Capt Charles Parsons

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Charles married Lucy Baldwin on 30 Jan 1785. Lucy was born on 30 Jun 1753 in Weston, Middlesex Co, Massachusetts, USA; died on 8 Oct 1818 in Riga, Monroe Co, New York, USA. [Group Sheet]

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"He was a successful merchant, a man of uncommon force and energy of character, of rare catholicity in his religious views, as also in the breadth of his charities, and was the founder of Parsons' College, Iowa. The English ancestry of Lucina Hoar, and the early history of her family in America, may be found in the researches made in both countries by Hon. George F. Hoar, United States Senator from Massachusetts, and published in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register for January, April, and July, 1899.
EXTEACT FROM THE WILL OF LEWIS BALDWIN PAKSOKS. " Fourth. Having long been of the opinion that for use- fulness, prosperity, and happiness of children, a good moral and intellectual or business education with moderate means was far better than large inherited wealth; I therefore herein dispose of my estate mainly to such benevolent objects and enterprises as I think will conduce to the greatest good, earnestly requesting that all my children after giving to their children a good education with habits of honesty, industry, economy, and liberality, will follow my example in the disposition of the property God may give them."

Lewis married Lucina Hoar on 10 Nov 1814 in Homer, Cortland Co, New York, USA. Lucina (daughter of Lt. Samuel Hoar, Sr. and Dorothy Hitchcock) was born on 31 Oct 1790 in Brimfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts, USA; died on 3 Oct 1873 in Gouverneur, St. Lawrence Co, New York, USA. [Group Sheet]

Octavia married William Erastus Sterling in Aug 1838. William was born on 4 Jun 1801; died on 5 Mar 1861. [Group Sheet]

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http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/parsons.html#25K0GGD8W
Parsons, Philo (1817-1865) - Born in Scipio, Cayuga County , N.Y., February 7, 1817 . Son of Lewis Baldwin Parsons and Lucine (Hoar) Parsons; married, June 27, 1843 , to Anne Eliza Barnum. Wholesale grocer ; banker ; member of Michigan state board of agriculture , 1861-63. Presbyterian ; later Congregationalist . Died in Winchendon, Worcester County , Mass., January 12, 1865 . Burial location unknown.

http://www.archive.org/stream/cornetjosephpars01burt/cornetjosephpars01burt_djvu.txt
Tribute by Prof. Joseph L. Daniels, of Olivet College, Michigan, Dec. 2, 1897, Mr. Philo Parsons was born at Scipio, N. Y., February 6, 1817. His early years were spent in Gouverneur, Homer, and Perry, N, Y. At the latter place, he entered into busi- ness with his father under the firm name of L. B. Parsons & Son. And he also married there, in 1843, Miss Ann Eliza Barnum. Their long and happy married life was ter- minated in 1893 by the death of Mrs. Parsons, Mr. Parsons following her three years later, dying at Winchenden, Mass., January 20, 1896. Eight children were bom to them, of whom seven survived their parents. In 1844, Mr. Parsons removed to Detroit, Mich., and entered upon the grocery business under the firm of Parsons & James. A few years later he established a private bank. In 1861, when the Government created the national banking system as an aid in carrying on the war, Mr. Parsons was the leader in organizing the First National Bank of Detroit, was its first president, and for many years one of its directors. He did much to promote the commercial prosperity of Detroit. He entered heartily into the project for bringing the Wabash Railroad into the city, was an active member of the Board of Trade, and for a time its president. For many years he 154 represented his own city in the National Board of Trade and was honored repeatedly as one of its vice-presidents. His discussions in these national conventions show a wealth of information, a candor and breadth of view, and a dis- crimination akin to prophecy. He was an ardent lover of his own city and State, and yet on one occasion explained his vote, apparently against their interests, as " for the greatest good of the greatest number." Mr. Parsons was active in the municipal affairs of Detroit, and for a time a member of its council. The State, too, more than once conferred upon him distinguished honors and trusts; notably as commissioner to the Yorktown Cen- tennial, and as chairman of the Commission to secure the statue of General Lewis Cass to be placed in the Capitol at Washington. He brought to this work all the enthusiasm of a lifelong friendship and a patriotic pride for the honor of his beloved State. The statue, almost vocal with life, crowned his many months of toil and effort and was one of the great joys of his life. He honored himself in honoring the State. Yet political offices and honors he did not seek. He even declined to consider them when they merely appealed to his personal ambition. Too much Puritanic and revolu- tionary blood flowed in his veins to ever regard public offices as anything but a sacred trust, a patriotic service. Mr. Parsons had a lively interest in agriculture, was an active member of the State Agricultural Society of Michigan, and served most acceptably as its president. He was an enthusiast in horticulture and fruit culture, and found relaxation and pleasure in personal work in his own garden, one of the finest in Detroit. He was a royal entertainer, and was never happier than when sharing the hospitality of his elegant home with his friends. His benevolence was a matter of principle. He took special delight in aiding young men who were preparing for the work of Christian ministrjr. He was one of the largest and most systematic givers to the cause of missions. He was an enthusiastic believer in education. While several institutions were looking with eager eyes toward the Ram Library at Heidelberg, Mr. Parsons bought and donated it in its entirety to the Michigan State University. In keeping with his father's spirit, he was espe- cially devoted to the Christian College. He early became interested in Olivet College, Michigan. For thirty-six years he was a member of its board of trustees. He built his name into the history and even the very walls of the col- lege. Parsons Hall and the Parsons Professorship are honored words today. Not only his munificent gifts, but his wise counsels and his lifelong devotion to the work at Olivet are gratefully remembered. And no less were these deeds of benevolence a grateful remembrance to Mr. Par- sons himself. They were his glory and joy in his later years of illness. He found a rich reward in the satisfaction of building himself into institutions of education and religion. Olivet College grew dearer to him. His home church, the First Congregational Church of Detroit, grew dearer. His beloved pastor and his intimate friends at Olivet received frequent letters full of gratitude and joy for what he had been permitted to do, and full of trust and hope in prospect of a blessed immortality. In this spirit, he entered into rest. His death was literally a sleep. He slept on earth to awake in Heaven.

