Merced County Biographies

ASHLEY S. PARKER, M. D.

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
        Prominent in the medical profession in the central and northern part of 
California, and with an outstanding record behind him in Southern California, 
Ashley S. Parker, M.D., has taken rank in Merced County among the leading 
physicians and surgeons. A native of Marshall, Harrison County, Texas, he was 
born on April 5, 1871, and was educated in Louisiana and California. Coming to 
Riverside, Cal., in 1887, he graduated from the high school in that city, and 
later attended Tulane University, at New Orleans, from which he was graduated in 
1893 with his degree of M.D. His first practice was in Fallbrook, San Diego 
County, Cal., and from there he went to Riverside and practiced from 1897 to 
1909. In the latter year he went to Needles, Cal., practicing until 1909; while 
there he was division surgeon for the Santa Fe Railway with headquarters at 
Needles. While in Riverside Dr. Parker was physician to the Sherman Indian 
School; surgeon for the Salt Lake Railway; and he was also county physician of 
Riverside County, in charge of the county hospital for a number of years. He was 
president of the Riverside County Medical Society, and a member of the Council 
of the State Medical Society. He is now a member of the Merced County Medical 
Society, and the National Medical Association. Coming to Merced on February 21, 
1921, he became associated in practice with Dr. W. E. Lilley, and his large and 
growing practice attests to the esteem he has gained in the community. Having a 
comprehensive knowledge of the great scientific principles which underlie his 
work, he has steadily increased his efficiency through research and study, 
keeping in touch with the most modern methods and discoveries, and these facts, 
added to his years of varied practice, make his services to humanity invaluable.
        The marriage of Dr. Parker, occurring in March, 1896, at Riverside, 
Cal., united him with Grace Guffin, a native of Indianapolis, Ind. She has made 
music her life study, and is an accomplished artist on the piano and organ, and 
is now organist and leader of the choir in the Presbyterian Church in Merced, 
besides devoting some of her time to teaching, giving recitals, etc. Four 
children have been born to Dr. and Mrs. Parker: Lewis; Sarah, also a musician; 
James, attending the University of California, and Ashley, a student at the 
Merced High School; all natives of California. Fraternally, Dr. Parker is a 
Mason, belonging to the Lodge, Chapter, Fresno Commandery of Knights Templar, 
and Aahmes Shrine of Oakland; he is a member of Merced Lodge No. 1240, B. P. O. 
E., and a charter member of the Merced Lions Club. His ranch interests consist 
of a cotton farm at Blythe, Riverside County; a forty-acre alfalfa ranch at 
Patterson, Stanislaus County, and ranch land at Planada, Merced County.
 
History of Merced County, California � Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1925
page 819-820