Maj. Robert Parker and Mary Smith

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Husband Maj. Robert Parker ¹

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           Born: 1754 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 1 May 1799 - Mercersburg, Franklin Co, PA 2
         Buried: 

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         Father: William Parker (      -1757) 3
         Mother: Elizabeth Todd (1730-1790) 3 4

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       Marriage: 10 May 1787 5

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Wife Mary Smith ¹

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           Born: 1764 5
     Christened: 
           Died: 1 Dec 1848 - Mercersburg, Franklin Co, PA 5
         Buried: 

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         Father: William Smith (      -1775) 6 7
         Mother: Mary Smith (      -1808) 6 8

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Children

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1 F Eliza Parker ^{1 9}

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           Born: 1790 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 27 Jan 1845 1
         Buried: 

         Spouse: John McFarland (1782-1856) 1 9
           Marr: 11 Nov 1812 1

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2 F Mary Smith Parker ^{5 10}

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           Born: 5 Apr 1788 11
     Christened: 
           Died: 26 Aug 1848 11
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Dr. Peter Washington Little (1784-1848) 10 12
           Marr: 26 Sep 1808 11

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General Notes: Husband - Maj. Robert Parker

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He entered the service of the United States from Philadelphia, April 28, 1777, as second lieutenant in the 2d Continental Artillery, Colonel John Lamb, in which his brother-in-law, Andrew Porter, was a captain. He was promoted to first lieutenant, January 1, 1781, and transferred to the 4th Continental Artillery-the Pennsylvania regiment\emdash Colonel Thomas Proctor; he was made captain lieutenant to succeed Thomas Story, October 4, 1782. He served until June, 1783. Lieutenant Parker was with his battery at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, in 1777; in the battle of Monmouth, in 1778; with General James Clinton's brigade in General Sullivan's expedition against the Indians, in 1779; and in the siege of Yorktown, 1781. He was with the Southern army, 1782-83. While the army was at Valley Forge Lieutenant Parker was one of a number of officers sent to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, by the Board of War to learn the art of fixing ammunition. "As you are sent to obtain a perfect knowledge of the business," General Gates, President of the Board, wrote April 28, 1778, "not only on your own account, but to promulgate it through the States, the Board make no doubt of your diligently and manfully applying yourselves to the task you have undertaken. We have too good an opinion of you all to suppose that it will be necessary to impress this sentiment upon you; because should there be any who are negligent, or averse to being taught, the Board are satisfied, as men regarding the interest of your country, you would return to your other duty, and put some other person in a situation so desirable as that you are now in. The time you have been at Carlisle has been one argument with the Board, added to their anxiety to have the laboratory art more generally known, and we shall be happy to hear on your return to camp, and we have no doubt we shall, that the knowledge you have gained at Carlisle is equal to the expectation formed when the measure of sending you there was adopted."
The letter of General Gates was addressed to Captains Craig and Proctor, Captain Lieutenant Parker and Lieutenants Cooper and Parker, Carlisle. At that time there were only two Parkers in the Continental Artillery, Captain Phineas Parker, of Baldwin's Artillery Artificer Regiment, and Lieutenant Robert Parker, of the 2d Continental Artillery. It thus appears that both of them were chosen for this important service. Lieutenant Parker's stay at Carlisle was probably his first visit to the Cumberland Valley, in which he made his home after the Revolution. He kept a Journal of the Sullivan Expedition that was preserved, and was printed in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History for October, 1902, and January, 1903. When General Lafayette visited America, in 1824, James Madison Porter, the youngest son of General Andrew Porter, was presented to him soon after his arrival in New York. "Porter," said the French hero, "I remember that name; are you any relation of Captain Porter, whom I met at the Brandywine." "A son," young Porter answered. "I bless you for your father's sake," Lafayette said. "He was a brave man. He had with him there a young man, a relative I think, whose name I have forgotten. They fought very nearly together." "Was it Parker?" Madison Porter asked. "That was the name." "He was my mother's brother." "Ah, indeed," the Marquis, said; "they were good soldiers, and very kind to me when I was wounded." Captain Parker was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati.
Captain Parker was appointed collector of excise for Franklin County by the Supreme Executive Council, November 17, 1787. He built for himself, in the village of Mercersburg, a fine mansion for that period, which was still standing into the twentieth century. In the east wall was a tablet containing his initials, R. P., almost obliterated by exposure to the elements.

1 G. O. Seilhamer, Esq, The Bard Family (Chambersburg, PA: Kittochtinny Press, 1908), Pg 423.

2 G. O. Seilhamer, Esq, The Bard Family (Chambersburg, PA: Kittochtinny Press, 1908), Pg 438.

3 G. O. Seilhamer, Esq, The Bard Family (Chambersburg, PA: Kittochtinny Press, 1908), Pg 432.

4 Theodore W. Bean, History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Everts & Peck, 1884), Pg 674.

5 G. O. Seilhamer, Esq, The Bard Family (Chambersburg, PA: Kittochtinny Press, 1908), Pg 441.

6 —, Biographical Annals of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 91.

7 G. O. Seilhamer, Esq, The Bard Family (Chambersburg, PA: Kittochtinny Press, 1908), Pg 456.

8 G. O. Seilhamer, Esq, The Bard Family (Chambersburg, PA: Kittochtinny Press, 1908), Pg 452.

9 —, Biographical Annals of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 100.

10 —, Biographical Annals of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 31.

11 G. O. Seilhamer, Esq, The Bard Family (Chambersburg, PA: Kittochtinny Press, 1908), Pg 479.

12 G. O. Seilhamer, Esq, The Bard Family (Chambersburg, PA: Kittochtinny Press, 1908), Pg 441, 472.