Wyoming Supreme Court 1882 - 1886

Samuel C. Parks was born on March 25, 1820 in Middlebury, Vermont. A graduate of Indiana State University, he studied law in Indiana and taught school in Springfield, Illinois. Active in Illinois politics, he served as a school commissioner, legislator, delegate to the National Republican Conventions and member of the Illinois Constitutional Convention. Due to his political connections, he was appointed to the supreme courts of Idaho Territory, New Mexico Territory, and from 1882 to 1886, Wyoming Territory. He was later a member of the State Board of Pardons of Kansas and a court referee in Cleveland, Ohio. Parks died on February 8, 1917 in Kansas City, Missouri.

Parks was a personal friend of Abraham Lincoln, whom he had met as a trial lawyer in Illinois. He was appointed to the Idaho Territorial Court as thanks for his support of Lincoln's presidential campaign.

Additional Resources

• "Parks, Samuel C." Biographies, Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln website. (accessed September 2015)
• "Idaho's First Territorial Judges," US District Court District of Idaho website. (accessed September 2015)