History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 124

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.)
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1340

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HARRY PARKS, farmer and manufacturer of lumber, lath, shin- gles and cider, Wysox township, P. O. Wickizer, was born in Rome, August 9, 1824, a son of John and Margaret (Strope) Parks, the former a native of Massachusetts, of Scotch origin, and the latter a native of Pennsylvania, and of German descent. In his father's family there were eleven children : Sarah (deceased), Abigal Jane (deceased), Will- iam B., Harriet, Harry, Nathaniel N., Chester, John M. (deceased), James, Herbert and Elisha. Harry began farming on Taylor Hill, where he remained fifteen years, then purchased his present home, which now includes 275 acres. He married, March 4, 1849, Henrietta A., daughter of Silas and Margaret (Lent) Allis, natives of Vermont and Pennsylvania, respectively. They have had born to them six chil- dren, as follows : Celestia, born September 16, 1850, married to Albert Robinson, a farmer, of Wysox; Henry Myron, born October 11, 1852; Silas, born April 4, 1854; Emerson Adelbert, born August 21, 1858, died February 28, 1882; Lewis, born October 1, 1866, died March 2, 1873, and William, born February 6, 1868. Henry Myron, Silas and William are engaged with their father on the farm and in the mill. The family are identified with the Republican party.

ISAAC AUSTIN PARKS, farmer and stock-grower, P. O. South Hill, was born in New London, Conn., October 26, 1814, a son of Isaac Parks, who was born in Groton, Conn., October 25, 1784. Grand- father Stephen Parks, a native of Connecticut, a farmer by occupation, was drowned in the North river while trying to cross on the ice, in 1792; he married Annie Williams, and they had four children, viz .: Stephen, Isaac, Eunice (wife of R. Avery) and Darius. He had served in the Revolutionary War. Mrs. Stephen Parks died in her eightieth year. Isaac Park attended school until his fifteenth year, and served an apprenticeship at the boot and shoe trade, while attending school three months each year, until he attained his majority. In 1805 he joined the militia, and served until 1813; was a Minute Man the remainder of the year. In 1814 be removed to Otis, Mass., where he built a tannery and shoe shop, and carried on business four years ; then sold and came to Pennsylvania, settling in Orwell township, where he took up a " possession claim, " now the homestead, and here spent the remainder of his life. He married, at New London, Conn., in 1812, Hannah, daughter of Jonas and Lucy (Spicer) Gray, and died in 1850; they had three children, viz .: Isaac Austin, Lucy (deceased) and Jack- son. Isaac Austin Parks attended school at Orwell until his nineteenth year, and then worked on the farm five years, and went to Arkansas two years, as a mill-wright; thence to "old Dick Gentry," of Missouri, who was engaged in the Santa Fe carrying trade, arriving at Kansas, Council Grove. Mr. Gentry was called to New York, and Mr. Parks assumed the responsibility of delivering the goods in Santa Fé, which place he reached, and, after disposing of part of the goods, was rejoined by Mr. Gentry, and they (after wholesaling the balance of goods) started for San Francisco, via the Gila and Sacramento rivers route, arriving in June, 1840, and remaining until October, when he returned to Kansas ; then at Ft. Scott, Kans., he worked at his trade four years, after which he returned home, and purchased his present place of about two hundred

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and fifty acres, which was a portion of the property bought by his father. Here he has made his permanent home. He has ten horses, sixteen cattle, sixteen young stock and sixty sheep. He erected his present dwelling in 1857. In 1862 he raised, and was made captain of, Company D, One Hundred and Forty-first Regiment, P. V. I., went to the front and participated in the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellors- ville, and numerous other engagements ; when his command was on the Rappahannock he resigned, after twenty-two months' service, went to Washington, and was discharged. He married, January 1, 1845, Melissa A. Mericle, the second in the family of thirteen children of Levi and Eunice (Coggswell)Mericle, and they had children as follows: Norman L., deceased; Arthur M., deceased; Editlı M., deceased; Emma A., wife of A. R. Brutzman; Ida A., wife of Joseph W. Allen; Elbert J .; Charles F .; Willie, died in infancy; Flora M., wife of Charles Ellis, and Ella, wife of O. J. Buttles. Mr. Parks is a member of LeRays- ville Lodge, I. O. O. F .; member of Hurst Post, No. 86, G. A. R. He is a Republican, and served as county commissioner from 1853 to 1856; as town assessor nine terms; as school director twenty years, and town commissioner twelve years.

