CHARLES G. PARKER, an active and enterprising business man of Lafayette, is a native of Wayne County, New York, born September 3, 1815, a son of JONAS and NANCY (GATCHELL) PARKER.  JONAS PARKER was a native of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, where he was reared to manhood.  After his marriage, which took place in that county, he removed to Wayne County, New York, remaining there until 1850.  He then bought land in Perry Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, on which he settled, and there made his home until his death, which occurred about the year 1858, his widow surviving him about ten years.  In politics he was formerly a Whig, but affiliated with the Republican party after its organization.

CHARLES PARKER, whose name heads this sketch, was reared and educated in Wayne County, New York, and had clerked in a store there some time before coming West.  On leaving his native county he went to Buffalo, New York, proceeding thence by steamboat to Chicago, Illinois, and in July 1837, he located in Lafayette, and commenced clerking in the general mercantile store of G. FARNSWORTH, where he remained six months.  Not long after MR. PARKER obtained a contract for work on the Wabash & Erie Canal, and here he obtained his first start in life.  On returning to Lafayette he opened a grocery, and sometime later bought a livery stable which he carried on for four years, when he settled on a farm in Perry Township.  For four years he was engaged in fattening hogs in a distillery at Peoria, and for two years at Lafayette Distillery.  He then grazed from 300 to 600 head of cattle per year, and is still engaged in the cattle trade, though not on so extensive a scale.  He has taken cattle to New York State, driving them all the way, and has frequently hauled wheat from Lafayette to Chicago, camping on the way.  Since 1873 he has been a wholesale dealer in hides.

MR. PARKER was married in 1841 to MARIA HICKS, a native of Vermont.  They have an adopted son, a nephew, named FRANCIS B.  The family are identified with the Second Presbyterian Church at Lafayette.  In politics MR. PARKER was first a Whig, and took an active part in the campaign of 1840, in the interest of that party.  He has been identified with the Republican party since its organization.  He is a member of the Lincoln Club.  He has been a member of the city council of Lafayette, and has always taken an active interest in the material welfare of the city where he has made his home for so many years.

Biographical Record and Portrait Album of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, pp. 648, 651
Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1888