Philo married Anne Eliza Barnum on 27 Jun 1843 in Moscow, , New York, USA. Anne was born on 14 Sep 1822; died on 25 Apr 1893 in Detroit, Wayne Co, Michigan, USA. [Group Sheet]

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and
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General Parsons, b. Genesee Co., N. Y., April 5, 1818; Yale College, 1840; Harvard Law School, LL.B., 1844; Captain of Volunteers, October 31, 1861; Colonel and Aide-de-Camp to Major-General Halleck, April 4, 18G2 ; Brigadier-General, May 11, 1865, by autographic order of President Lincoln, for special services; Brevet Major- General, April 30, 1866; Democratic candidate for Lieutenant-Governor of Illinois in 1880 on the ticket with Judge Lyman Trumbull for Governor. Delegate to the National Democratic Convention which nom- inated Grover Cleveland for President in 1884. Presi- dent Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, 1893-97; mem- ber G. A. R. and Army of the Tennessee, and Companion of Loyal Legion. General Parsons's early years were mostly spent at school or in his father's country store at Gouverneur, St. Lawrence Co., New York. He entered Yale College in 1836. His father having suffered severely in the financial revulsions of 1837, he was obliged to struggle for an education under great difficulties, yet, by his energy and industry, he graduated with reputation in his class in 1840. In order to discharge 156 debts incurred in college, and obtain funds to enable him to pursue his professional education, he taught a classical school in Mississippi for two years, evincing those traits of energy and integrity which not only then met with a just reward, but which have characterized him through his suc- cessful life. Entering Harvard Law School, then presided over by Justice Story and Professor Greenleaf, in 1842, he jjursued his studies till the spring of 1844, when, turning his steps westward, he landed in St. Louis in March of that year, with funds only sufficient to pay a drayman to take his baggage to a hotel, a good library, for which he owed $600; a determined will, and an honest purpose to succeed. Less than twenty years after, the same man had been the financial manager of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad ? one of the greatest commercial arteries leading to the same city; and had been for years engaged in directing the trans- portation of great armies, with all their supplies, animals, and munitions, during a long war of the greatest magni- tude ? controlling, by his single will, under the general or- der of the Secretary of War, all the vast means and modes of transportation, not only of all the rivers and railroads of the West, but of the entire country ? such are the changes of our country and time! Mr. Parsons, soon after reaching St. Louis, went to Alton and became the partner of Newton D. Strong, an eminent lawyer and a brother of Judge Strong, of the United States Supreme Court. The firm did a large and successful busi- ness till Mr. Strong left the State, when Mr. Parsons formed a partnership with Judge Henry W. Billings. In 1853 Mr. Parsons left Alton and became the legal adviser of the great banking house of Page & Bacon, then engaged in construct- ing the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, at the same time purchasing the land on which he has since made the large farm on which he now resides. On the suspension of the banking house of Page & Bacon, Messrs. Aspinwall and associates took possession of the railroad, retaining Mr. Parsons as the general western manager. In the various positions of at- torney, treasurer, manager, director, and president of this road for nearly a quarter of a century, he discharged his duties so as to secure the perfect confidence of all parties and the public in his integrit3^ energy, and capacity. In 1860 General Parsons resigned his official position with a view of rest and a European tour; but, perceiving the country was on the brink of a civil war, he resolved to stay at home and serve the nation. Soon after the commencement of the war General George B. McClellan, who, as vice-president of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, had known General Parsons 157 and his abilities, offered him a position under him in the East, which was at once accepted, and he proceeded thither. Early satisfied that the field and the West best siiited his taste, Gen. Parsons obtained an order to report to St. Louis, with the view to raising a regiment. On arriving there. Gen- eral Curtis, commanding the department, placed him on a commission with Captain, now Lieutenant-General, Sheridan, to investigate the affairs connected with General Fre- mont's administration, which soon led to the celebrated Holt-Davis commission of greater civil powers. In the mean time, General Halleck having taken command, and finding nothing but disorder and confusion in the transportation service ? that it was conducted utterly regardless of system or economy ? was inefficient and the source of endless com- plaints by the railroads, who neither knew whose orders to obey nor how to obtain compensation due them, learning of General Parsons's experience and abilities, obtained an order from the Secretary of War placing him on his staff as aide-de-camp, with rank of colonel, and gave him entire charge of the railroad and river transportation. General Parsons accepted the situation with a cheerful confidence, which was amply vindicated by the results, and which soon brought order and harmony out of chaos and confusion. Introducing a few simple, well-defined rules, combining uniformity with responsibility, and efficiency with econ- omy, a revolution was at once effected most satisfactory to the Government officers and the railroads performing service, so that they, as well as all river navigation, became part of a single, central system, acting not only with power and efficiency, but with unsurpassed economy. Such suc- cess gained the entire confidence of the Government, and General Parsons's authority soon became complete and co- extensive with the valley west of the Alleghanies, extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the Indian wars, two thousand miles up the Yellowstone, as also the Upper Mississippi. In 1863 the Secretary of War ordered General Parsons to Washington, but revoked the order on his tendering his resignation