W. B. PARKS, farmer, Rome township, P. O. Rome, was born in Rome township, this county, March 19, 1820, and is a son of John and Margaret (Strope) Parks. His father was born in Massachusetts, August 20, 1879, and died in Rome, December 8, 1873. W. B., who is the third in a family of twelve children, spent his boyhood on his father's farm, and attended the district school; his youthful days were spent in the usual occupation of the boys on the frontier-chopping, lumbering and rafting. In 1858 he purchased a one-half interest in his father's farm, and, in 1866, bought the remainder, and added other land to it, until he owned 132 acres. On September 5, 1864, he enlisted in Company G, One Hundred and Eighty-fifth N. Y. V. I., and served until the close of the war. He was in all the battles in the campaign against Richmond, and was present at the surrender of Lee; he was discharged with his regiment, May 30, 1865, and came home and resumed farming; here he lived until 1865, when he removed to Michigan, where he remained four years; then went to Nebraska, remaining until 1890, when he returned to Bradford county. Mr. Parks married, September 21, 1846, Kansas C., daughter of James Smith, of Windham township, and to them were born two children-Ophelia and James. The family are Methodists, and James and his father vote the Republican ticket. Mr. Parks is a member of Stevens Post, No. 9, G. A. R., and has held all the offices in the same.

E. ASHMUN PARSONS, proprietor of the Bradford Argus, Towanda, the oldest newspaper in the county, and for the last twenty- six years Democratic to the core, and which has been in the Parsons family during the long, and surely lonesome, days of the Democracy, in good old Bradford county. " Patience, and shuffle the cards " might well have been the ornamenting motto of the faithful Argus, since it came into the hands of the Parsons-father and son-but the "silver lining" is now visible in a great, broadening band, and who shall say that so many years of hopeless gloom to this political organ may not

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

return, after "an hundred days," in compound interest. Ashmun, the more common name of this gentleman, well-known all over the county, is a son of Elijah Parsons, and was born in Towanda, March 17, 1846 ; his mother's maiden name was Miss Ethlin Brown, the family origi- nally came from Stonington, Conn., and both families were of Brad- ford county. Ashmun is as much the product of the Argus as any "dodger" from the regular job office; in short, the paper and the Parsons family have "pulled for the shore" together for more than half a century-through sunshine and storm, with a great preponder- ance of the latter. The present proprietor came near breaking the long record, when appointed deputy postmaster, in 1885, but kept one hand, all the four years of his office, on his family favorite. He grad- nated at the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, but the education received there was little compared to his better, very thorough and long schooling in a country printing office, where he was under the tuition of Wilmot, Grow, Mercur, Piollet and other prominent men, giving him a more than ordinary insight into the intricacies of politics and statecraft. He was married, in Towanda, January 19, 1887, to Anna Laning, daughter of William H. Morgan, an eminent civil engi- neer and contractor, son of Judge Morgan, of Wysox. The Morgans were from the East, and were among the earliest families in this county, and were very prominent people. W. H. Morgan made all the first surveys and maps of Towanda and vicinity; and all over the county his surveys and plots were esteemed rare specimens of his skill as a civil engineer. He was in the Civil War during its existence, and was in the Commissary Department. He died in 1876, though yet a young man, and was as widely known, and as much respected, as any man in Bradford county. Mr. and Mrs. Parsons have two children : E. Ashmun, Jr., born December 11, 1887, and William Morgan, born June 11, 1890. In their beautiful cottage on York avenue, this is one of Towanda's happiest and most pleasant families.

