.D., residing in the valley of the Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, thus speaks of such as emigrated to that region.
'Early in the present century, in the summer of 1802, there might have been seen on their journey from Rhode Island to this Northern border of Pennsylvania, a young couple, with their eldest child, an infant boy, accompanied by a young and accomplished sister of the man, who had, with a younger brother, previously spent some six years at the place to which they were journeying, --engaged in surveying, clearing a few fields in the forest, rearing a log house, and preparing a home for the family he now had with him. they came by way of New York, thence up the Hudson, and across to the Susquehanna River, near Unadilla. there they formed a kind of raft, by lashing together two canoes and laying boards thereon. Upon this they embarked and floated down to Great Bend; from whence, by a rough and narrow road, most of the way through a forest, upon an ox-sled, they came some twenty-five miles to their place of future residence-their home. What a change and a contrast A small clearing in the midst of a dense forest, few neighbors within five miles, and none nearer than one and a half miles of their dwelling. but they were all children of revolutionary parents, had been cradled in revolutionary times, and imbued with the faith and trust of their Puritan ancestors, taught to follow the path of duty, and to look upon the brighter side. They had counted the cost, and resolved to be satisfied. Their dwelling, though of unhewn logs, was of ample size and comfortable. It stood in a beautiful valley, nearly surrounded by hills, beside a brook of pure water,-the babbling, noisy tributary of the larger streams,-which ran through and gave name to the valley. their house being of larger size than most others near, and upon the only traveled road leading eastward in that section, was the general stopping-place of most of those coming from the Eastern States to look for or settle upon farms in that part of the country. Here they were most cheerfully received and entertained without charge; though beds and floors were frequently filled and covered with lodgers. No one then thought of receiving any pay of such transient guests. Their company and the news they brought from the outer world was more than an equivalent for their entertainment. All the settlers then dwelt in rough log houses; some covered with bark, chinked and mudded between the logs; easily erected, and with the abundance of fuel, made comfortable in the coldest weather. Around these humble dwellings-seldom in sight of each other-the wild deer browsed often so near as to be shot from the door or window. Farther off, sometimes, however, within sight of the family, the bear or wolf lurked, watching for pigs or sheep. At night the owl hooted and the wolf howled; and they were only kept from the poultry and sheep by the watch-dog or the high-fenced fold, near the house. Here the early settlers of this county-a noble, self-denying, intelligent band of men and women-toiled on, cleared up their farms, opened the roads, erected new buildings, reared their families, and laid the foundation for the comfort and prosperity now enjoyed by their descendants or successors.'"
Benjamin Parke was a lawyer, an LL.D. and a man of letters. At the age of 21 years, he became a teacher in the Academy at Wilkes barre, Pa, and entered the office of Judge Cunningham as a law student. After being admitted to the bar, he removed to Harrisburg, Pa., and was appointed Prothonotary. He also held the office of Commissioner of Bankruptcy, and in 1838 was the principal compiler of Parke and Johnsons "Digest of the Laws of Pennsylvania." From 1851 to 1853 he was associated with Prof. Charles E. Bluementhal in the editorship of The Temple, a magazine devoted chiefly to Masonry. He held some of the highest and most honorable offices in the Masonic order, of which he was a devoted and zealous member. He contributed largely to magazines, reviews, etc., and published many addresses, political and masonic. Dickenson college, in 1852, conferred upon him the honorary degree of doctor of laws. He was an ardent Episcopalian, filling many positions in St. Stephens Church, Harrisburg, and its Vestry. Supt. of the Sunday school for many years, a licensed lay reader, and one of the founders of St. Pauls Mission.
Marriage source: Harrisburg chronicle, Thursday 6 Jan 1831, Vol XIX, No.13: "Married-at Halifax, on Thursday last by the Rev. Mr. Reed, Benjamin Parke, Esq to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of George Leebrick, of the same place."