James Parker Jr. (1776-1868)

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This white person has 7 related events in the database, listed at the bottom of this page.

This person is related to Rutgers University history. See our research guide Rutgers University & Slavery for more information about finding university affiliates and archival sources in our database.
Identifier
NJS-PER-00193
Given Name
James
Family Name
Parker
Birth Date
1776
Death Date
1868
Sex
Male
Occupation
Government
Legal
Biographical Description
James Parker Jr. (1776-1868) was a wealthy politician, enslaver, and anti-slave trafficking advocate in Perth Amboy, Middlesex County, New Jersey.

His parents were James Parker Sr. (1725-1797) and Gertrude Parker née Skinner (1739-1811). His family was from Perth Amboy, where his father had served as Mayor, but James Jr. was born in Bethlehem, Hunterdon County, because his parents moved to a farm called "Shipley" there during the Revolution. The Parkers moved to New Brunswick in 1783 and then returned to Perth Amboy two years later when James Jr. was about nine years old. He attended Columbia College in New York City and began his career as a merchant in the city, but returned to Perth Amboy when he was about 21 years old to manage the family's substantial estate after his father died.

Settling in Perth Amboy, he pursued a career as a magistrate and a politician at the local, state, and national level. Among the offices he held in Perth Amboy were Recorder of the City and Mayor. He served several non-consecutive terms in the New Jersey General Assembly between 1806 and 1827.

In 1818, Parker grew concerned about the dealings of the Van Wickle slave trading ring — a nefarious operation that was transporting enslaved people to Louisiana from the port of Perth Amboy, Parker’s hometown. In June 1818, he served as the foreman of the grand jury that indicted several perpetrators connected with the Van Wickle ring. He then formed an Association "for the purpose of opposing the practice of Kidnapping and unlawful trade in persons of color" with fellow concerned citizens in July 1818 and served as the Secretary of this group. In 1819, he originated a law that put a stop to the slave trading ring and made it much more difficult for enslavers to take Black New Jerseyans away from the state. He went on to serve as a Congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1833 to 1837.

Middlesex County records indicate that James Parker Jr. and other members of his family were enslavers and held several people in bondage in Perth Amboy in the early decades of the 19th century, during the same period when Parker was working to stop the illegal kidnapping and human trafficking in New Jersey.

Parker’s family is crucial to Rutgers history due to their land holdings in New Brunswick. James Jr. and his mother Gertrude donated land to the college from the Parker estate. The nucleus of Rutgers–New Brunswick’s historical campus (with Old Queens, Winants Hall, and Kirkpatrick Chapel) is located on the land donated by the Parker family.
Keywords
white person
enslaver
Rutgers University history
government official
U.S. Congress
Places
Bethlehem
New Brunswick
Perth Amboy
Organization
Rutgers University
Relationship to Rutgers
Benefactor (c. 1808)
Trustee (1812-1868)
Family (parent of John Cortlandt Parker RC1836)
Enslaver of
James (b. 1810) {son of Nancy}
John Annin (b. 1797) {Jack}
Joseph (b. 1808) {son of Nancy}
Nancy {or Nanny}
Child of
James Parker Sr. (1725-1797)
Gertrude Skinner Parker (1739-1811)
Parent of
John Cortlandt Parker (1818-1907)
Sibling of
Cortlandt Lewis Parker (1781-1826)
John Parker (1763-1801)
Spouse of
Catharine Morris Ogden Parker (1781-1863)
Penelope Butler Parker (1785-1823)
Related Person
Ann Lawrence Parker
References

Boyd, Kendra, Miya Carey, and Christopher Blakley. "Old Money: Rutgers University and the Political Economy of Slavery in New Jersey." In Scarlet and Black: Vol. 1, Slavery and Dispossession in Rutgers History, edited by Marisa J. Fuentes and Deborah Gray White, 43–57. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1k3s9r0.6

MacKenzie, George Norbury, ed. Colonial Families of the United States of America. Vol. 3. Baltimore: Seaforth Press, 1912. Page 381.

“PARKER, James.” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/P000061.

This person is represented on the following page(s):
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Parker_(New_Jersey_politician)
Record Contributor
Jesse Bayker
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