JESSE PARSONS, farmer, of Columbia township, P. O. Colum- bia Cross Roads, was born in Troy township, this county, September 11, 1861, and is a son of William A. and Harriet (Whaley) Parsons. His paternal grandfather was Allen S. Parsons, who was born in Columbia township, this county, in 1810, a son of Eli, Jr., whose father was formerly of Massachusetts, but settled in Columbia town- ship in 1800. All three cleared considerable land in the township. The wife of Eli, Jr., was Hannah Rockwell, by whom he had five children : Allen S., Almira (Mrs. Lorenzo Jones), Olive (Mrs. William H. Pierce), Minerva (Mrs. Thomas J. Strait) and Cynthia (Mrs. Will- iam Sherman). Of these, Allen S., the only son, succeeded to the homestead, now owned by M. S. Parsons, and died there. He was twice married : his first wife was Eliza Harkness, by whom he had four children : Eli C., William A., Emma (Mrs. Isaac Fogle) and New- ton ; his second wife was Mandana Taylor, by whom he had two chil- dren, Mary (Mrs. John A. Patterson) and Mahlon. Of his children, William A. was reared on the old homestead, has always been a resident of Bradford county, and is now living in Burlington. His children are Fred, Jesse, Frank, Newton, Grace (Mrs. Evert Andrews),

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Gertie (Mrs. Emmins Carr), Edward, Raymond, Cora (Mrs. Barney Henson) and Charles. Our subject was reared by his grandfather on the old homestead in Columbia, and has always followed farming as his occupation. He married, December 1, 1881, Ida, daughter of Nehemiah and Mrs. (White) Hodge, of South Creek township, and has one daughter, Nina. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., and in poli- tics he is a Republican.

JOHN A. PARSONS, manufacturer, Troy, was born in Troy township, this county, December 27, 1846, a son of Dr. Alfred and Jane (Wilber) Parsons, the former of whom was a son of Thomas and Anna (Osborne) Parsons, and was born at Enfield, Hartford Co., Conn., November 16, 1797; was educated at Williams College, and studied medicine, attending lectures at Fairfield Medical College, Fairfield, N. Y., where he was graduated in 1825; in 1826 he settled in Column- bia township, this county, and began the practice of his profession ; and later removed to Troy township, where he was in active practice up to his death, which occurred October 24, 1865. He attained a leading and prominent position in his profession, and accumulated a competency. He was one of the founders of the Bradford County Medical Society, in which he always took a deep interest, and was three times elected its president ; in religious belief he was a Presbyte- rian, and gave the ground to that society, where the First Presbyterian Church of Troy now stands. His wife was a daughter of Hon. Reuben and Sally (Dobbins) Wilber, and granddaughter, on the paternal side, of John Wilber, a Revolutionary patriot, and on the maternal side of William A. and Mary (McLean) Dobbins, who settled in Burlington township, this county, in 1791. Their children were four in number : Mary H. (who died in childhood), Sarah A. (Mrs. Theodora Waldron), Sophia L. (Mrs. Capt. W. H. Carnochan) and John A. Reuben Wil- ber, the maternal grandfather of subject, was a native of Rhode Island, born May 21, 1785, and settled in Troy township, this county, in 1807, locating on a farm of 300 acres; was a soldier in the War of 1812, in which he did gallant service, and was paymaster with rank of first lieutenant ; in 1825 he was elected sheriff of Bradford county ; from 1830 to 1837 was State Senator and associate judge of Bradford county ; from 1846 to 1851 was one of the presidential electors; was a State inspector of prisons and a member of the State Board of Equaliza- tion ; he died November 5, 1881. John A. Parsons, the only son of Dr. Alfred Parsons, was reared on the old homestead in Troy township, and was educated at Troy Academy and Elmira Seminary. He began his business career as a druggist in Troy, in which he was engaged about four years ; subsequently he became identified with the Enterprise Man- ufacturing Company (now the Troy Engine and Machine Company), and is at the head of that establishment, and principal capitalist. He was married, October 4, 1871, to Mary E., daughter of Thomas and Maria (Briggs) Woodruff, of Towanda, and they have four children : Thomas W., Wilber H., Robert B. and Jane. Mr. Parsons is a prominent citizen of Troy township, an active member of the Presbyterian Church, and in politics he is a Democrat.

