John Peyton Parker

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed this carte de vise photograph come up for sale on eBay. It was signed on the back and front saying it was a portrait of John P. Parker from December, 1877. I couldn’t let it go and paid way too much for it. I am a sucker for little fragments of Ouachita Parish history!

John was the son of Aaron and Annie Parker, and was born in Cuthbert, Georgia in 1854. The family moved to Ouachita Parish in the early 1870s and eventually settled near Trenton. As a young man, John worked as a clerk in the Meyer brothers store until his health began to fail. I suspect the above photo was taken around that time. Because of his health, he decided to take on a more active job outdoors. John became what was called a “Drummer”, which is now what we call a traveling salesman. He was so good at it, he eventually was making $5000 a year! John then decided to turn his face towards agriculture.

John and his father Aaron went in together and bought the Bon Air plantation. Eventually, John bought the Kansas, Ingleside, Baker and Mason plantations. He also owned land around Black bayou! All together, he owned 6,000 acres of land, which was one of the biggest plantations in the south!

Of course, the main crop of this plantation was King Cotton, and he grew a lot of it! The money he made, he invested right back into properties, businesses, banks and steamboat packets. I would guess, Mr. Parker was the richest and largest land owner in the parish in his day!

John passed away on February 10, 1929. Some of the biggest names in Ouachita parish at that time served as his pallbearers at his funeral. He was laid to rest in the Old City Cemetery. You can see his grave and read his obit here: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42486939/john-peyton-parker .

Just a side note to any Parker family researchers reading this: I was looking him up on Ancestry and it seems that everyone who has him in their family tree has an incorrect photograph attached to it! The photograph that is claimed to be him, is actually one of Hypolite Pargoud! These three are the only “likenesses” I have seen and feel are correct.

I let my boss scan and include it on the Louisiana Digital library here: https://www.louisianadigitallibrary.org/islandora/object/oplib-pho%3A755

Engraving from the May 15, 1893 World’s Fair Issue of the Monroe Evening News.

Engraving from the May 21, 1899 New Orleans Times-Democrat.