Amasa Junius Parker

Amasa Junius Parker (June 2, 1807 – May 13, 1890) was a 19th‑century American attorney, politician, jurist, and educator from New York. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a Representative from New York in the United States Congress from 1837 to 1839, and is most notable for his service as a member of the New York State Assembly in 1834, a U.S. Representative from 1837 to 1839, and a justice of the New York Supreme Court from 1847 to 1855. Over the course of a long public career, he also held local prosecutorial office, sat as a circuit judge, served ex officio on the New York Court of Appeals, and became a prominent legal educator and civic leader in Albany.

Parker was born in Sharon, Connecticut, on June 2, 1807, the son of Rev. Daniel Parker, a Congregational clergyman and teacher, and Anna (née Fenn) Parker. His father’s ministry and teaching took the family to several locations, and in 1816 they moved to Hudson, New York. There Parker was instructed by his father and by several private tutors. Demonstrating early academic ability, he underwent in 1825 a comprehensive examination at Union College that covered the curriculum of the entire four‑year course of study. He passed easily and was awarded a degree as a member of that year’s graduating class. Even before receiving his degree, he had begun a career in education: at age sixteen, in 1823, he was hired as a teacher and principal of the academy in Hudson, a position he held until 1827.

In 1827 Parker commenced the study of law in the office of attorney John W. Edmonds. He later completed his legal training in Delhi, New York, in the office of his uncle, attorney Amasa Parker. Admitted to the bar in 1828, he entered into partnership with his uncle and developed a substantial practice that extended into several counties adjacent to Delhi. He frequently appeared in both the state circuit courts and the Court of Chancery. A Democrat, he was elected district attorney of Delaware County in 1833 and served until 1836. In 1834 he was elected to the New York State Assembly from Delaware County, serving in the 57th New York State Legislature. That same year he was elected a regent of the University of the State of New York, becoming the youngest person ever chosen for the board; he served as a regent from 1835 to 1844. On August 27, 1834, he married Harriet Langdon Roberts, daughter of Edmund Roberts and granddaughter of Woodbury Langdon. Their children included Amasa J. Parker Jr.; Mary Parker, who married Erastus Corning (1827–1897) and became the mother of Edwin Corning and Parker Corning and grandmother of Erastus Corning 2nd and Edwin Corning Jr.; Anna Fenn Parker (1840–1909), who became the second wife of John V. L. Pruyn; and Katharine Langdon Parker, who married New York Militia General Selden E. Marvin.

Parker’s national political career began with his election as a Democrat to the 25th United States Congress, representing a district that included Delaware and Broome counties. He served one term in the House of Representatives from March 4, 1837, to March 3, 1839. His service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history marked by financial turmoil and sectional tensions. A supporter of President Martin Van Buren, Parker participated in the legislative process on issues central to the administration’s program. He supported Van Buren’s Independent Treasury proposal, which initially failed during his term but was enacted in 1840. He took part in consideration of the Mississippi election case, in which two Democratic House members were ultimately supplanted by Whig claimants, and he was involved in oversight of the operations of the United States General Land Office and its procedures for disposing of public lands. He also participated in the House’s response to the 1838 duel between Representatives Jonathan Cilley and William J. Graves, which resulted in Cilley’s death and prompted debate over congressional privilege and the code of honor. After his single term, he did not seek reelection and returned to his law practice. In 1839 he was a Democratic candidate for the New York State Senate but lost a close race to Erastus Root.

In 1844 Parker moved to Albany, New York, upon his appointment as judge of the Third Circuit of the New York State Circuit Courts. He served in that capacity until the circuit courts were abolished under the state’s judicial reorganization in 1847. While on the circuit bench he presided over notable cases, including the 1845 trial of Smith A. Boughton, known as “Big Thunder,” a leader of the Anti‑Rent War tenants’ movement. Parker declared a mistrial in that proceeding; the retrial, conducted by his former mentor John W. Edmonds, resulted in Boughton’s conviction and a life sentence, later commuted by Governor John Young, who had been elected with tenant support. In 1846 Geneva College conferred upon Parker the honorary degree of LL.D., recognizing his growing stature in the legal profession and public life.

