Marcus Junius Parrott (October 27, 1828 – October 4, 1879) was a delegate to Congress from the

Kansas Territory The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Slave and ...

from 1857 until 1861.

Biography

Parrott was born in

Hamburg, South Carolina Hamburg, South Carolina is a ghost town in Aiken County, in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was once a thriving upriver market located across the Savannah River from Augusta, Georgia in the Edgefield District. It was founded by Henry Shultz ...

, on October 27, 1828. He attended the local schools, and was an 1849 graduate of

Dickinson College , mottoeng = Freedom is made safe through character and learning , established = , type = Private liberal arts college , endowment = $645.5 million (2022) , president = J ...

Carlisle, Pennsylvania Carlisle is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2020 United States census, ...

. He studied at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1850 and 1851, was admitted to the Ohio bar, and settled in

Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...

. He served in the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in ...

as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

in 1853 and 1854, and then moved to

Leavenworth, Kansas Leavenworth () is the county seat and largest city of Leavenworth County, Kansas, United States and is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 37,351. It is located on the west bank of t ...

. In 1855, Parrott was appointed reporter of decisions for the first session of the Kansas Territory's Supreme Court. In October 1855, Parrott was elected to serve as a delegate to the territory's 1856 constitutional convention in

Topeka Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central Un ...

. He was defense counsel for Governor

Charles L. Robinson Charles Lawrence Robinson (July 21, 1818 – August 17, 1894) was an American politician who served in the California State Assembly from 1851-52, and later as the first Governor of Kansas from 1861 until 1863. He was also the first governor of ...

was impeached as part of a political rivalry with Jim Lane, and won an acquittal. In 1856, he was elected as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

to serve as the territory's non-voting delegate to Congress. In 1857, he was a delegate to the territorial constitutional convention. He was reelected to Congress in 1858, and served in the

35th Military units *35th Fighter Wing, an air combat unit of the United States Air Force *35th Infantry Division (United States), a formation of the National Guard since World War I *35th Infantry Regiment (United States), a regiment created on 1 July 1 ...

and 36th Congresses (March 4, 1857 to January 29, 1861). Parrott's term ended when Kansas was admitted to the Union, and he was an unsuccessful candidate for election to one Kansas' two seats in the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

; he lost a close race to Lane and

Samuel C. Pomeroy Samuel Clarke Pomeroy (January 3, 1816 – August 27, 1891) was a United States senator from Kansas in the mid-19th century. He served in the United States Senate during the American Civil War. Pomeroy also served in the Massachusetts House of ...

. After leaving Congress, Parrott practiced law and farmed in Leavenworth. He ran unsuccessfully for the US House of Representatives as an Independent in 1862, and as a Democrat in 1872. Parrott returned to Dayton to live with his brother when his health began to fail in the late 1870s. He died in Dayton on October 4, 1879, and was buried at Woodland Cemetery in Dayton.

References

Sources

Books

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External links

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Marcus Junius Parrott
at The Political Graveyard
Biography of Marcus Junius Parrott
at Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections 1828 births 1879 deaths 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century American politicians Burials in Ohio Delegates to the United States House of Representatives from Kansas Territory Dickinson College alumni Kansas Democrats Kansas lawyers Kansas Republicans Members of the Ohio House of Representatives Ohio lawyers People from Hamburg, South Carolina Politicians from Leavenworth, Kansas Politicians from Dayton, Ohio {{kansas-politician-stub