Charles John PARKE (c. 1870-1937)

Charles John Parke, 67, died Monday morning at 8:45 in a Wichita hospital, where he had been confined since leaving Clarendon in 1928. Parke came to Clarendon in 1889 from Roscommon, Ireland, to work on the JA ranch. Arrived U.S.A. July 1889.

 

When the young Irishman started work on the JA, he was a cowboy and was later promoted to the office of general manager and bookkeeper for the ranch. Mr. Parke came from a distinguished Irish family. A brother, Dr. W.H. Parke was staff physician to the Stanley expedition into the interior of British Africa and a memorial shaft has been raised in Dublin commemorating another brother, Major T.H. Parke, who distinguished himself in World War service.

 

As a youth, Mr. Parke was lured to this country by magic lantern slides which depicted the wide, rolling plains of Texas and the large herds of cattle. Soon after coming to this country and beginning work on the JA, Mr. Parke wrote his family telling of the large tracts of land, the thousands of head of cattle owned by individuals, and according to the anecdote, his mother replied, "Charlie, you had better be careful in your statements or you will be as big a liar as your uncle".

 

Mr. Parke won the love and esteem of everyone during his years in Clarendon and before he became ill in 1928, he acquired ranch holdings of his own and at middle age was comparatively secure financially, only to lose his holdings shortly before he became ill. Mr. Parke loved Texas and the JA ranch and although he corresponded with his family and kept constantly in touch with them, never once did he return to his native Ireland.

 

The only legacy of Charles John Parke at the time of his death was a well-worn prayer book which he had given Jerome Stocking shortly before he was taken to Wichita. Mr. Parke requested that Jerome send the prayer book to his favorite sister, Mrs. Emily Malley in Dublin, after his death. "To My Dear Youngest, Son, from Henrietta Park, Clogier House, Drumfield, Roscommon, Ireland," October 4, 1800, was written on the fly leaf of the book. Mr. Stocking dispatched the book to Mrs. Malley this week.

 

His only immediate survivor is a sister, Mrs. Emily Malley of Dublin, Ireland. But he had two famous brothers, the late Maj. T.H. Parke staf physican [sic] on the Stanley expedition into Africa, and Captain W.H. Parke,, world war hero to whom a memorial shaft has been erected in Dublin.

 

The body is being held in Wichita pending advice from local friends or relatives in Ireland as to burial plans. Mr. Stocking supplied a Wichita mortuary with the address of Mrs. Malley this morning by wire in order that a cable might be sent advising her of her brother's death. Mr. Parke had no relatives in the United States.

 

(Published in The Clarendon News, New Series, Vol. 48 No. 11, Clarendon, Donley County, Texas, Thursday, March 18, 1937, Page 1,4)