J. W. PARSONS, physician and surgeon, Canton, is a native of

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Canton, this county, and was born October 11, 1856, a son of II. B. and Fannie L. (Lock) Parsons, the former of whom was born April 22, 1831, in Canton, and the latter August 25, 1828, in Catherine, Chemung Co., N. Y. They now reside in Canton. H. B. Parsons is a cabinet- maker by trade, and was engaged in the furniture business for a number of years; later in life he was a builder, contractor and house carpenter. He is a son of Rev. James and Anna (Briggs) Parsons, natives of Boston and Alstead, N. H., respectively, the former of whom was educated in Boston, and was ordained to preach in the Baptist Church in 1819. In 1826 he came from Colerain, Mass., to Troy, this county, and in the spring of 1830 he removed to Canton, where he became the second postmaster. In 1832 he went to Allegany county, N. Y., and in the spring of 1834 to Orleans county, but in 1846 returned to Canton, where he lived until his death, which occurred May 1, 1854, when he was in his sixty-fourth year. Mrs. Parsons is a direct descend- ant of a brother of John Locke, the celebrated English author. Dr. J. W. Parsons, who is the eldest in order of birth in a family of three chil- dren, living, was graduated from the borough schools, also took lessons of private tutors, and then taught in a grammar school four years. He entered the New York Medical University in the fall of 1878, and was graduated there in the spring of 1880. Returning to Canton, he began the active practice of medicine at once, and has been so engaged since. He was married in Canton, in June, 1881, to Miss Linda, daughter of Emett A. and Fanny G. (Hendrickson) VanSickle, natives of Phila- delphia. She is the eldest in a family of three children, and was born in Philadelphia January 1, 1861. To Dr. and Mrs. Parsons has been born one daughter, Daisy V. He is president of the Board of Pension Examiners for his district, and has served as burgess of Canton bor- ough three years. He is a Republican, and takes an active interest in politics. Though yet a young man, Dr. Parsons is justly esteemed by all, hoth as a citizen and as a physician.

EDWARD PARTRIDGE, farmer, P. O. East Smithfield, was born in Schoharie county, N. Y., October 20, 1837, a son of Ahira and Seba (Hodge) Partridge, who came to Ulster when Edward was three years old, settling in the wilderness, where they cleared a large farm. The father was a Republican from the formation of the party, and in religion, during the latter part of his life, he united with the Methodist Episcopal Church. The great-grandfather was a quartermaster in the Revolutionary Army. The subject proper of this sketch is the ninth in a family of eleven children-six sons and five daughters-and was reared on his father's farm. He married, September 13, 1870, Malvina Wright, who was born February 2, 1848, a daughter of Owen and Amanda (Parshall) Wright, early settlers in the town of Columbia, this county. Mr. and Mrs. Partridge have had four children, three of whom are living, as follows : Carrie J., born March 13, 1877; Mattie M., born August 28, 1879; and Edward L., born August 16, 1888. Mr. Par- tridge has, by perseverance and industry, accumulated a nice property, being now the owner of a fine farm of 100 acres, where he raises horses and cattle. Politically he was formerly a Republican, but for the past few years he has been a strong Prohibitionist. He is a very genial and

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pleasant gentleman, and has a wide circle of friends. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

J. E. PASSMORE, merchant, Gillett, was born in Wysox, this county, October 4, 1853, a son of Henry and Polly (Allen) Passmore. Of his ancestors the Passmores were from New England, and early settled in Susquehannah county, while the Allens have been for a long period identified with Wysox and Rome townships, this county. Henry Passmore's family consisted of eight children, who grew to maturity, of which the subject of this sketch is the fifth. He was reared in Wysox, and attended the public schools. He began business as a clerk in the county store at Wysox. After two years' experience, he opened a store for himself at Gillett, in 1884, and has remained there, building up a profitable trade. He has been postmaster, and a member of various Democratic committees. In 1880 he married Olive, daughter of William and Eunice Patterson, of Sheshequin. They have three children : William H., Charity A. and John A.

