George J. Parrot

American, 1871-1915

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George J. Parrot operated a studio in Fort Wayne, Indiana from at least 1893 through 1895. One evening in early 1896 he was arrested and charged with loitering after refusing to disperse with a group of young men, of whom neighbors had complained and had accused of being a gang. He sued for false imprisonment, seeking $2,500 damages. He won, but was awarded only $500. He then opened a studio in Warsaw, and he and his wife left Fort Wayne. For the next four years they made regular visits to family and friends in Fort Wayne, and finally returned in March of 1901, with George buying out the studio of Frank R. Burrows. In June of that year, his home was ordered quarantined on account of the Parrot children contracting smallpox. Parrot challenged the authority of the judge to hear the case on jurisdictional grounds and, losing that, paraded his children in sailor suits before the court, claiming it was only a mild case of chickenpox. The panel of physicians who had examined the children noted that their condition had improved, but maintained that they had indeed had smallpox. Parrot lost and was fined by a sympathetic judge only a token amount for defying the quarantine. In June he was elected Secretary of the Indiana Photographers' Association; in 1902 and 1904 he was elected President. He would countinue to be active in the Association throughout his life. His work was celebrated in Fort Wayne and beyond, and he won awards in national competitions, including a medal from the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in Saint Louis. He published his winning photographs in a pamphlet titled "Personality in Photographic Portraiture". Five of the six portraits were of babies- his life-long specialty. In 1908, George Parrot, Jr., an infant, died of whooping cough. In the early 1910s, the Fort Wayne papers recorded his travels and social appearances, several real estate deals, at least a couple of lawsuits, and in April 1914 his lease of a spacious new studio building. About this time George Parrot began complaining of pains in his head, and over the next year as his health declined, so too did his state of mind. His family reported him missing on November 5, 1915 after he was seen pacing on the Maume River bridge. His body was found the following day propped against a tree on the river bank. He had slit his his throat. On the day of his funeral, November 10, every photo studio in Fort Wayne closed in his honor.