Washington Lafayette Parker was born February 08, 1833 in Jackson County Georgia to Stukeley S. C. Parker and Julia Anne Williamson. He learned the trade of Blacksmith from his father following in his footsteps and graduating from the University of Georgia as an engineer in 1854. He married Mary Catherine Farrow 1855 in Augusta, daughter of William L. Farrow, a Blacksmith, and Elizabeth Smithy. He worked for his father with his brothers and sisters at Parker & Sons Carriage Builders until the war came and was asked to design an ironclad for the CSA. He designed the amour and lead the crew of steel and iron workers who gave the old USS Merrimac a metal covering which became the Ironclad CSS Virginia, thereby revolutionizing modern naval warfare. As the city recuperated from the war, the sons of Stukeley rebuilt Parker and Sons Carriage Builders becoming Atlanta's premiere Carriage Builders. Wash being co-owner with his siblings, became president at the death of his father until his death in 1909. Then on May 19, 1917, when flames came from a Decatur Street storage shed for Grady Hospital swept through a 20-block area of Atlanta and thousands of wooden shanties and Victorian mansions and 1,938 destroyed buildings in the Fourth Ward. By nightfall, 10,000 Atlantan's were left homeless, and businesses displaced by the Great Fire of 1917, which destroyed more of the city than General William T. Sherman had during the closing days of the Civil War 50 years earlier. The building and business were never rebuilt and was sold ending 67 years of the Parker family business. He is buried in Westview Cemetery in Atlanta near the family mausoleum.
Atlanta Constitution
12 February 1909, page 5
DEATH TAKES ATLANTA MAN WHO COVERED THE VIRGINIA
The announcement that one of the builders of the Virginia, civil war vessel, lived for years in Atlanta, practically unknown, will come as a surprise to many people, but such was brought out Tuesday in the death of Washington Lafayette Parker, 76 years old, a blacksmith, whose family state that he was one of the steel and iron workers who gave the old Merrimac a metal covering, thereby revolutionizing modern naval warfare.
Washington Lafayette Parker, thirty-six years a resident at the corner of Moore and Gilmer streets, and recently of 526 Pulliam Street, was born in Jackson County. His father before him was a blacksmith, and he took up his father's trade as a country smith. When the war broke out, he was 28 years old, and a skilled workman. He enlisted with the confederacy, and went to Norfolk, Va., to help in the reconstruction of the Merrimac, United States war sloop, which had been sunk by the federal authorities on their evacuation of the port and raised by the confederates, and named the Virginia, after the state in which was located the confederate capital.
The result was that the Virginia became the prototype of the early war vessels covered with metal armor. Incidentally she went to Hampton Roads with the covering given her by Parker and his men, and sunk the Cumberland and the Congress, United States vessels, and wrecked the Minnesota, before returning to Norfolk. The next day she had combat with the Monitor, the second of the ironclads.
Parker told interesting tales to his family of his experience in the construction of the boat, always emphasizing the fact that he and his fellow workmen were kept busy night and day until the completion of the task. He was very proud of his name, taken after two of the country's greatest early generals and patriots, Washington and Lafayette.
Atlanta Constitution
10 February 1909, page 2
W. L. PARKER
W. L. Parker, aged 76 years, died last night at 7:15 o'clock at his residence 526 Pulliam Street. He is survived by his six children, Jesse, Charles, Gordon, and Miss Lucile Parker, and Mrs. T. J. Capers, of Jacksonville, Fla., and Mrs. M. H. Mahan, of Atlanta. The funeral will be held at the residence this afternoon at 2 o'clock, Rev. Dr. Knight officiating. The interment will be in Westview cemetery.
Atlanta Constitution
11 February 1909, page 14
PARKER--The friends of Mr. W. L. Parker, Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Parker, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Parker, Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Parker, Mr. O. L. Parker, Mr. and Mrs. T. J. Capers, and Mr. and M. H. Mahan are invited to attend the funeral of Mr. W. L. Parker from the residence, 526 Pulliam Street, at 2:30 today. The following gentlemen will act as pallbearers and meet at Harry G. Poole's at 2 o'clock: Mr. J. C. Manley, Mr. T. G. Boggus, Mr. George Harmon, Mr. G. A. Blackwell, Mr. H. D. Spinks and Mr. T. T. Taylor. Interment at Westview.
