Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Parker, Isaac

PARKER, Isaac, jurist, b. in Boston, Mass., 17 June, 1768; d. there, 26 May, 1830. He was graduated at Harvard in 1786, and, after teaching for several years, studied law and settled in Castine, Me., where he attained to eminence in his profession. He was elected to congress as a Federalist in 1796, served one term, and was U. S. marshal for the district of Maine in 1797-1801. He subsequently removed to Portland, in 1806 was appointed a judge of the supreme court of Massachusetts, in which state he then settled, and from 1814 until his death was presiding justice of that body. He was professor of law at Harvard in 1816-'27, president of the Massachusetts constitutional convention in 1820, and took a spirited part in debate when he was relieved from the duties of presiding officer. Harvard gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1814. “His fame,” says Chief-Justice Story, “must rest on the printed reports of his own decisions. These will go down to future ages.” He published an “Oration on Washington” (Boston, 1800) and a “Sketch of the Character of Chief-Justice Parsons” (1813).