Biographical Details
Date of Birth: November 20, 1823
Birth Location: Illinois, USA
Major Study: Law
Graduation Year(s): 1848
Degree(s) Earned: Bachelor of Laws
Date of Death: March 22, 1861
Death Location: Benton, IL, USA
Date of Birth: November 20, 1823
Birth Location: Illinois, USA
Major Study: Law
Graduation Year(s): 1848
Degree(s) Earned: Bachelor of Laws
Date of Death: March 22, 1861
Death Location: Benton, IL, USA
William Knox Parish was born in Illinois and lived in Elizabethtown. He graduated from IU with a law degree in 1848. He became a circuit court judge before the age of thirty, and was the presiding judge during a self-defense case in June 1854, which became one of the most cited court decisions for the next one hundred years. He argued that the murder was a crime, but the Illinois Supreme Court overruled him to establish the right of self-defense.
Parish married Judith Ann Wilbanks, who was thirteen years his junior. He died just two weeks after the start of the Civil War. He was buried in the Veteran Memorial Cemetery in Benton, Illinois.