Richard E. Parker

Richard Elliott Parker
United States Senator from Virginia
In office December 12, 1836 – March 13, 1837
Preceded by	Benjamin W. Leigh
Succeeded by	William H. Roane
Personal details
Born	(1783-12-27)December 27, 1783 Westmoreland County, Virginia
Died	September 10, 1840(1840-09-10) (aged 56) Bluemont, Virginia
Political party	Democratic

Richard Elliott Parker (December 27, 1783 – September 10, 1840) was born at ‘Rock Spring,’ Westmoreland County, Virginia, son of Captain William Harwar Parker and Mary (Sturman) Parker, and grandson of Judge Richard Parker and Elizabeth (Beale) Parker. He studied law under his grandfather Parker at ‘Lawfield,’ his grandfather's residence in Westmoreland County. After being admitted to the bar, he practiced in Westmoreland, his native county, which he represented in the Virginia House of Delegates. During the War of 1812, he served as Lieutenant Colonel in the Thirty-fifth Virginia Regiment Militia and was wounded in the battle of the White House on September 16, 1814. He then returned to private practice and was elected to the general court on July 26, 1817. On December 12, 1836, Judge Parker was elected United States Senator from Virginia as a Jacksonian to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Benjamin W. Leigh, but resigned March 4, 1837, to accept a seat on the Court of Appeals. He refused the cabinet office of attorney general offered him by President Van Buren. He died on his estate, ‘Soldier’s Retreat,’ near Snickersville (now Bluemont, Loudoun County), Virginia, September 10, 1840, and was buried in the family cemetery near Warsaw, Richmond County, Virginia.

References

• Richard E. Parker at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

External links

•  "Parker, Richard Elliott". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900. 

United States Senate
Preceded by Benjamin W. Leigh	United States Senator (Class 2) from Virginia December 15, 1836 - February 13, 1837 Served alongside: William C. Rives	Succeeded by William H. Roane