rather than leave the West. In 1864, however, on an imperative order of the Secretary, he took charge of the Rail and River Transportation of the entire country, and in a brief period perfected a complete organization and introduced rules, regulations, and forms, which were made the permanent basis of action for that important depart- ment. It is a singular fact that, though so successful in all re- spects, General Parsons twice tendered his resignation in order to raise a regiment for active field service, which was, as it should have been, imperatively declined by the Secre- tary of War. Happening to be present at the first attack on Vicksburg-, he tendered his services and acted as volun- teer aid to General Sherman, and subsequently acted in like capacity on General McClernand's staff, at the battle and capture of Arkansas Post, where he was among the first to enter the fortification, and for which he received special no- tice from the commanding officers. Soon after the surrender of Lee, General Parsons tendered his resignation, his private business imperatively requiring his attention, but was detained by the Secretary of War for many months to aid in important service. The same firmness, energy, and economy have distinguished General Parsons equally in public and private life, and evinced his superior organizing and administrative abilities. There is upon record abundant evidence from the highest authority ? from such men as President Lincoln, Generals Grant and Sherman, Judge David Davis, E. B. Washburne, and others ? of most meritorious service, all agreeing that General Parsons's administration saved millions to the Gov- ernment. As early as September 13, 1863, that most able and excel- lent officer, General Robert Allen, then Colonel Parsons's superior, in writing the Secretary of War, asking for Colo- nel Parsons's promotion, among other things, said: " Hav- ing had charge of that most important branch of the ser- vice, steamboat and railroad transportation, his duties have been arduous, and highly responsible, and he has dis- charged them with signal success and ability. His admin- istration of this branch of the department has been emi- nently satisfactory. No military movement in the West has failed or faltered for lack of transportation or supplies of any kinds. The wants of armies in the field have been anticipated and met with alacrity and dispatch. If indus- try joined to capacity, and integrity to energy, all possessed and duly exercised in the same person, entitled him to ad- vancement, then I may safely claim promotion for Colonel Parsons." " It is to General Parsons's matchless combinations that must be attributed much of the efficiency and success that almost invariably marked every military movement in the West. When the climax of General Grant's Western renown was reached in the battles before Chattanooga, and he was transferred to the command of all the armies, with headquarters at Washington, he lost no time in bringing General (then Colonel) Parsons to Washington to direct from that centre the machinery that he had become so 159 completely the master of. In 1864 Secretary Stanton ordered him to Washington, extending his duties to the entire country. May 11, 1865, on the autographic order of President Lincoln, for distinguished services, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, and, on retiring from the service, April 30, 1866, was brevetted major-general of volunteers." General Parsons's eminent executive ability and success in the rapid movement of large armies for long distances, with their vast supplies and munitions of war, were, among other instances, shown in the movement of General Sherman's army of forty thousand men for the first attack on Vicksburg, as also in the transfer of General Schofield's army from Eastport, Miss., over the Alleghany Mountains, to the Potomac, in midwinter, a distance of fourteen hun- dred miles, in an average time of eleven days, instead of thirty, allowed by the Secretary of War. This movement was pronounced by the Secretary, as also by English and French authorities, as unequaled in rapidity and success in the annals of war. General Parsons's duties kept him mostly from the field, but when present, during several engagements, he volunteered as aide and received special commendation for services rendered, and was also tendered by Secretary Stanton a position in the Eegular Army with rank of Colonel, which he declined. His record of duty is perhaps best shown by the following extracts of letters from Generals Grant and Sherman: May 20, 1865, General Grant writes: " The position (chief of rail and river transportation of the armies of the United States) is second in importance to no other connected with the military sei^ice, and to have been appointed to it at the beginning of a war of the magnitude and duration of this, and holding it to its close, providing transportation for whole armies, with all that appertains to them, for thou- sands of miles, adjusting accounts involving millions of money, and doing justice to all, never delaying for a mo- ment any military operations dependent upon you, evi- dences an honesty of purpose, knowledge of men, and ex- ecutive ability of the highest order, and of which any man might be justly proud." * October 29, 1865, General Sherman writes: " I more espe- cially recall the fact that you collected at Memphis, in December, 1862, boats enough to transport forty thousand men, with full equipments and stores, on less than a week's * General Parsons's Reports, orders and correspondence as found in more than tv/enty volumes of the " Rebellion Record," will ever be the lasting memorial of his services to his country in the hour of its need. 160 notice, and subsequently that you supplied an army of one hundred thousand men, operating near Vicksburg, for six months, without men or horses being in want for a single day. I beg to express my admiration of the system and good sense which accomplished results so highly useful to the whole country." Soon after the war, General Parsons visited Europe and the East, seeking to regain his health, greatly impaired by over four years of incessant labor, he having been ab- sent from duty but twenty-one days while in service. After two years spent abroad, and several years as presi- dent of a bank in St. Louis, General Parsons, in 1874, re- tired