John Frederick Parker

John Frederick Parker (May 19, 1830 – June 28, 1890) was an American police officer for the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia. Parker was one of four men detailed to act as United States President Abraham Lincoln's bodyguard on April 14, 1865, the night Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre.

Life Parker was born in 1830, in Virginia. No government or Bible record regarding Parker's specific birth date or more specific birth location other than Virginia has been published in government records. By 1855, Parker had moved to Washington, District of Columbia, where he married Mary L.C. Maus on July 16, 1855. U.S. Census population schedules reflect that he lived in the District of Columbia in 1860, 1870, and 1880. U.S. Census Records for 1890, which began shortly before Parker's death, are incomplete, as a result of a fire, and he does not appear in the remaining incomplete records.

Career In Washington, D.C., Parker worked as a carpenter. He became one of Washington's original police officers when the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia was created in 1861.

During his time as an officer, he was charged with dereliction of duty and conduct unbecoming an officer several times for being drunk on duty, sleeping on streetcars while at work, and visiting a brothel (Parker claimed the madam had sent for him). Parker was typically reprimanded for these acts but never fired. Parker attempted to defend himself stating that he "could never stoop to murder much less to the murder of so good and great a man as the President. I did wrong, I admit, and have bitterly repented." Mrs. Lincoln told Parker that she would always think he was responsible for the President's death and angrily dismissed him from the room. His widow, Mary America Maus, was buried next to him upon her death in 1904, as were their three children. There are no known verified images of him.