SIMEON A. PARKER

From the 1887 History of Vernon County, Missouri, p. 677-678:

Simeon A. Parker

(Brick Manufacturer and Contractor, Nevada).

   Born near Cincinnati, O., December 2, 1844, Mr. Parker was the son of Noah and Love Parker, née Mayhew, the former of Maryland, and latter of Ohio nativity. Seven children of their family are now living, Simeon being the eldest son and second child. Up to his seventeenth year he lived upon his father’s farm, after which he commenced to learn the trade bricklaying in Cincinnati, then spending two years in travel through the Western States as journeyman. Returning to Cincinnati in the fall of 1865, he embarked in contracting, and was thus occupied for ten years, moving thence in 1876 to Kansas City, Mo. Following this he traveled through Kansas and Missouri a year before finding a suitable location in which to settle, but finally Joplin was chosen as the proper site for a home and there he located. In 1880 he came to Nevada, and since then has been actively engaged in contracting and brick manufacturing, evidence of his mechanical skill being found over a wide territory in this vicinity. In 1881 he went to the Indian Territory and erected a large school building for the Creek Nation. In 1882 he built Moore’s Opera House, and besides these structures he has done a vast amount of contracting and building here and elsewhere. In 1883 a court house, bank, and two business houses were put up by him at West Plains, Mo.; the next year he established a brick yard at Erie, Kas., built a hotel there, and the same year went to the Choctaw Nation and erected the Capitol building at Tushkahoma, manufacturing all his material on the grounds of that structure. In 1885 he contracted for several buildings in Erie, and also built the county jail. At this time he is operating extensively in Nevada, and indications of his workmanship are to be seen in the commodious and attractive dwellings of D. P. Stratton, A. J. King and others, besides the college building, and the stores of Messrs. Hancock and Rexrode. He has facilities for making over 1,000,000 bricks annually, while in the manufacture of pressed brick he has no superior, steam being used in all branches where possible to do so. Such a statement of facts needs no additional words of comment, for in this case the work speaks for itself. In 1868 Mr. Parker was married to Miss Elizabeth A. Jacobs; of Cincinnati, O. They have four children: Fannie, Alma, Pearl and Asa.

[Transcribed by Becky Siple]

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