The subject of our sketch was a young lady when she came with her parents to Jo Daviess County, where she has since lived. While in New England she received a good education in the public schools, and during her residence under the parental roof learned of her mother the principles of domestic duties necessary to successfully manage a household. Her marriage to Benjamin F. Parker was solemnized in this county, Jan. 22, 1845.
To our subject and her husband were born nine children: Martha A., Jane A., Mary E., A. Lincoln, Emily H., Edmund C., Ben C., Henry C., and Cornelia E. Henry died at the age of seventeen years, and Cornelia at the age of twelve years. Martha lives with her mother. Jane married William Beam, a teamster of Herington, Kan., and they have eight children – Chesney, Alma E., Benjamin F., Ross H., Mary F., Jennie L., William C., and Martha. A. Lincoln, farmer, married Libbie Vanderhyden, of Pleasant Valley, and they have three children - Mead, Clarinda, and Le Roy. Emily H., a graduate of the State Normal School at Bloomington, is a successful teacher at Lostant, La Salle Co., Ill. Edmund C., a graduate of the State Normal School at Bloomington, Principal of the High School at Ramsey, Fayette Co., Ill., married Genevei Fulton, and they have two children, Cecil and Edith. Mary married Henry Bixby, a druggist at McPherson, Kan., and they have one child, Lewis. Ben lives with his mother, and carries on the home farm.
Mr. Parker came to Jo Daviess County in the early days of its settlement, and took up a claim from the Government, consisting of 160 acres of land in its primitive condition, and by dint of perseverance, energy, and good management improved a farm. As his means allowed he bought more land, and through his skill and ability in conducting his affairs accumulated some property, so that at the time of his death, he left a valuable farm of 360 acres under a good state of cultivation, well stocked and embellished with an excellent set of farm buildings. In the work of establishing a home for himself and family he had the co-operation of our subject, who cheerfully aided all his plans, and encouraged him by her words of counsel and advice. Mr. Parker was a man of sound common sense, keen foresight, and became an influential member of his adopted township, which he served as Supervisor two terms, Justice of the Peace nineteen years, besides holding various other offices. As the head of a household, he was a tender and devoted husband, a kind and loving father; as a neighbor, he was generous, hospitable, and ever ready to respond to all calls for assistance; as a citizen, he won the respect and esteem of his fellow-townsmen by his integrity, honesty, and true manliness of character; and his death, which occurred April 2, 1874, was mourned by a large circle of friends, who sympathized with the afflicted family in their great bereavement.
The signature of Mr. B. F. Parker, accompanying his portrait appearing in this album, is the last one he wrote prior to his death.
Contributed by Carol Parrish Portrait and Biographical Album of Jo Daviess and Carroll Counties, Illinois (1889) Pg 321
MRS. ABIGAIL CRAM (TYRELL) PARKER, widow of Benjamin F. Parker, (his portrait on the left) is an industrious, energetic woman, residing on section 34 of Stockton Township. She is of New England origin, born in Hillsborough County, N. H., July 8, 1824. Her parents, Samuel and Anna B. (Cramm) Tyrell, were natives of the same county, born respectively in November, 1779, and June, 1791. They were married in New Hampshire, in 1809, and remained in that State until 1836, when they took up their residence in Worcester County, Mass. Five years later they emigrated to Jo Daviess County, coming by wagon to Troy, N. Y., thence by canal to Buffalo, where they took a steamer for Chicago (coming by way of the lakes), and taking wagons there for Jo Daviess County, whither four of their sons had preceded them two years before, and where they had settled. Mr. and Mrs. Tyrell spent the reminder of their lives here; he dying in 1845, and she in 1876. They had a family of eleven children, six of whom are now living: Samuel, Miles, Francis, Nathan C., Mary, and Abigail. Samuel, a retired farmer of Stockton Township, married Mrs. Lucy Tyrell, of Jo Daviess County. Miles, a retired merchant in Morseville, married Mrs. Hester Clare, of Jo Daviess County. Francis, a retired farmer of Stockton Township, married Caroline Bixby, of this county, and they have three children – Frank M., George, and Herman. Nathan, retired, married Margaret Russ, of Moline, Ill., and they have three children – Mary, Nathan, and Ben Butler. Mary married Isaac Lyons, of New York State, now a farmer and stock-raiser in Jefferson, Greene Co., Iowa, and they have six children – Rhoda, William, Harrison, Lewis, Casper, and Alva.
