This drawing is the first record we have of the Parker family. Upstate New York sometime in the mid-19th century.And this is the first photo we have of the Lange family. Here is the father of Paul William Lange. He lived in West Virginia and was Byron’s maternal great-great-grandfather.His wife, Pauline Brown Lange, was born in Austria.One of their sons was Paul William Lange, the father of Louise and Byron’s great-grandfather.He was a very successful businessman in Fairmont, West Virginia.Back to the Parkers… After leaving upstate New York, the family found itself in Iowa. Here are four brothers in about 1885: Owen, Shubel, Roy, and Addison Melvin (Byron’s grandfather).Addison was smart, handsome, and successful.He and Louise Lange had met when they were students at the University of Illinois. They were married in 1912.The newly married couple on their honeymoon in Atlantic City.Addison and Louise had four children. Here are the first three: Paul, Addison Jr., and Jane in about 1923.And here is the whole family on holiday at their summer residence near Ludington, Michigan. From left: Paul, Louise, Jane, Addison Jr., Addison, and Hugh. Louise was a great conservationist, well-known in Iowa environmental organizations. The Parker family-owned forest land near Des Moines. Here she is with her four children in Saylors Woods: Hugh, Jane, Addison Jr., and Paul.The Parkers were prominent in Des Moines social and political circles. This photo is of the house in which the four children grew up.Louise in 1968 at an environmental symposium at Knox College (Illinois).Lucy Hardy was the most important ex-officio member of the Parker family. “Nanny” came to Des Moines from England in the 1920s to take care of baby Jane (and then took care of most of the rest of us).Four Parker generations: Sakiko, Louise, Byron, Barry, and Jane.