Washington Lafayette Parker was born February 08, 1833 in Jackson County Georgia to Stukeley S. C. Parker and Julia Anne Williamson. He learned the trade of Blacksmith from his father following in his footsteps and graduating from the University of Georgia as an engineer in 1854. He married Mary Catherine Farrow 1855 in Augusta, daughter of William L. Farrow, a Blacksmith, and Elizabeth Smithy. He worked for his father with his brothers and sisters at Parker & Sons Carriage Builders until the war came and was asked to design an ironclad for the CSA. He designed the amour and lead the crew of steel and iron workers who gave the old USS Merrimac a metal covering which became the Ironclad CSS Virginia, thereby revolutionizing modern naval warfare. As the city recuperated from the war, the sons of Stukeley rebuilt Parker and Sons Carriage Builders becoming Atlanta's premiere Carriage Builders. Wash being co-owner with his siblings, became president at the death of his father until his death in 1909. Then on May 19, 1917, when flames came from a Decatur Street storage shed for Grady Hospital swept through a 20-block area of Atlanta and thousands of wooden shanties and Victorian mansions and 1,938 destroyed buildings in the Fourth Ward. By nightfall, 10,000 Atlantan's were left homeless, and businesses displaced by the Great Fire of 1917, which destroyed more of the city than General William T. Sherman had during the closing days of the Civil War 50 years earlier. The building and business were never rebuilt and was sold ending 67 years of the Parker family business. He is buried in Westview Cemetery in Atlanta near the family mausoleum.
Atlanta Constitution
12 February 1909, page 5
DEATH TAKES ATLANTA MAN WHO COVERED THE VIRGINIA
The announcement that one of the builders of the Virginia, civil war vessel, lived for years in Atlanta, practically unknown, will come as a surprise to many people, but such was brought out Tuesday in the death of Washington Lafayette Parker, 76 years old, a blacksmith, whose family state that he was one of the steel and iron workers who gave the old Merrimac a metal covering, thereby revolutionizing modern naval warfare.
Washington Lafayette Parker, thirty-six years a resident at the corner of Moore and Gilmer streets, and recently of 526 Pulliam Street, was born in Jackson County. His father before him was a blacksmith, and he took up his father's trade as a country smith. When the war broke out, he was 28 years old, and a skilled workman. He enlisted with the confederacy, and went to Norfolk, Va., to help in the reconstruction of the Merrimac, United States war sloop, which had been sunk by the federal authorities on their evacuation of the port and raised by the confederates, and named the Virginia, after the state in which was located the confederate capital.
The result was that the Virginia became the prototype of the early war vessels covered with metal armor. Incidentally she went to Hampton Roads with the covering given her by Parker and his men, and sunk the Cumberland and the Congress, United States vessels, and wrecked the Minnesota, before returning to Norfolk. The next day she had combat with the Monitor, the second of the ironclads.
Parker told interesting tales to his family of his experience in the construction of the boat, always emphasizing the fact that he and his fellow workmen were kept busy night and day until the completion of the task. He was very proud of his name, taken after two of the country's greatest early generals and patriots, Washington and Lafayette.
Atlanta Constitution
10 February 1909, page 2
W. L. PARKER
W. L. Parker, aged 76 years, died last night at 7:15 o'clock at his residence 526 Pulliam Street. He is survived by his six children, Jesse, Charles, Gordon, and Miss Lucile Parker, and Mrs. T. J. Capers, of Jacksonville, Fla., and Mrs. M. H. Mahan, of Atlanta. The funeral will be held at the residence this afternoon at 2 o'clock, Rev. Dr. Knight officiating. The interment will be in Westview cemetery.
Atlanta Constitution
11 February 1909, page 14
PARKER--The friends of Mr. W. L. Parker, Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Parker, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Parker, Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Parker, Mr. O. L. Parker, Mr. and Mrs. T. J. Capers, and Mr. and M. H. Mahan are invited to attend the funeral of Mr. W. L. Parker from the residence, 526 Pulliam Street, at 2:30 today. The following gentlemen will act as pallbearers and meet at Harry G. Poole's at 2 o'clock: Mr. J. C. Manley, Mr. T. G. Boggus, Mr. George Harmon, Mr. G. A. Blackwell, Mr. H. D. Spinks and Mr. T. T. Taylor. Interment at Westview.
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Records on Ancestry
Advertisement