to Flora, 111., where he now resides, engaged in man- aging a large landed estate purchased in the early settle- ment of Illinois. During the war, while faithfully serving his country, he never wavered in his political faith. Beginning a Douglas war-Democrat, he continued such, though some of his friends firmly believed this long delayed his just promo- tion. Continuing since the war an earnest but conserva- tive Democrat, he has never been drawn into any temporary political experiments, but has believed that there lay at the foundation of true Democratic principles certain great truths which, in time, would assert supreme power, and in their practical application restore the Government to the simplicity, economy, and honesty of the better days of the republic. General Parsons greatly aided in restoring Dem- ocratic majorities in Southern Illinois, not only by his abil- ities as a public speaker, but by his organizing abilities and great energy of character. Extract from a letter of General Parsons, November 25, 1897: " As a Democrat, I voted for Douglas in 1860. After the war began, I gave my utmost efforts to the Government, regardless of politics. Since the war I have been, as I was before, a Jeffersonian Democrat from deep conviction, and that greatly against my personal interest and the solicitation of my personal friends. I have never sought or desired office, but had I become a Republican political honors were doubtless within my reach. Twice I could have gone to Congress as a Democrat, by accepting a nomination, but I had no taste that way." Extract from report of Captain F. S. Winslow, A. Q. M., to General Parsons, February 13, 1865: " General ? From my peaceful home, looking back on the events of the last four years, and especially fixing my mind's eye on the gigantic movements of armies and supplies. 161 where thousands of miles of distances, and barriers of des- erts and mountains were counted as nothing-, even I, who had something to do with the detail of this great work, cannot help feeling astonished and asking how was it done? The question will be repeated by our children when they come to read the history of the rebellion; and I hope that you, General, will leave them sufficient records to show how, in the age of steam and electricity, and with these as servants, an energetic mind could move armies with almost the facility with which a family changes its residence, and could supply them with the promptness found in a well- regulated household. * * * To you belongs the credit of having accomplished such great results; to me, the satis- faction of having supported you to the utmost of my ability." ? (Compiled from Public Eecords by the Editor.) Note. ? How History once Made is afterwards Falsi- fied. ? The general public takes little interest in war be- yond reports of battles fought. The clash of arms and a few of the chief actors therein absorb the attention, leaving out of account the strenuous exertions of others whose unremitting and sagacious labors supply the forces and the conditions which make victory possible. Thus, after an interview with Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War in the War of Secession, Mr. Henry J. Raymond, then editor of the New York "Times," wrote editorially: "If Secretary Stanton were called on to name the officer who more than any other had distinguished himself in the task of wielding the vast machinery of the Union Armies during all stages of the conflict in response to the plans and re- quirements of our Generals, he would with little hesitation designate General Lewis B. Parsons of St. Louis. It is to his matchless combinations that must be attributed much of the efficiency and success that almost invariably marked every military movement in the West " [where the first and determining successes of the War were won]. General Parsons's exploit in transferring the army corps of General Schofield from the Tennessee Eiver to the Po- tomac, in the depths of winter, in less than fourteen days, and that without the loss of a man, an animal, or a gun. Secretary Stanton pronounced an achievement " without a parallel in the movement of armies," and he therefore requested from General Parsons a special report on the exploit, which report is contained in the ninety-ninth volume of the Rebellion Records. The facts of the case being thus fully established, it might have been supposed that they would thenceforth remain undisturbed. But 162 in 1898 there appeared a book written by Mr. Stanton's Assistant Secretary, Cliarles A. Dana, whose editorial con- duct of the New Yorlc " Sun " after the war became notorious on account of the ceaseless malignity of his vituperation against General Grant. In this book, entitled " Recollections of the Civil War," said Dana appropri- ated to himself the above achievement of General Parsons, in the following words: "Moving an Akmy Corps 1,400 Miles. ? The election was hardly over before the people of the North began to prepare Thanksgiving boxes for the army. From Philadelphia I received a message ask- ing for transportation to Sheridan's Army for boxes con- taining 4,000 turkeys. A couple of months later, in Jan- uary, 1865, a piece of work not so different from the ' turkey business,' but on a rather larger scale, fell to me. This was the transfer of the Twenty-third Army Corps from its position on the Tennessee Eiver, to Chesapeake Bay." His account of how he (Dana) performed this work (really done by General Parsons) Dana concludes by appropriating, with slight verbal changes. General Parsons's own summary of results accomplished, from his (the Gen- eral's) special report to Secretary Stanton! Dana's actual share in that achievement, consisted in his being directed by Secretary Stanton to communicate to General Parsons the fact that said transfer of General Schofield's Army Corps was desired, and to learn from him (General Parsons) how soon he could promise to effect it. Upon con- dition that he (Parsons) was given the right to use the name of the Secretary of War in seizure of cars, boats, etc., w^henever he deemed it essential. General Parsons undertook to transfer said army corps within thirty day's. He actually accomplished it in less than fourteen days, and that in spite of fog and ice on the rivers and violent snow storms in the mountains, amid unusual severities of mid- winter. ? (Editor.)

