Amasa Junius Parker was born in Sharon, Connecticut on June 2, 1807, the son of Anna (née Fenn) and Rev.

[1] In 1825, Parker underwent a comprehensive examination at Union College which covered the curriculum of the school's entire four year program.

[2] Parker grew a law practice that expanded to cover several counties adjacent to Delhi, and frequently appeared in both the state circuit and chancery courts.

[3] A supporter of President Martin Van Buren, initiatives and issues on which Parker worked while in Congress included Van Buren's unsuccessful Independent Treasury bill (which passed in 1840), the Mississippi election case (which resulted in two Democratic House members being supplanted by Whigs), the operations of the United States General Land Office and its processes for disposing of public land, and the House's response to the duel between Jonathan Cilley and William J. Graves, which ended in Cilley's death.

[3] Parker presided at the 1845 trial of Smith A. Boughton ("Big Thunder"), a leader of the tenants during the Anti-Rent War.

[3] the second trial resulted in a conviction, and Boughton receiving a life sentence, which was later commuted by Governor John Young, who had been elected with the support of the tenants.

[7] He was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Governor of New York twice, losing to Republicans John Alsop King in 1856 and Edwin D. Morgan in 1858.

[7] During the period before the American Civil War, Parker remained loyal to the Democratic Party and advocated a moderate course in the hope that concessions on the slavery issue would avoid bloodshed.

[8] In 1864, he successfully argued the case of Palin v. Murray in Greene County, obtaining a judgment for the plaintiff on the grounds of false imprisonment by federal authorities.

[8] When the facility was finally established as the Hudson River State Hospital in the 1860s, Parker was appointed to its board of trustees, and he served until 1881.

[8] When Harmanus Bleecker died in 1848, he left his estate to his much younger wife with the stipulation that, upon her death, the money would be spent to benefit the city of Albany.

[11] She survived him by almost 40 years, and the executor of her estate decided the $130,000 (4.41 million in modern dollars[12]) would best be spent to benefit the Young Men's Association, an organization Bleecker had strongly supported, including service on its board of directors.

[14] Parker continued to practice law into his old age, and argued a case before the state Court of Appeals the week before his death.