Henry E. Parker Family Papers, 1763-1980, bulk 1850-1896

Title:

Henry E. Parker Family Papers, 1763-1980, bulk 1850-1896

Creator:

Parker, Henry E., 1821-1896

Accession / Call Number:

2021.061

Object ID:

2021.061

Date:

1763-1980

Physical Description:

5 boxes ; 2.09 linear feet

Scope and Content:

Henry E. Parker's correspondence and journals document three phases of this New Hampshire clergyman and professor's life: his work as minister of a large Congregational Church in Concord, New Hampshire (1850-1865); his service as Chaplain to the Second New Hampshire Volunteer Regiment during the Civil War (1861-1862); and his years as professor of Latin at Dartmouth College (1866-1890). Along the way, he traveled with an ailing stepdaughter to Bermuda, and both alone, and with a daughter and niece, to Europe and the Middle East. The papers relating to his duties as a Congregational minister contain calls from various churches asking him to serve as minister, sermons, letters to the congregation, and to the children of the Sunday School. Probably the most historically important of Parker's letters are those written from the field as he followed the Second New Hampshire Volunteer Regiment during the first battle of Bull Run, through a long cold winter encamped in southern Maryland to the beginning of the siege of Richmond. These letters, written almost daily, provide detailed descriptions of the daily life of the regiment. He lived in a tent, travelled with the regiment, and served soldiers in many capacities: holding prayer meetings, preaching sermons, visiting the sick and wounded, conducting funerals, reading and writing letters for illiterate soldiers, acting as Postmaster to facilitate soldiers receiving their mail and packages, and writing to the parents of the dead. After resigning from the Concord Church, Parker was hired by Dartmouth College to teach Latin, a position which allowed time for travel. Before beginning his teaching career in 1866, he took a solo trip to England, France, and Italy; later (1887-1888) a year-long sabbatical was an opportunity for a trip to Europe, Egypt, and the Near East ("the Holy Land"), this time accompanied by his daughter Alice and a niece. The 1887 to 1888 journey is also documented by journals of his daughter. There were also stays of several months in Bermuda in the winters of 1877 and 1878 to give his step-daughter Lizzie, who was suffering from tuberculosis, a respite from the New England winter. The collection contains printed sermons, funeral orations and addresses Parker gave as well as printed materials he owned, including Eleazar Wheelock’s "Narratives" about the founding and operation of his "Indian School" (1762, 1763, 1765, 1772) and its eventual evolution into Dartmouth College. There are very few photographs. There are no financial records. There is no correspondence with his distinguished relatives: brother Charles Edward Parker, an architect; nephew Horatio Parker, composer and professor of music at Yale; or brother-in-law, Joel Parker, Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court and later Dean of Harvard Law School. Although Parker was a friend of Franklin Pierce, only one letter from Pierce (July 24, 1861) and a few written by Parker to Pierce in 1854 and 1855 are in the collection.

Subjects:

Bull Run, 1st Battle of, Va., 1861 , Cherokee Indians , Christianity , Clergy , College teachers , Correspondence , Diaries , Genealogy , Indians of North America , Islam , Jaffrey, N.H.--Census, 1850 , Peninsular Campaign, Va., 1862 , Photography , Quakers , Religion , Scrapbooks , Sermons , Slavery , Soldiers , Travel , United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865

Locations:

Bladensburg, MD
Concord, NH
Keene, NH
Richmond, VA
Washington, DC
Williamsburg, VA
Yorktown, VA

People:

Ainsworth, Laban, 1757-1858 , Allen, Samuel C. , Ballard, William Wallace, 1838-1863 , Barker, Abel, 1785 , Barstow, Zedekiah Smith, 1790-1873 , Bartlett, Samuel Colcord, 1817-1898 , Brackett, James , Buck, Charles , Burns, Robert , Campbell, Gabriel, 1838 , Chellis, Lydia, 1789 , Dame, Harriet Patience, 1815-1900 , Dawes, Wetmore , Dennis, James , Eckley, Joseph, 1750-1811 , Emerson, Joseph, 1777-1833 , Evans, Israel, 1747-1807 , Foss, Alden, 1896 , Foss, Caroline , Foss, Dorothy , Frost, Edwin , Godfrey, John S., 1827-1899 , Hale, Salma, 1787-1866 , Hall, Aaron, 1751-1814 , Herbermann, Charles George, 1840-1916 , Hooker, Joseph, 1814-1879 , Huntley, Elizabeth, 1853-1879 , Huntley, John, 1850-1869 , Leeds, Samuel Penniman, 1824-1910 , Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 , Marston, Gilman, 1811-1890 , McClellan, George B., 1826-1885 , Ostervald, J. F. , Parker, Elijah, 1776-1858 , Parker, Henry E., 1821-1896 , Parker, Stephen , Pierce, Franklin, 1804-1869 , Sperry, Willard L. , Stacy, John Baldwin-1880 , Tenney, Alice Parker, 1865-1961 , Tenney, Benjamin, 1899 , Tenney, Dorothy, 1897 , Tenney, Leonard, 1814-1903 , Tenney, Malvina, 1819-1903 , Tenney, William , Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, 1819-1901 , Waddell, P. Hately , Wheelock, Eleazar, 1711-1779 , Wheelock, John, 1754-1815

Organizations:

Dartmouth College
South Congregational Church (Concord, N.H.)
United States. Army. New Hampshire Infantry Regiment, 2nd (1861-1865)
Huntley family
Parker family
Tenney family
Constitution (Frigate)

Credit Line:

Gift of Lawrence A. Brown.

Restrictions:

Available for research.

Level Description:

Collection