BIOGRAPHY OF THE HON. NATHAN PARKER of Manchester NH ------------------------------------ Information located at http://www.nh.searchroots.com/Manchester On a web site about GENEALOGY AND HISTORY OF MANCHESTER NEW HAMPSHIRE TRANSCRIBED BY JANICE BROWN Please see the web site for my email contact. ---------------------------------- The original source of this information is in the public domain, however use of this text file, other than for personal use, is restricted without written permission from the transcriber (who has edited, compiled and added new copyrighted text to same). ======================================================== SOURCE: Manchester, A Brief Record of its Past and A Picture of Its Present, including an account of is settlement and its growth as town and city; a history of its schools, churches, societies, banks, post-offices, newspapers and manufactures; a description of its government, police and fire department, public buildings, library, water-works, cemeteries, streets, streams, railways and bridges; a complete list of the selectmen, moderators and clerks of the town and members of the councils, marshals and engineers of the city, with the state of the cote for mayor at each election; the story of its part in the war of the rebellion with a complete list of its soldiers who went ot the war; and sketches of its representative citizens; Manchester N.H.; John B. Clark; 1875 ------------------- page 422 **** THE HON. NATHAN PARKER **** Nathan Parker was born in Litchfield, NH, November 21, 1808, and is the son of Deacon Matthew Parker and Sarah Underwood, daughter of Judge James Underwood of Litchfield. He was the youngest of six children and is the only survivor. He lived in Litchfield until he was sixteen or seventeen years of age, acquiring his education at the academies in that town and in Henniker, and then went into business in Merrimack, whence he removed in April, 1840 to Manchester [NH], continuing in trade and soon making for himself a large and profitable business. The town was then just rising and Mr. Parker sold large quantities of goods to the corporations and others who were building factories or houses. Upon the organization of the Manchester Bank in 1845 he became its cashier and continued to hold the office until the Bank was dissolved. He has been the treasurer of the Manchester Savings Bank since it was organized in 1846 and a director and president of the Manchester National Bank since it was formed in 1865. From 1867 to 1871 he was director and treasurer of the Concord Railroad, and again, since 1873, its treasurer; he was once treasurer and for the psat two or three years, he has been a director of the Manchester and Lawrence Railroad and for the past three or four years a director of the Concord & Portsmouth Railroad. In 1855 and 1856 he was a member of the state senate and would have been its president if he had been disposed to accept the office. He was a member of the New Hampshire house of representatives in 1863 and 1864. Mr. Parker married in September 1837, Miss Charlotte M. Riddle, of Merrimack [NH], a grand-daughter of Capt. Isaac Riddle, a wealthy farmer, mill-owner, and contractor of Bedford, who built the first canal-boat which was floated on the Merrimack River. She died in October, 1859, leaving one son, Walter M., who is employed in the Manchester Savings Bank. Mr. Parker belongs to a family of able, clear-headed, keen-minded men, who never act without a reason and who are circumspect and generally wise in all their actions. He is best known to our people as a financier and there is no man in New Hampshire who enjoys the confidence of the public in a greater degree in this respect than does the subject of this sketch. He could have succeeded in any profession in life, whether that of a merchant, lawyer, railway manager or manufacturer. He finally chose the business of banking and has always looked upon the money placed in his keeping through the different banks he manages as funds in trust for him to care for according to the best of his ability. As a result, he has always kept the investments on the safe side, running no risks and meeting with no losses to speak of. All the institutions with which he has been connected have been very successful, managed with a conscientious scrupulousness and with a due regard for the acts of incorporation. He is a pttern banker and his name has become a synonym with honesty. (end)