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Mr. and Mrs. Joel Parker and family

Joel Parker, a prominent farmer of Glencoe township, and Butler county pioneer, is a native of Illinois. He was born in 1840, and is a son of George and Cynthia Ann (Rhoades) Parker. Joel Parker is one of the following surviving children, born to George and Cynthia Ann (Rhoades) Parker: Mrs. Nancy Clark; Mrs. Mary Jane Morris; Mrs. Anna Davis, all of whom reside in Alton, Ill.; Jesse Parker, Wenachie, Wash., and Joel, the subject of this sketch. Mr. Parker came to Kansas in 1870, and located in Harvey county for four years and then located in Glencoe township, where he has since been successfully engaged in farming and stock raising. He now owns 480 acres of land which is considered one of the best farms in Butler county, for general farm purposes. He has been quite an extensive stockman, and Mrs. Parker is a chicken fancier, making a specialty of Plymouth Rocks.

Mr. Parker was married in 1865, to Miss Martha Sinclair. Mrs. Parker is a native of Illinois, and was born in 1843, a daughter of Abraham and Nancy (Jones) Sinclair. Her father was a prosperous farmer in Illinois. Mrs. Parker was the youngest of a family of twelve children, and has one living brother, Alex Sinclair, who resides at Alton, Ill. To Mr. and Mrs. Parker have been born the following children, who are now living: C. E., resides at Plains, Colo.; J. E., Benson, Ariz.; Mrs. Emma Scott, Freeman, Mo., and Mrs. Cora Seward, Leon, Kans.

Mr and Mrs. Parker located in Butler county at a time when its future was uncertain, but they always had faith in the future of this county, and they have lived to see this section of Kansas even excel their expectations. They passed through all the discouraging features and various vicissitudes incident to frontier life and, notwithstanding drouths, crop failures, grasshoppers and cyclones, they have not only survived, but have prospered, and today rank among the well-to-do and influential citizens of Butler county.

Mrs. Parker recalls the early days when they had very little farm produce to sell, except butter, and when neighbors met on the streets of El Dorado, the first question that one would ask another was, "What did you get for your butter?" Usually it was not very much, for this was before the days of the high cost of living. Even though money was scarce and luxuries almost unknown, the early pioneers enjoyed themselves, and got much out of life, perhaps more than we do today. They lived closer to nature, and were less disturbed by the rivalry of style and dis-

play. They had no ambition to have a bigger automobile or a better hat than their neighbor, and after all, the early pioneers are not deserving or asking as much sympathy as we might think, for they were happy and lived the pure out-door life unaffected by much of the gorgeous artificial deception of a later day and age.

Mr. Parker is a republican, not of the hyphenated variety, and Mrs. Parker holds the same political views as her husband, thus insuring the immunity of this family circle against any political rows. The Parkers are well known throughout eastern Butler county, and are highly respected and have many friends.

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