[Abel Parker]. American statesman, born in Northampton County, VA, on the 17th of June 1790. He studied law, and practiced in Richmond until 1824, when he was elected to the legislature from Northampton County; was appointed a judge in the general court of Virginia in 1826; a member of the convention called to revise the state constitution, and then returned to his office of judge, which he retained till 1841. In that year he was appointed to the post of Secretary of the Navy by President Tyler, and in 1843 Secretary of State to succeed Daniel Webster. He was killed, together with several others, while in company with the President and his Cabinet, witnessing some experiments in gun-firing on board the United States steamship Princeton, on the Potomac River, on the 28th of February 1844. He published Brief Inquiry into the True Nature and Character of Our Federal Government (1840).
