William Parker (builder)
masonic builder, shipowner and shopkeeper
William Parker (1800–1854) was a St. John's masonic builder, shipowner and shopkeeper who along with partner Nicholas Croke built the National Historic Cape Spear lighthouse starting in 1834 or 1835. The Cape Spear lighthouse is the oldest surviving lighthouse in Newfoundland and Labrador and the most easterly building in North America.
William Parker married Margaret Gleeson on December 1, 1831, in St. John's. He later owned a brig named Margaret Parker after his wife.
Members of the Parker family were prominent businessmen in St. John's, Newfoundland for nearly two centuries. William's son James Francis Parker founded Parker & Monroe, Ltd. in 1880 which was the largest shoe store on the island for many years.
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This entry incorporates text from “William Parker (builder)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.