Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Parker, Samuel (bishop)

PARKER, Samuel, P. E. bishop, b. in Portsmouth, N. H., 17 Aug., 1744; d. in Boston, Mass., 6 Dec., 1804. His father, William, was an eminent lawyer, and a judge of the superior court at the opening of the Revolution. Samuel was graduated at Harvard in 1764, engaged in teaching while preparing for orders, and in October, 1773, was offered the assistant rectorship of Trinity church, Boston. He accordingly went to England, was made deacon in the chapel of Fulham palace, London, 24 Feb., 1774, by Dr. Terrich, lord bishop of London, and ordained priest three days later by the same dignitary. He returned home in November, 1774, and entered at once upon his duties. At the beginning of the Revolution he sided with his countrymen, was the only Episcopal clergyman to remain at his post, and in 1779 became rector of the parish. After the war he was active in seeking to revive and aid scattered Episcopal churches, and was agent of the Society for the propagation of the gospel. In 1803 he was unanimously elected to succeed Bishop Bass in the episcopate of Massachusetts, and he was consecrated in Trinity church, New York city, 16 Sept., 1804. On returning home he was prostrated by an attack of the gout, from which he never recovered, and thus was never able to discharge any of the duties of his office. He received the degree of D. D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1789. Dr. Parker published an “Annual Election Sermon before the Legislature of Massachusetts” (1793); a “Sermon for the Benefit of the Boston Female Asylum” (1803); and several other occasional discourses. — His youngest son, Richard Green, educator, b. in Boston in 1798; d. in 1869, was graduated at Harvard in 1817. His subsequent life was devoted to education, chiefly in New England. He was not only a thorough practical teacher in grammar-schools and a private school of his own, but was also a voluminous author of text-books. Among them are “Natural Philosophy” (1837); “Aids to English Composition” (Boston, 1832); and “National Series of Readers,” with James M. Watson (completed in 1858). He was also the author of a “History of the Grammar-School in East Parish, Roxbury” (Boston, 1826) and “Tribute to the Life and Character of Jonas Chickering” (1854). — Samuel's grandson, James Cutter Dunn, musician, b. in Boston, 2 June, 1828, is the son of Samuel H. Parker. He was graduated at Harvard in 1848, and studied music at the Leipsic conservatory in 1851-'4. He has been professor of piano-forte and harmony in the Boston university college of music and in the New England conservatory. Since 1864 he has been organist in Trinity church, Boston, and he has also been organist to the Handel and Haydn society. He has written a “Manual of Harmony” (Boston, 1855) and “Theoretical and Practical Harmony” (Boston, 1870), translated Ernst F. E. Richter's “Manual of Harmony” (Boston), and has published collections of music, besides numerous original compositions.