My Genealogy Hound

JAMES PARK. Throughout Randolph County, where the greater portion of his life has been passed, the subject of this sketch has become well known as a progressive agriculturist and genial gentleman. Of Irish birth and parentage, and of Scotch ancestry, he combines the energy of one race with the thrift of the other. Though not a native of the United States, he is a loyal citizen, public spirited and patriotic, and naturally occupies a position of prominence among the residents of township 4, range 6, where his home is situated.

A brief account of our subject’s ancestry will not be amiss. The Park family emigrated from Scotland in the year 1752. Samuel Park, the father of James, was born in the North of Ireland in 1786, and in 1823 he was united in marriage with Miss Margaret Michan, who was of English descent. In religious affiliations the Parks were Presbyterians, while the Michan family held membership in the Episcopal Church. For more than twenty years Samuel Park was an Elder in the Presbyterian Church in the town where he was born and reared.

In the parental family there were nine children, of whom four are living, two sons and two daughters. One of the latter still resides in Ireland. James, of this sketch, was born in Ireland in 1832 and passed his boyhood years in his native land. In 1848, in company with his parents, one brother and four sisters, he crossed the ocean, and arriving in the United States, sojourned for a time in Memphis, Tenn. John, the eldest member of the family, had preceded the others two years, and settling in Memphis, became a prosperous merchant of that city. For over ten years he was a successful business man of that place, and then, on account of ill-health, he retired from business and spent several years in travel, hoping to regain his former strength. He finally settled in Hooversville, Somerset County, Pa. He was married in 1857, and died two years later; his remains lie in the cemetery of that village. David, the second son, embarked in farming in Perry County, Ill., in 1856, and the same year married Miss Eliza Kilpatrick. An industrious, energetic man, he accumulated a valuable property and now, retired from business, lives with his family near Pinckneyville, the county seat of Perry County.

The family came to Randolph County in July, 1848, and bought a farm in township 4, range 6. James, the youngest son, remained with his father on the farm until the death of the latter, which occurred in 1852. His education was limited; nevertheless by self-culture and observation, he became a well informed man, with a thorough knowledge of topics of current interest as well as historic importance. After the demise of his father, he continued to remain upon the farm with his mother and sisters until the death of the former, in 1868, when he removed from the old homestead. However, in 1875 he returned hither with his sister and three children of a deceased sister and since that time has continued to reside upon the old home farm.

Mr. Park is greatly interested in political matters and has been a life-long Democrat. He has frequently represented his party as delegate to senatorial and congressional conventions, and served as delegate to the state convention that nominated John M. Palmer Governor of Illinois. He is especially fond of horses and has on his place some fine trotters of the Hambletonian breed. In all of his enterprises he has been very fortunate.