Representative Samuel Wilson Parker - Contact Information

Samuel Wilson Parker (September 9, 1805 – February 1, 1859) was an American lawyer and politician who served two terms as a U.S. Representative from Indiana from 1851 to 1855. A member of the Whig Party, he represented Indiana in the House of Representatives during a turbulent period in the decade preceding the Civil War, taking part in the national legislative debates of the early 1850s and working to represent the interests of his constituents in Congress.

Parker was born on September 9, 1805. Details of his early life and family background are sparsely recorded in surviving public sources, but his subsequent professional career indicates that he received a formal education sufficient to prepare him for the study and practice of law. Like many lawyers and public men of his generation, he would have come of age in the years following the War of 1812, in a political culture shaped by the rise of new parties and the rapid development of the Old Northwest, including Indiana.

After completing his education, Parker studied law and was admitted to the bar, beginning a career as an attorney. His legal practice provided the foundation for his later public service, as was common for many nineteenth-century American politicians. As a lawyer, he would have been engaged in the kinds of civil and criminal matters that accompanied the growth of communities in the Midwest, and his professional standing in the legal community helped establish his reputation and credibility as a candidate for elective office.

Parker’s political affiliation with the Whig Party placed him within a national movement that emphasized congressional authority, economic development, and internal improvements. By the time he sought federal office, the Whig Party was confronting mounting sectional tensions over slavery and the expansion of the United States. Within this context, Parker emerged as a representative figure of Indiana Whiggery, bringing to Congress the perspective of a growing Midwestern state whose economy and society were rapidly changing.

Elected as a Whig to the United States House of Representatives, Parker served two consecutive terms from 1851 to 1855, representing Indiana in the Thirty-second and Thirty-third Congresses. His service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history, marked by intensifying debates over slavery, territorial expansion, and the balance of power between free and slave states. During these years, he contributed to the legislative process, participated in the democratic governance of the nation, and worked to advance and protect the interests of his Indiana constituents. His tenure coincided with major national issues that would soon culminate in the realignment of political parties and the eventual collapse of the Whig Party.

After leaving Congress in 1855, Parker returned to private life. As with many former members of the House in that era, it is likely that he resumed his legal practice and remained a respected figure in his community, drawing on his experience in national politics and law. Though the detailed record of his later activities is limited, his earlier service in Congress and his professional work as an attorney ensured that he retained a place in the civic life of his state.

Samuel Wilson Parker died on February 1, 1859. His career as a lawyer and as a two-term Whig representative from Indiana placed him among the generation of mid-nineteenth-century legislators who navigated the increasingly fraught politics of the 1850s. Through his participation in the legislative process and his representation of Indiana in the national government, he contributed to the political history of both his state and the United States during a critical era.