Thomas Parke (357)

Thomas Parke (6 August 1749­‑9 January 1835) was a doctor and member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1774. He was born to an Irish Quaker family in Chester County, PA. His brother-in-law Owen Biddle, a founding member of the APS, urged Parke to study medicine in Philadelphia. Parke moved to Philadelphia at the age of sixteen and studied at the school of Robert Proud before studying medicine under Cadwalder Evans (APS 1768). After attending lectures at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, including classes taught by Benjamin Rush (APS 1768), Parke graduated in 1770. After further studies abroad at hospitals in London and Edinburgh, he returned to Philadelphia and started practicing medicine with his former teacher, Dr. Evans. He inherited the practice just three months later after the death of Dr. Evans and was praised by his patients and peers as a safe and kind doctor. He married Rachel Pemberton, the daughter of James Pemeberton, an APS member who was falsely accused of treason; despite Parke’s advocacy, his father-in-law was exiled in 1777. Parke was instrumental in the development of the Library Company of Philadelphia, serving as the Director, then board member, and on many committees over his fifty-seven years of involvement. He was elected as a Curator of the APS in 1795 but did not attend meetings frequently. Additionally, he served as a Manager at Pennsylvania Hospital, and was the President of the College of Physicians from 1818 until his 1835 death.