Lewis married Sarah Green Edwards on 21 Sep 1847 in St. Louis, St. Louis Co, Missouri, USA. Sarah was born on 12 Sep 1820; died on 28 May 1850. [Group Sheet]

Lewis married Julia Maria Edwards on 5 Jul 1852 in St. Louis, St. Louis Co, Missouri, USA. Julia was born on 8 Jun 1830; died on 9 Jun 1857. [Group Sheet]

Lewis married Elizabeth Darrah on 28 Dec 1869 in New York City, New York Co, New York, USA. Elizabeth was born on 25 Jun 1832; died on 2 Sep 1887 in Scarborough, Cumberland Co, Maine, USA. [Group Sheet]

Lucy married Charles S. Cone in Gouverneur, St. Lawrence Co, New York, USA. [Group Sheet]

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From the Encyclopedic History of St. Louis. COLONEL CHARLES PARSONS, President of the State Bank of St. Louis. Colonel Charles Parsons was born at Homer, Cortland Co., N. Y., January 24, 1824. He received an academical education at Gouverneur and Homer, N. Y. After spending several years as a clerk in his father's store, in a bank, and as a partner in a commercial house in Buffalo, N. Y., he removed to Keokuk, la., in 1851, where he established and continued for years a successful banking business. On the breaking out of the rebellion, he volunteered, was made captain, and, because of his superior business abilities, was placed in charge of army rail and river transportation at St. Louis, a position which he filled with such eminent success that he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. Near the close of the war, he was made cashier of the State 164 Savings Association, now the State Bank of St. Louis, of which he was elected president in 1870, making his entire term of service in the bank to the present time, thirty-three years. The success of his administration is most conclu- sively and concisely shown by the fact that for all these years the bank has never failed to make a dividend of at least five per cent, semi-annually, and for the last twenty- three years has made one of eight per cent, semi-annually, and has, in addition, accumulated during these thirty-three years, a surplus of more than $1,100,000. While amassing a reasonable fortune in his long and active business life. Colonel Parsons has disbursed of his income with liberality and a most catholic spirit, by aiding charitable, religious, and educational institutions, at times in large sums. Colonel Parsons's remarkable success has resulted not more from a natural taste for banking than from his thorough study, accurate knowledge, and comprehensive views of the principles governing commercial and financial affairs, combined with the liberal spirit with which he ever meets and treats private and public interests. The high esteem in which he has been held in financial circles is shown by the fact that for twenty-two years he was annually elected president of the St. Louis Clearing House, was for some years president of the American Bankers' Association, was selected to preside over the World's Congress of Bankers and Financiers at the Chicago Exposition in 1893, and that his name has been often mentioned as a suitable candidate for Secretary of the Treasury, and would, it is believed, have been pressed, but for Colonel Parsons's own opposition thereto. In 1892, when there was much public excitement in regard to city finances, owing to a large defalcation, Colonel Parsons consented at the solicitude of many prominent citizens, regardless of party, to accept temporarily the position of City Treasurer, which office he resigned as soon as full investigation could be made, the books put in proper condition, and a new treasurer elected. Colonel Parsons has been, and still is, president and director in many railroads and other public and charitable institutions, taking an active part and im- pressing his own personality thereon. There are few men who are more consulted or whose opinions upon public and financial questions are held in as high esteem. Nor is Colo- nel Parsons merely a business man. Possessing by nature a refined taste, he has during his active life gathered one of the most valuable collections of paintings and other works of art in our country, obtained during repeated visits to Europe and in a trip around the world made in 1894-5, a 165 very interesting account of whicli last trip was published in a volume for private circulation, showing close and accurate observation of men and affairs. In politics, Colonel Parsons has been a strong Republican, occupying a prominent position in party councils and con- tributing liberally for the success thereof. He is also a member of the societies of