With the adoption of a new state constitution, Parker was elected in 1847 as a justice of the New York Supreme Court for the Third Judicial District, a position he held until 1855. By virtue of that office he also served in 1854 as one of the ex officio judges of the New York Court of Appeals. Among the important decisions in which he took part was Snedeker v. Warring, a landmark case in the law of fixtures. The case turned on whether a large ornamental statue situated on a country estate should be treated as real property or personal property. Writing for the court, Parker concluded that the statue constituted real property, and his opinion was sustained by a vote of five to two. When he sought reelection in 1855, the political landscape had been transformed by the collapse of the Whig Party and the rise of the new Republican Party and the nativist Know Nothing movement. Parker, running as a Democrat, was opposed by Republican candidate George Gould and Know Nothing candidate Ambrose Z. Jordan; Gould narrowly defeated him, and Parker left the bench at the end of his term.

After leaving judicial office, Parker resumed the practice of law in Albany and helped to establish a prominent firm that included former judge Edwin Countryman and his son, Amasa J. Parker Jr. He argued several significant cases, including a successful appeal to the United States Supreme Court establishing that national banks were subject to state taxation. Even while serving on the bench, Parker had been active in legal education: in 1851 he was one of the founders of Albany Law School and served on its faculty for more than twenty years, contributing to the training of a generation of New York lawyers. He was twice the Democratic nominee for governor of New York, losing to Republican John Alsop King in 1856 and to Edwin D. Morgan in 1858. During periods when Democrats held the governorship of New York, he declined several offers to return to the bench, and during the administration of President James Buchanan he declined appointment as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. In 1860 he delivered an address before the graduating class of Albany Medical College, reflecting his broader engagement with higher education and professional training.

In the years leading up to the American Civil War, Parker remained loyal to the Democratic Party and advocated a moderate course in the hope that concessions on the slavery question might avert armed conflict. In 1861 he served as permanent chairman of the New York State Democratic convention. Once war began, he supported the Union cause but was critical of what he regarded as overreach by the Lincoln administration in matters of civil liberties. In 1864 he successfully argued Palin v. Murray in Greene County, obtaining a judgment for the plaintiff on the ground of false imprisonment by federal authorities. The case was later transferred to the federal courts and ultimately decided in Palin’s favor by the United States Supreme Court in 1869. In 1867 he was a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention, where he played a leading role on committees concerned with the reorganization of the state courts. He successfully advocated for the abolition of the separate chancery courts and for the consolidation of law and equity jurisdiction in the same tribunals. In 1868 he undertook a rare criminal defense, securing an acquittal on grounds of temporary insanity for George W. Cole, who had shot and killed L. Harris Hiscock. In the early 1870s he declined a substantial retainer to defend William M. Tweed in the latter’s corruption trials, distancing himself from the notorious Tammany Hall leader.

Parker’s later professional life combined active practice, scholarship, and civic service. He continued to practice law into advanced age and argued a case before the New York Court of Appeals the week before his death. He compiled, edited, and published six volumes of reports on criminal cases and collaborated with colleagues on a revised edition of New York’s state statutes, contributing to the systematization of state law. A long‑time advocate of higher education, he served as a trustee or member of the governing boards of Union College, Cornell University, Albany Medical College, and the Albany Female Academy. While serving in the Assembly in 1834, he had urged the establishment of a state hospital for the insane; when the Hudson River State Hospital was finally created in the 1860s, he was appointed to its board of trustees and served until 1881. He also played a role in the disposition of the estate of Harmanus Bleecker, a prominent Albany lawyer and diplomat. Under the terms of Bleecker’s will, Parker and John V. L. Pruyn were involved in directing funds that, after the death of Bleecker’s widow, were used to benefit the Young Men’s Association of Albany. Their work led to the construction of Harmanus Bleecker Hall, a combined library and theater completed in 1889. The hall was later sold to finance the Harmanus Bleecker Library, deeded to the city in 1924 and regarded as the first dedicated public library building in Albany, forming the nucleus of the city’s modern public library system.

Amasa Junius Parker died in Albany on May 13, 1890. He was interred in Albany Rural Cemetery, Section 54, Lot 8.