pioneer farmer, miner, politician, b. Carter County, Tenn. He moved to Wisconsin from Sangamon County, Ill., in 1827, and served briefly in the militia during the Red Bird uprising of 1827. He then settled in New Diggings (Lafayette County) where he mined for two years, and in 1829 built an inn in Mineral Point. He served as an officer in the militia during the Black Hawk War (1832), and in 1833 settled in Willow Springs (Iowa County). A Democrat, he served in the territorial lower house (1836- 1838, 1840-1842), was a member of the first state constitutional convention (1846), and was state assemblyman (1849). After 1849 he retired to his farm in Lafayette County, His son, PETER PARKINSON, b. Carter County, Tenn., joined his father at New Diggings in 1828. He also served with the militia during the Black Hawk War, and in 1832 settled with his brother in Fayette township, Lafayette County, where they were among the first permanent settlers. A Democrat, Parkinson was state assemblyman (1854), and was the author of an amendment giving railroad workers protection under the mechanic's lien law of 1849. After 1855 he lived in retirement on his farm in Lafayette County. Colls. State Hist. Soc. Wis., 2 (1856), 4 (1859), 10 (1888); M. M. Quaife, ed., Convention of I846 (Madison, 1919); Madison Wis. State Journal, June 6, 1895; WPA MS.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]