the Grand Army of the Eepublic, the Loj-al Legion, and the Army of the Tennessee. Colonel Parsons was married in 1857 to Miss Martha Pettus, a member of one of the old well-known families of St. Louis. She died in 1889, leaving no children. Extract from a speech by Colonel Parsons at the Cale- donian Society dinner, in St. Louis, November 30, 1897. " Perhaps, as I represent the New England Society this evening, as its former president, you would like to hear something of the Yankees and how they lived sixty and more years ago, when I was a boy; in the changes that have and are taking place nowadays, we are all getting to be different from what we were; even the Japanese are putting on breeches and coats and discarding their queues and kiminos. More's the pity. They will become poor Europeans and lose the originality and unique character, as well as genuine art, they once possessed. " Well, in my youth, among the Yankees in New England and New York, people were mostly connected with some church, and, generally, business ceased on Saturday night at sundown. Everything ended save works of necessity and mercy. The good orthodox people insisted that the warrant for commencing Sabbath on Saturday night was from the Bible, where it says: ' The evening and the morn- ing were the first day.' Our evenings of Saturdays were spent in learning the Sabbath-school lessons, the catechism, and singing. Ten o'clock Sunday morning was church time, and all who were not ill or too old or too young went to meeting, as it was called. We spoke not of the church as a building, but of the meeting-house. Then came the service; first, the invocation, the Bible reading, the singing, the long prayer, another singing and the sermon, which last was not, perhaps, as long as the Scotch ones; yet it did not lack in that respect. Then Sabbath school of half an hour, after which our lunch, and about one o'clock again another service. The farmers took lunch in summer on the grass around the house; but at other times in the house. It was not customary formerly to have fires in the meeting- house. It was thought best to keep warm by spiritual heat, and the first introduction of stoves was, in many cases, opposed very strongly. In one instance, several ladies fainted 166 the first Sunday after the stoves were put up, but, to their mortification, learned afterward that there were no fires that day in them ? a plain case for faith doctors. The second Sabbath service was like the first, and at its end we went home with the opportunity before us to come again in the evening. Many people had only cold food on the Sabbath. Occasionally some good people had a warm supper, however, and mine were of that sort. When the sun went down, all restraint was thrown off and the solemnity and seriousness that for twenty-four hours had marked every face was succeeded by gayety or great cheerfulness. It was said that even the dogs knew the difference between Saturday and Sunday nights and showed it by jumping and frisking on the latter, instead of lying quietly around as on the former. Sunday was indeed a day of rest for everything, and it was made more so by penal enactments. Indeed, it was said that in Connecticut they whipped the beer for working on Sunday. Travel was not thought proper, except to go to meeting or for the doctor, and as to any amusement, it was not to be tolerated or even thought of. I am told that the same rule existed in Scot- land formerly, and it may yet. The great infiux of foreign continental population in New England has changed all greatly there. " In those old days every one worked who was old enough to do so. The farmer rose at 5 a. m. and, after feeding and watering his horses, cows, etc., ate the breakfast that his industrious wife had prepared; he was then ready to go out on his farm to work, or in winter perhaps out in the forest chopping the trees, eating a cold lunch, perhaps of salt pork, uncooked, with bread and cold potatoes. I have seen them doing this, and they said that the fat pork with a little vinegar was excellent; the best sauce was the appetite. I have known these farmers to draw cord wood three or even four miles to town and sell it for 75 cents a cord and take their pay in goods at the store, and sometimes the merchant who bought it would only give dry goods, as the merchants then made greater profits on those than on sugar, tea, etc. There was no eight-hour law then in town or country; people worked early and late as long as they could find anything to do, leaving time for eating, drinking, and sleeping. Crime and criminals were not