Out On A Limb - Meet a Member of My Family Tree
3rd Cousin Twice Removed
Line of Descent: Richard Mower1, Samuel Mower2,
Samuel Mower3, Jonathan Mower4 John Mower5,
Pamelia Mower6, Sarah Parker7, Eliza Ann Howe8,
Ralph Almeran Parker9
 |
Photo Credit to Lewiston Evening Journal |
|
Ralph Almeran Parker was born in Greene, Maine, on 7 January
1861, the first of four children born to Almeran Bodge Parker and Eliza Ann
Howe. The Parker and Mower families were close, there being a few marriages between
the families. In fact, Almeran and Eliza were 1st cousins once
removed.
Ralph grew up in Greene. The Parker homestead was a
historic house, home to a tavern, located on the main road leading from Greene
to Lewiston. After attending the public schools in Greene, Ralph attended Bates
College, graduating in 1888, one of a class of thirty completing the four-year
program that year. Like many of those graduates, Ralph entered the teaching
profession. Throughout Maine he held several positions as either teacher or principal
for the next twelve years –in West Lebanon, East Corinth, Westbrook and South Portland.
He even held a position at the high school in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Throughout his career however, he had a yearning to enter
the medical profession, cultivated from both a strong human sympathy and a sense
of community service. The developing pull eventually won out. Ralph Parker
attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick for his medical training, receiving his M.D.
in 1904. He settled in Auburn, Maine, locating his office at the corner of
Turner Street and the River Road, where he would remain for the next 10 years.
He was a very popular and well-respected physician, known for his conscientiousness,
honesty and compassion. He loved this profession because of the good works he
could do. His work reflected this. Dr. Parker belonged to various medical societies
and served on the staff of Central Maine General Hospital in Lewiston, Maine.
Around 1915, Dr. Parker and his wife (the former Marietta
Merrill) moved back to his childhood home in Greene. His parents were getting
along in years and could not carry on with the farm and the upkeep of the homestead
without assistance. Along with farming, Dr. Parker was able to continue
offering medical services in Auburn and Lewiston, as well as adding some
business in Greene. In February 1918, a fire of unknown origin destroyed the
home. Dr. Parker’s aging parents moved
to New York to reside with their son, Horatio. Dr. Parker and his wife began
rebuilding a new home, which unfortunately he would not live to enjoy, dying a
few days before they planned to move in.
On Saturday, 13 October 1918, Dr. Ralph A. Parker died
suddenly of acute dilation of heart due to angina pectoris at the age of 57 in his
native Greene, Maine. He is interred in the new Valley Cemetery in that town.
Ralph and his wife had two children, both born in South Portland:
a stillborn boy on 31 Dec 1897 and a second son, Miles Robinson Parker on 17
August 1900. His wife survived him, passing away in 1935.