When four years of age Wheelock H. Parmly removed with the family to Hancock and three years later to Middlebury, Vt., whence they carne, seven years afterward, to New Jersey, locating at Shrewsbury, Monmouth County. In 1838, after a residence of eight years in that town, they proved to New York City.

Dr. Parmly's parents did all in their power to give him a good early training, but their means were limited and he was dependent in a great measure upon his own efforts for his education. While residing in Shrewsbury he prepared himself for college by teaching and performing various other kinds of work, and at a very early age became a great Bible reader, a trait which characterized his entire life. His parents, though not members of any church, attended with their children the Episcopal services, but young Parmly, convinced of the truth of the Baptist principles, adopted the faith and practice of that denomination, and amid considerable opposition, from both his family and the Episcopalian clergy, was baptized August 3, 1834, in the Shrewsbury River. And connecting himself with the Baptist Church at Middletown, N. J. – the nearest society of that faith to his home, – he was faithful in his attendance on worship, active in all departments of church work, and influential among both old and young.

In 1838 Dr. Parmly entered Columbia College in New York City and was graduated from that institution in 1842. standing high in his class and receiving many tokens of excellence in scholarship during his collegiate course. About the time he entered college he united with the old Amity Street Baptist Church in New York. of which Rev. Dr. William R. Williams was pastor. He also formed a close friendship with Rev. Dr. Spencer H. Cone, of New York City, which, with that of Dr. Williams, lasted until his, death. It was undoubtedly from these eminent clergymen and great teachers that he learned many of the principles which made him so successful during his career of half a century in the ministry.

On leaving college Dr. Parmly was confronted with the problem of determining his vocation in life – a problem which all young men must solve. He had been urged to enter the ministry by many friends who thought him peculiarly fitted for that profession; others assured him of success in a mercantile career, while others still tempted him with flattering offers in various branches of business; but the guiding voice of nature bade him preach the gospel, a labor to which his "mind rather inclines." On August 10, 1842, at the request of Dr. Williams, he preached to the people of the Amity Street Church, and immediately afterward made this entry in his diary: " The subject of the ministry has occupied my mind for a long time. It is now settled, and I hope for good."

Dr. Parmly was unanimously voted a "license to preach the gospel" by the Amity Street Church on the 16th of July, 1844, and in the following month (August) was graduated from Madison Theological Seminary, where he had pursued a thorough course of study. On August 6, 1867, Madison University conferred upon him the honorary title of Doctor of Divinity.

Soon after graduation he received a call to the pastorate of the Harlem Baptist Church of New York City, which he was obliged to refuse on account of impaired health and a serious affliction of the eyes that had developed during his course in the seminary. A three weeks' sea voyage brought him to New Orleans, where he began to preach, and while there he accepted the assistant pastorate of the Baptist Church at Clinton, La., which he filled most acceptably for two years, declining during that period three calls to become pastor of churches in the North. He developed a strong friendship for the negro, frequently visited them in their cabins, took a fearless stand on the slavery question as an advocate of human rights, and afterward sheltered many a fugitive slave. During his residence in the South he also acquired that habit of great hospitality which always characterized his home.

The illness of his mother, however, compelled him to return at the end of two years to New York City, and on November 15, 1847. he accepted a call to the Baptist Church at Shelburne Falls, Mass., where he remained two years, and resigned, the winter climate of the Berkshire hills being too hard for his constitution. Shortly after he accepted this pastorate he married Katharine Dunbar, daughter of Rev. Duncan Dunbar, of the Macdougal Street Baptist Church, New York City, and a lady "lovely in character, strong in faith, wise in judgment, remarkable for patience, prayerful, and zealous in every good work." Upon her death on July 10, 1877, he wrote in his diary: The brightest light of my home has gone out," while another expressed these words and sentiments: "She added to the sum of human joy, and were everyone to whom she performed some loving service to bring a blossom to her grave, she would sleep to-night beneath a wilderness of flowers."

Dr. Parmly assumed the duties of pastor of the Baptist Church at Burlington, N. J., in May, 1850, and remained there nearly five years, during which time the " church grew mightily."

On the 1st of September. 1854, at the age of thirty-eight, he entered upon his labors as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Jersey City, and ably, honorably, and satisfactorily filled that pastorate until his death, August 1, 1894,– a period of forty years, lacking one month. When he came to Jersey City there was but one church of the Baptist faith in the place, and that was made up of the scattered membership of churches which had been formed and which had proved too weak to continue their organizations. The church was then known as the Union Baptist Church and had 206 members. Three other vigorous Baptist churches now exist in the city, the beginnings of which came largely from the old church during Dr. Parmly's pastorate. The mother church changed its name on the establishment of the other churches to the First Baptist Church of Jersey City, and now has a membership of nearly four hundred.

Dr. Parmly labored hard with great success, baptizing in the winter of 1865 alone over one hundred converts. In that year he spent four months in Europe, and, returning with new energy, entered into his work with redoubled force, giving also a vast amount of his time to the general interests of the city, the State, and the Nation. He was especially active in the establishment of the denominational school now known as Peddie Institute at Hightstown, N. J., contributing years of labor and large sums of money for that purpose.

As a pastor Dr. Parmly certainly excelled. His people were strongly attached to him, and under no circumstances would they allow him to go in response to the successive calls which he received from other societies. He was recognized as the man for the place. Once each year he endeavored to visit personally every family in his congregation, and his calls upon those who were sick were frequent. Believing in this method as he did, it certainly added largely to his success in pastoral relations. He preached, while in Jersey City, five thousand sermons, made addresses on public occasions to an equal number, attended 844 funerals, performed 1,425 marriages, raised nearly $300,000 for the church and $50,000 for benevolent purposes, received into the church over 1,000 members, and baptized more than 1,300 others.

He remained as the faithful servant of that church until September, 1887, when, at the age of seventy-one, he was unable to bear longer the burden of the pastorate alone, and at his request the church called to his aid an assistant pastor. Two years later he again asked to be relieved, and by unanimous vote of the church was made its Pastor Emeritus, a position he held until his death, which occurred August 1, 1894. He was survived by four children: Duncan D. Parmly, Mrs. Elizabeth P. Thompson, Randolph Parmly, and Christine D. Parmly. One son, Walter, died in his youth.

His only installation as pastor of the church in Jersey City was the singing by the congregation of Montgomery's beautiful hymn, of which the following is a part:

We bid thee welcome in the name
Of Jesus, our Exalted Head;
Come as a servant, so He came,
And we receive thee in His stead.
Come as a messenger of peace,
Filled with His spirit, fired with love!
Live to behold our large increase,
And die to meet us all above."