much known in the country or country villages; no one had time to con- coct villainy. " My father was a merchant, and as soon as his boys were old enough we had our share of work, at first in weeding the garden, bringing in wood, later in cutting wood for the 167 use of the house. I well remember my young-er brother and myself, he at eleven and I at thirteen years of age, cut- ting in spring forty cords of four-foot wood in three parts, splitting it fine, and piling high in the woodshed adjacent to the house, so as to be convenient for the days when great snows should fall and the thermometer get down to twenty and forty degrees below zero, sometimes. Perhaps this training is the reason why I am alive now at the age of seventy-three. As a special encouragement, we got a note drawing seven per cent, interest for such work at twenty- five cents a cord. I remember collecting mine after it had outlawed. Then a little later I learned to get up at 5 o'clock to go to the store, open it, sweep out, and light the fire before breakfast, at 6 or 6.30. After an academic edu- cation, I went off one November for a trip to the South, only receiving from my father money to get away, and none to return with. In nine or ten months I returned, bringing home some $50 more than I took away with me, which I handed my father; besides having traveled in three-fourths of the United States and spending some time in Cincinnati, Charleston, Richmond, Thiladelphia, and New York, with the ever pleasant memory of ten days in Washington in 1842, when John Tyler was President; Millard Fillmore at the head of the Ways and Means Committee, in which capacity he passed the tariff of 1842. One Saturday, then, I was kindly introduced on the floor of the House by a friend of my father's, and also introduced personally to the President, Secretary of State, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, John Quincy Adams, and Francis Granger. I was telling the above circumstance in my life to a friend, and he said it was not right that I should have given this surplus over what I received to my father; but it was the rule then that a boy's services belonged to his father until he was at his majority, and it was the almost universal custom for boys to work at home until then, and I think it was right. I was only too well pleased to get this leave of absence and to earn the amount of my expenses, returning all I made over that. Why should not a boy pay back by his labor some of the cost of his rearing? In Japan it is deemed a religious duty for a child to take care of the parents at a certain age, and the rich and poor recognize it not as a labor, but pleasure, and expect the retiring from trade of the parent, and all care then to fall on the son. The care of parents was also as customary in old times in Scotland. If our youths were made to do more physical work in youth, they would be stronger, healthier, and the better for it. Our New England fathers lived well, only the food was 168 plain. All through the country the bread was mainly made of com and rye meal, mixed, and, while not quite so palata- ble as wheat, yet without doubt it was more healthy ; there was plenty of beef and pork, mutton and chickens, apples and other fruits, and honey, besides nuts in the woods, to say nothing of the turkey and supposed-to-be-unhealthy pies. The New Englander then made no objection to all sorts of fun and sport in reason ? the husking bee, spelling school, where all stood up to be spelled down by the most capable; the town and baseball games, skating, and sliding on the ice; in fact, every athletic or proper indoor sport that did not endanger life or limb, I don't believe they would have tolerated the ball games we now have, where there is constant danger to the players. Certainly our Yankee forefathers were not the sad and morose people some conceive them to have been. They had a rough time in settling a new country, when there were no steamers or railroads, when it was a six-days' journey from New York to Boston by land, and life presented its serious side to them. They feared God, and wished to do their duty and get on in the world, and so educate their children that they should do the same. They were not so anxious to get office, either, then as now. One of my early ancestors in Springfield, Mass., petitioned the Town Meeting to be released from all town offices for a year, and on payment of twenty shillings his request was granted. He was not anxious to be in the push, or in any sort of combine. My friends, in many respects we have not improved on these people,"

