The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Parker, Joel (statesman)

PARKER, Joel, American statesman: b. Monmouth County, N. J., 24 Nov. 1816; d. Philadelphia, Pa., 2 Jan., 1888. He was graduated from Princeton in 1839, admitted to the bar in 1842 and established a law practice in Freehold, N. J. He engaged in politics with much zest, and in 1847 was elected to the New Jersey legislature; and in 1852-57 he was prosecuting attorney of Monmouth County. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was appointed major-general of volunteers and in 1862-66 was governor of New Jersey, giving loyal support to the policy of the national administration. He was again elected governor in 1870, and in 1880 was appointed associate justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, and reappointed in 1887.