BIOGRAPHY OF SAMUEL PARK OR PARKS

   Samuel Parks was born (he said) in Athens, Greene County, New York, about 1840-1842, the son of Samuel Park, Sr., and Mary (Rankin) Park.

     He died at Hudson, Columbia County, New York on the 30th of September 1913.  On the 20th of December 1866 at Ghent, Columbia County, New York, Samuel married Emily Shult, daughter of Jacob and Sarah (Whitemen) Shult.

     Sam and his four siblings were orphaned in the mid 1850s, and it appears that the children were farmed out to board with various families in Columbia County, where they grew up. 

     Sam served in the 159th Regiment of the New York Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War.  He enlisted at Greenport, on 11 September 1862 as a Private, and was mustered out at Augusta, Georgia as a Corporal on 12 October 1865.  During the war, he, like so many of his fellow soldiers, suffered more from illness, than from enemy action.  He was hospitalized with malaria, and also contracted a severe respiratory disorder, both of which had lasting effects on his life. He received a pension for his military service and effects on his health, and was a member of the R.D. Lathrop Post, GAR at Hudson, New York.

     It appears from the available records, that Sam never owned any real estate, and mostly worked as a laborer.  He is known to have been a bricklayer, a quarryman, and a common laborer.  As a teenager, he worked as a farm laborer on the farm of Jacob Ten Broek, at Germantown, Columbia County.  Emily worked most of their married life, in the mills at Hudson.  At his death, Sam left no will, and his meager estate was distributed to his heirs, by Letter of Administration, Emily being the Administor.  Sam and Emily had four children, Alexander (1868), who married Annie Alcott; Estella (1869), who married John Bernklow; Elizabeth (1883), who married William Rider; and Lucy, who died as a young child. The family lived at various times, at Claverack, Greenport, and Hudson, New York.

Submitted by: Virginia Basken , 18 February 2014