Death Notice:
Homer NY Republican 1903-1906 - 0475.pdf
http://fultonhistory.com/Newspapers%2021/Homer%20NY%20%20Republican/Homer%20NY%20Republican%201903-1906/Homer%20NY%20Republican%201903-1906%20-%200475.pdf
CHARLES PARSONS
DEAD IN ST. LOUIS.
Was Born In Homer In 1824 and
Was the Olsest Banker In St. Louis .
A press dispatch from St. Louis under
date of September 17th says:
"Charles Parsons, who was born in
Homer, N. Y., January 24, 1824, is
dead. He was the oldest banker in St.
Louis, president of the State National
Bank, aud founder of a hospital. He
was a grandson of Captain Charles Parsons
of the Continental army."
Mr. Parsons was a relative of the late
Manley Hobart.

Cemetery:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=parsons&GSfn=charles&GSbyrel=all&GSdy=1905&GSdyrel=in&GSob=n&GRid=46398259&df=all&

Charles married Martha A. Pettus. Martha was born on 23 Mar 1830; died on 13 Feb 1889; was buried in St. Louis, St. Louis Co, Missouri, USA (Bellefontaine Cemetery). [Group Sheet]

George married Emily Lycett Barnum on 23 Oct 1855. Emily was born on 30 Apr 1830. [Group Sheet]

Helen married George B. Boardman on 16 Nov 1858. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

http://www.archive.org/stream/lineagebookofcha00daug/lineagebookofcha00daug_djvu.txt
Mrs. Frances Parsons Edwards. Born in New York. Wife of William Fitzhugh Edwards. Descendant of Charles Parsons, of Massachusetts. Daughter of Philo Parsons and Anne Barnum, his wife. Granddaughter of Lewis B. Parsons and Lucina Hoar, his wife. Great-granddaughter of Charles Parsons, who served as second lieutenant, first lieutenant, and captain in the First Regiment of New York infantry.

Frances married William Fitzhugh Edwards on 26 Sep 1882. William (son of Tryon Edwards and Catherine Haltus Hughes) was born in in . [Group Sheet]

Notes:

http://books.google.com/books?id=itpGAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA512&lpg=PA512&dq=Grout+chidsey+parsons&source=bl&ots=NZ4YEQp2Vp&sig=VQ7gXP3M-g7PFQhRvcWJSZsWC_U&hl=en&ei=imq_Ssf1FcWZ8Abd0LmlAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3#v=onepage&q=chidsey%20&f=false

Lewis married Harriet M. Streeter on 20 Jul 1870 in North Adams, Berkshire Co, Massachusetts, USA. Harriet (daughter of Charles Streeter and Emily J. Spears) was born on 23 Sep 1850 in . [Group Sheet]

Lewis married Margaret A. (Unknown). [Group Sheet]

Kate married Arthur Clifford on 5 Feb 1880. Arthur (son of John Henry Clifford and Sarah Allen) died on 26 Feb 1881. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Groom's name: William E. Boynton
Groom's race or color (on document):
Groom's age: 38 years
Groom's birth year: 1853
Groom's birthplace: Massachusetts
Bride's name: Julia N. Parsons
Bride's race or color (on document):
Bride's age: 31 years
Bride's birth year: 1860
Bride's birthplace: Michigan
Marriage type:
Marriage date: 11 Jun 1891
Marriage place: Detroit, Wayne, Michigan
Groom's father's name: Wm. Boynton
Groom's mother's name: S.Augusta Morse
Father of bride's name: Philo Parsons
Mother of bride's name: E.A. Barnwin
Marital status:
Groom's previous wife's name:
Bride's marital status:
Bride's previous husband's name:
Additional relatives:
Film number: 2342492
Frame number:
Digital GS number: 4208243
Image number: 413
Reference number: v 4 p 417 rn 8795
Collection: Michigan Marriages 1868-1925

Julia married William Edmundstone Boynton on 11 Jun 1891 in Detroit, Wayne Co, Michigan, USA. William (son of William Boynton and Sarah Augusta Morse) was born about 1853 in . [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Groom's name: Frederick G. Chidsey
Groom's race or color (on document):
Groom's age: 29 years
Groom's birth year: 1856
Groom's birthplace: Ohio
Bride's name: Mary L. Parsons
Bride's race or color (on document):
Bride's age: 23 years
Bride's birth year: 1862
Bride's birthplace: Detroit
Marriage type:
Marriage date: 22 Apr 1885
Marriage place: Detroit, Wayne, Michigan
Groom's father's name:
Groom's mother's name:
Father of bride's name:
Mother of bride's name:
Marital status:
Groom's previous wife's name:
Bride's marital status:
Bride's previous husband's name:
Additional relatives:
Film number: 2342477
Frame number:
Digital GS number: 4207805
Image number: 118
Reference number: v 3 p 343 rn 1183
Collection: Michigan Marriages 1868-1925

Mary married Frederick Grout Chidsey on 22 Apr 1885 in Detroit, Wayne Co, Michigan, USA. Frederick (son of (Male) Chidsey and Delia Whalley Grout) was born about 1856 in Ohio, USA. [Group Sheet]