author

A. A. (Amos Andrew) Parker

1791–1893

Remembered for a lively 1830s travel narrative about the American frontier and Texas, this New Hampshire lawyer and writer kept publishing well into old age. His work blends firsthand observation, local history, and a strong sense of curiosity about a fast-changing country.

1 Audiobook

Trip to the West and Texas comprising a journey of eight thousand miles, through New-York, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Louisiana and Texas, in the autumn and winter of 1834-5.

Trip to the West and Texas comprising a journey of eight thousand miles, through New-York, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Louisiana and Texas, in the autumn and winter of 1834-5.

by A. A. (Amos Andrew) Parker

About the author

Born in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, in 1791, Amos Andrew Parker studied at New Ipswich Academy and the University of Vermont, then read law under James Wilson in Keene. He practiced law in New Hampshire and was also active in journalism, founding the New Hampshire Statesman in Concord.

He is best known as the author of Trip to the West and Texas (1836), a book based on an eight-thousand-mile journey through New York, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Louisiana, and Texas in 1834–1835. The book stands out as an early firsthand account of travel in the American West and of Texas on the eve of revolution.

Parker continued writing late in life. Records for his published works also include Recollections of General Lafayette on His Visit to the United States and Poems at Fourscore, which shows that he was still publishing in his eighties. He died in 1893, reaching the remarkable age of 101.