Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Parker, Linus

PARKER, Linus, M. E. bishop, b. in Rome, N. Y., in 1829; d. in New Orleans, La., 5 March, 1885. He went to the south in his youth, and became a clerk in New Orleans, where he studied Latin and Greek before daylight in the morning and after his return from business in the evening. He soon became a Christian, had great gifts as an exhorter, and before he was twenty-one years of age entered the Louisiana conference. He was kept four years on circuits, during which he was ordained deacon and then elder. His abilities were immediately recognized, and he was transferred to New Orleans, continuing there as pastor of the various chief stations of his church until he was appointed presiding elder of the district that includes that city. He was also editor of the New Orleans “Christian Advocate” for some time. Early in his ministry he was elected a delegate to the general conference, and sat in its quadrennial sessions from 1870 till 1882, inclusive. In the latter year he was elected a bishop. He excelled both as a writer and a speaker.