Author: Parke, John
Biography:
PARKE, John (1754-89: ANBO)
Colonel Parke was born in Dover DE, son of Thomas and Ann Parke. His father was a prosperous hatter and community leader who served as county sheriff 1758-60 but died in 1766; his mother's maiden name is not known. Parke graduated AB (1771) and AM (1775) from the College of Philadelphia (later University of Pennsylvania) and had been studying law for a few years when the Revolutionary War began and he joined the Continental Army as assistant quartermaster-general. During the course of the war he remained with Washington's army, rising to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He resigned from the army in 1778, lived for a time in Philadelphia and at Arundel in Delaware, and died unmarried on his estate in Kent County DE. His free translations of Horace and other classical authors--with the names of contemporary figures replacing some of the original ones--were supplemented by some poems of his own and some by a few of his friends. (ANBO 10 June 2020; DAB 10 June 2020; Appleton) HJ