Benjamin Parke

Benjamin Parke (September 2, 1777 – July 12, 1835) was an American lawyer, politician, militia officer, businessman, treaty negotiator in the Indiana Territory who also served as a United States federal judge in Indiana after it attained statehood in 1816. Parke was the Indiana Territory's attorney general (1804–1808); a representative to the territory's first general assembly (1805); its first territorial delegate to the United States House of Representatives (1805–1808); one of the five Knox County delegates to the Indiana constitutional convention of 1816; and a territorial court judge (1808–1816). After Indiana attained statehood, Parke served as the first United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Indiana (1817–1835).

In addition to his service in Indiana's territorial and state government, Parke participated in the local militia, attaining the rank of colonel under the command of William Henry Harrison, and participated in the Battle of Tippecanoe during the War of 1812. Parke was also active in civic and educational affairs. He was a founder of the public library at Vincennes, Indiana, and a founder and member of the board of trustees of Vincennes University. In 1816, he helped select the township in what became Monroe County, Indiana, for the use of a state seminary, which later became Indiana University in Bloomington. Parke also served as the first President of the Indiana Historical Society (1830–1835).