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GABE E. PARKER
Vol. 3, p. 1197-1198

"Through the devious trail of politics Gabe E. Parker, a one-eighth
blood Choctaw Indian, has just achieved the ambition of his life.
Without solicitation or even knowledge on his part he was taken from
the principalship [sic] of an Indian boys' school in Oklahoma and
made register of the United States Treasury. Mr. Parker gave up his
chosen work-that of helping his own people to become competent, self-
reliant, contributing men and women-only after a struggle. Now he is
about to return to Oklahoma as superintendent of the Five Civilized
Tribes, with broader opportunity than ever before to accomplish the
task he had originally set for himself."

The foregoing paragraph is copied from the Long Branch Daily Record,
of January 15, 1915, as an introduction to the review of the life of
a man whose career cannot fail to be of interest to every Oklahoman.
An intense earnestness, a love of and belief in his people, a
constant striving after better things for his race, and ability to
achieve, rather than talk about, accomplishments, have always
characterized the activities of this modest and unassuming son of
Oklahoma. It has not been the privilege of the writer of this
biographical sketch to meet Gabe E. Parker, and he must, therefore,
draw largely from the newspaper articles at his command; but from his
perusal of these reviews he may be allowed to say that his task is a
pleasant and interesting one.

Gabe E. Parker was born at Fort Towson, Choctaw County, Oklahoma,
September 29, 1878, and is a son of John Clay and Eliza Emily
(WILLIS) Parker. His father was born in Boyle County, Kentucky, and
in his veins there flowed a mixture of English, Scotch-Irish and
French Huguenot blood. He came of a wealthy and highly-respected
family, and immediately after the close of the Civil war, which
scattered the fortunes of the family, came to the West to "make
good." Here he married Eliza Emily WILLIS, a quarter-blood Choctaw
Indian, born at Fort Towson, in the same house in which her son, Gabe
E. Parker, was subsequently born. She was well educated and taught in
the Choctaw schools in which her son received his early training.
Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Parker, of whom four are
living, Gabe E., James W., Lucile and Georgia. When Gabe E. Parker
was about one and one-half years old his parents located on a ranch
near Nelson, Oklahoma. There the father became a prominent stockman
and rancher, and there both parents died. Their sons, James W.,
remains in the management of the ranch and farm interests of the
children. He married Miss Edna REED and they have two children.
Lucile is employed at Washington, D. C., and Georgia has her home
with her brother Gabe and is attending school. The daughters have
been practically reared in the home of their brother, Gabe E.

Mr. Parker largely owes his education to the Choctaws, who
contributed from tribal funds to defray his expenses while at
college. In 1894 he completed a course of study at Spencer Academy,
and in 1899 was graduated from Henry Kendall College, then at
Muskogee but now at Tulsa, with the degree of Bachelor of Science,
being valedictorian of his class. It has been Mr. Parker's ambition
to enter the law, but the death of his mother diverted him from his
pursuance of his studies in that profession, and after a term in the
Kansas State Normal School he accepted the appointment, in the fall
of 1899, to the position of assistant teacher at Spencer Academy.
Three months later his abilities were recognized by his appointment
to the position of principal teacher, which he retained until the
destruction of Spencer of Academy by fire, in July, 1900. In the fall
of that year he was transferred to Armstrong Academy, a school for
Choctaw boys, where he became principal teacher, and in July, 1904,
was made superintendent of that institution. He was serving in this
capacity, in September, 1913, when called to the office of register
of the United States Treasury, at Washington, D. C., entering upon
his duties October 1, 1913, and resigned December 31, 1914. On
December 22, 1914, he was appointed superintendent of the Five
Civilized Tribes, and assumed the duties of this office January 1,
1915. The following is quoted from the article referred to above:

"The job Mr. Parker goes to in Oklahoma to fill is a big one. It
involves the welfare of 102,000 Indians of the Choctaw, Chickasaw,
Creek, Seminole and Cherokee tribes, who desire to become citizens in
fact as well as in name. Under the constitution of Oklahoma they are
citizens of the state. They are wards of the nation so long as the
government retains a control in trust of the 15,000,000 acres of
their land, including the richest oil fields of the world and 450,000
acres of coal and asphalt lands. Mr. Parker's job is to carry out the
policies of the present administration and to discharge into full and
complete citizenship as many of these 102,000 Indians as are ready
for the change, or may become so under his direction. This policy is
a new one, and, in a sense, a revolutionary one in view of the policy
of the government pursued up to this time. Mr. Parker promises to
approach it cautiously. * * * If enthusiasm for the work at hand is
an asset Mr. Parker is one of the best equipped men for his new job
that could be found anywhere. He exudes it and with difficulty tries
to suppress it, but it is there. * * * Mr. Parker believes in his
people. He believes in the government of the nation and the state and
in their intentions toward them. He designed the seal of the great
state of Oklahoma, which symbolizes the 'sisterhood of states' and
intermingles the former seals of Oklahoma territory and of the Five
Civilized Tribes of the Indian Territory. He is known as "Great Seal"
Parker for his achievement. He served on many important committees in
the constitutional convention of Oklahoma with special reference to
the Indians, the schools and taxation, and declined to enter politics
when his work was through. As between the two phases of the Indian
question, the personal and the property phases, Mr. Parker desires to
emphasize the personal as preeminently important. As a schoolteacher
he was deeply interested in solving problems which would bring his
charges to a full and complete realization of the responsibilities of
citizenship, and he endeavored to give them such a practical
application of their book learning as would accomplish that purpose.
Mr. Parker is a man whose earnestness of purpose sticks out of every
word and deed. The policy of this administration toward his people is
his policy because he believes in it. Whether right or wrong, it is
certain to have a genuine test under his administration in Oklahoma."

Mr. Parker is politically a democrat, in religious faith a
Presbyterian, and fraternally a thirty-second degree Mason and member
of the Mystic Shrine. His public services have been many, and in
every capacity he has been called upon to shoulder heavy
responsibilities - and has been found not lacking in his ability to
do so. His business interests consist of farming, stockraising and
banking. Unassuming, congenial and responsive, a man of broad and
comprehensive learning, he is deservedly popular with all with whom
he has come into contact.

On December 25, 1900, Mr. Parker was married to Miss Louise
Elizabeth GEORGE, a native of Topeka, Kansas, whom he met as a
classmate at Spencer Academy, and who was later a teacher in that
institution. Mr. and Mrs. Parker have one son: Gabe E., Jr., eleven
years of age and now attending the Muskogee Public Schools.

Typed for OKGenWeb by Earline Sparks Barger, October 28,1998.