The Letters of Henry E

The Letters of Henry E. Parker

Introduction

When my grandfather, Alden S. Foss, died in 1989, I inherited a pine box full of letters, papers, books and other articles of family history that have been preserved over several generations. Among these papers I found numerous letters addressed to or written by my great great grandfather, Henry Elijah Parker.

Henry Parker was the father of Alice Parker Tenney (known by her grandchildren and great grandchildren as Nana), who was the mother of Dorothy Tenney Foss, my maternal grandmother.

I knew of Henry Parker's service as a Civil War Chaplain and his career as a Dartmouth professor from my grandfather, and from the brief biography he wrote with my grandmother on the life of Alice Parker Tenney. As I began reading the letters I became more and more fascinated with the man, his life, his character and the period during which he lived. I began transcribing the letters in order to share them with family members.

In 1992 I published my initial collection of about 70 letters and other documents. I distributed the work to a small group of friends and family members. I later expanded this group of documents to about 150 and published them on the “RootsWeb-Free Pages” web site. The web site has resulted in many conversations and emails with researchers, family members and other interested parties. At some point I learned of a family member in Connecticut who had another collection of letters of Henry E. Parker. Knowing of my interest in family history, and in particular my interest in Henry E. Parker, my Connecticut relation in 2009 kindly decided to send me the letters in her collection. The collection included over 100 letters written by or to Henry E. Parker during the time he served as Chaplain to the 2^nd N.H. Volunteer Regiment in the opening years of the Civil War, 1861 – 1862. I am now in the process of transcribing these letters and posting them to this web site.

There is a great deal that can be learned by reading letters from the mid 19th century. Certainly they tell the story of a man who, although not famous today, led an exemplary and noteworthy life. Henry Parker was a man of high moral principle, a highly educated and intelligent scholar, a devoted husband and father, a beloved pastor and teacher who touched the lives of many around him throughout his life.

There are many themes that can be traced as one reads through the letters. Details of nineteenth century education from the elementary level through college can be found in many of the letters. Henry, his brother Horatio and sister Mary all taught at preparatory or grammar schools. There is a great deal of information about Dartmouth College where Henry studied, tutored and later taught as Professor of Latin.

The political life of the 19th century is reflected in many of the letters. Henry E. Parker was a personal friend of Franklin Pierce, the 14th President of the United States, who was a member of his congregation in Concord, NH. Parker wrote and received letters from President Pierce and was a guest of his at the White House during the Pierce presidency. The record of this visit, along with drafts of several letters to President Pierce, are included in a journal that Parker kept during the years of 1854 to 1855.

There are references to medicine and law, as practiced in the mid 19th century. Transportation systems are described by those who used them. Much can be learned about communication systems, primarily the postal service, from studying the letters and the envelopes in which they were sent.

Religion is another major theme in many of the letters. Henry's personal spiritual experience of being "born again," the organization of church finances and the process of calling a pastor to a church are all found in the letters. It is obvious that Henry was a man of deep faith with a source of spiritual strength that sustained him through the difficult times of grief and separation.

The Civil War is a central focus of many of the letters Henry wrote to his wife Mary during the period of somewhat more than a year that Henry served as a chaplain in the 2nd New Hampshire Volunteer Regiment. There are first hand accounts of battles as well as Henry's own reflections on the war and its affect on him at a personal level.

Other threads that run through the letters are 19th century social customs, etiquette, family life, courting and attitudes toward women. Some of Henry's deepest sentiments he expressed in poetry rather than in prose. These include love poems to his wife and a poem composed to mark the death of his step-son Johnny.

I have written brief introductions to some of the letters. Time has not permitted me to do this for all of them. I have attempted to transcribe the letters as accurately as possible, including variations of spelling and use of punctuation -- or lack thereof. Hopefully, I have not introduced too many errors of my own.

There are some places where I have been unable to decipher the handwriting. In these cases I have put question marks in brackets [?] to indicate an omission or a word or phrase of which I am not completely certain. I have also taken the liberty of adding a few footnotes with explanatory information to assist the reader in better understanding the letters' meaning.

Beyond the educational and historical value which these letters hold, is a person. Although he has been dead for over one hundred years I have felt that I have become acquainted with Henry Parker on a very personal level. He has taught me things by his life, by his actions and by his words preserved in these letters which I hope will make me a better person. The courage and bravery of a soldier combined with the compassion and tenderness of a pastor and father and the keen intellect of a classics professor are qualities which are in short supply in the early 21st century.

The art of letter writing has been largely lost in these days of instant communications by fax, telephone and e-mail. There are things that can be said in a letter sent home to loved ones that cannot be communicated by phone. The letters have preserved a part of Henry Parker’s life for us to examine today. He is the type of person I would have enjoyed knowing. I have certainly enjoyed getting to know him through these letters.

If the spirit and wisdom of Henry E. Parker can be passed on to others through his letters, then my efforts in preserving them will be repaid many times over.

Lawrence A. Brown