History of the Fendrick Library
History of the Fendrick Library Building
Captain Robert Parker, 1754-1799
The house that the Fendrick Library now occupies was built in 1788 by Captain Robert Parker, a veteran of the Revolutionary War. As a young man of twenty-three, Robert Parker enlisted at Philadelphia on April 28,1777, and was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Second Continental Artillary, a unit in which his brother-in-law, Andrew Porter (later General), was a Captain. He was promoted to First Lieutenant in 1781 and to Captain Lieutenant in 1782.
Captain Parker was with his battery in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown in 1777, Monmouth in 1778, with General Sullivan's expedition against the indians in 1779, and at the siege of Yorktown in 1781. He witnessed the surrender of Cornwallis and was with the Southern Army 1782-1783. He served until June, 1783.
Captain Parker was on General Washington's staff and soon became a friend of the Marquis de Lafayette. The Marquis, a young man of only twenty, and Captain Parker were almost of an age and were together at the battle of Brandywine, where Lafayette was wounded. A prized possession of Parker's descendants was a yellow satin vest, given to the Captain by Lafayette as a token of his esteem.
When General Lafayette visited America in 1824, a son of General Porter was presented to him. Lafayette recalled to memory General Porter, whom he had met at the battle of Brandywine, and said, "I bless you for your father's sake. He was a brave man. He had with him there a young man, a relative I think, whose name I have forgotten. They fought nearly together." "Was it Parker?" young Porter asked. "That was the name," the Marquis said; "they were good soldiers and very kind to me when I was wounded."
In 1787 Captain Parker was appointed Collector of Excise for Franklin County, Pennsylvania. He settled in Mercersburg where he married Mary Smith, a daughter of Squire William Smith, founder of Smith's Town, which became Mercersburg. The stone house he built, which now houses the Library, he planned for use both as a residence and for business. Two entrances opened from the main street, one to the family rooms on the south side, the other to the business establishment. Great care was taken in the interior details of the residence: the window panes were brought from France and the carving of mantels and cupboards, the scroll work on the stairs, the turned balusters, all of notable excellence, were the work of skilled artizans and much admired.
Here Captain Parker lived until his death in 1799. Mrs. Parker survived her husband by nearly fifty years and continued to occupy the house until her death in 1848. There were two daughters: Mary, who married Dr. Peter Washington Little, and Eliza, who married Captain John McFarland.
It is of interest that Mrs. Parker's sister Jane married Samuel Findlay of Mercersburg. Their six sons all attained prominence, one of them, William Findlay, becoming Govenor of Pennsylvania in 1817 and U.S. Senator in 1821. At an earlier date, Captain Parker's uncle, James Parker, settled in Kentucky and married a Mary Todd. The Parker-Todd branch remained in Kentucky and Illinois and in 1842 one of these cousins, again a Mary Todd, great-grandaughter of James Parker, married a rising young lawyer, Abraham Lincoln.
