Benjamin Parke

Benjamin Parke ( born September 22, 1777 New Jersey, † July 12, 1835 in Salem, Indiana) was an American lawyer and politician. Between 1805 and 1808, he represented the Indiana Territory as a delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

After a rather average schooling Benjamin Parke moved in 1797 to Lexington in Kentucky. He began to work in Vincennes Indiana Territory later in his new profession after a subsequent study of law and qualifying as a lawyer in 1799. According to the official creation of the territory he took an active part in local politics. Between 1804 and 1808, he was attorney general of the territory. In 1805 he sat as a deputy in the territorial House of Representatives.

In 1805, Parke was elected the first delegates congress of his homeland. Between 12 December 1805 and 1 March 1808, he exercised this mandate, the overlapped with his work as Attorney General. Parks sat unsuccessfully for the introduction of slavery in his homeland. In the meantime, he served on the staff of Governor William Henry Harrison and adopted as a major part of the British -American War of 1812 and an Indian war. Between 1808 and 1817 Parke was territorial judge. Thereafter he served until 1835 as a judge at the Federal District Court for the State of Indiana.

In 1816, Parke was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of Indiana. He also became the first president of the Indiana Historical Society. He died on July 12, 1835 in Salem; Parke County is named after him.