THOMAS PAUL, nurseryman and gardener, Waverly, N. Y., is a native of Clackmannan (near Edinburgh), Scotland. His parents, James and Christena (Livingston) Paul, were natives of Scotland, the former of whom was a gardener, and died in his native place in 1885, in his eightieth year; the latter died, in 1854, in her fiftieth year. Thomas Paul, the subject of this sketch, is the youngest in a family of seven children, six of whom grew to maturity. He was educated in Musselburgh, Scotland, and at Kinnaird Castle, Forfarshire, served an apprenticeship at the gardener's trade; he was a gardener for Queen Victoria, at Windsor Castle, four years. He came to this country in the spring of 1868, and in a short time went to Rochester, N. Y., where he remained about one year, then removed to Athens township, and engaged in the nursery business and farming, and for the last few years has been engaged in gardening. He has a fine grove near his residence, with a dancing hall and dining hall, patron- ized quite extensively for picnics and dances. His sister, Mary Ann, lives with him; he has served three years as road commissioner in Athens township. He is a Republican in politics.

EDWARD DUGGAN PAYNE, M. D., surgeon in the U. S. Navy, residence Towanda, is the second son of Rev. Thomas and Eliz- abeth Payne, and was born at Reading, Fairfield Co., Conn. They were of an old English Protestant family, long settled at Athlone, Ire- land. Capt. Edward Payne, of the Royal Light Horse, married into the Duggan family of Tullamore, of the Established Church ; their son Thomas was born in 1804, and their son Edward two years later. Their father died when they were young, and they went to the care of an uncle, Thomas Duggan, who designed young Thomas for the army; the lad refused an ensign's commission, joined the Dissenters, and was ordained to preach; he exhorted at sixteen, and preached regularly at twenty years of age. He came to America in 1830, joined the Metho- dist Conference, and was given charge of the Cherry Street Church, Philadelphia. Soon after he was sent as a missionary through northern Pennsylvania, where he labored until 1831, when he returned to the Conference, and was then sent to Centreville, N. J., for one year, then

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to the Salem circuit, where he remained until the spring of 1838, when he went to the Zion circuit, and while here changed to the Congrega- tional Church, became a minister of that denomination, and was sta- tioned at Rye, Sawpitts and Old Greenwich. In 1841 he went to western New York, in charge of the New-School Presbyterian Churches, at Somerset, Wilson and Knowlesville, and died in the latter place in 1852. He had married, in December, 1830, Elizabeth, daughter of John Wilson, of what was then Luzerne (now Wyoming) county. Mr. Wil- son, who was pure English, had been in this country many years; his daughter was noted for great devotion and piety, and now (1891) is, at the ripe old age of eighty-seven years. with all her faculties unim- paired, and in contented peace and quiet, in the home of her son, Dr. Payne, where she is patiently awaiting the summons of her Master.

Dr. Payne spent his youth with his parents in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York, and the principal part of his education was gained at Wilson Collegiate Institute. While yet a youth (in 1850), he came to northern Pennsylvania, and in September of the next year found employment in the drug store of Dr. H. C. Porter, in order to learn the business, and was thus employed four years, in his leisure moments studying medicine, and in the winter of 1855-56 attended Jefferson Medical College. On his return to Towanda that spring, he had a flattering offer to go into the drug business with Hon. J. G. Pat- ton, and accepted it, but returned, in the autumn of that year, to Jeffer- son College, and graduated in 1857. The self-helpful boy was now a self-made man, who carved his way, unaided, and was as thoroughly grounded in the fundamentals of medicine and surgery as any young man that had ever come from his Alma Mater. He continued in busi- ness with Mr. Patton until a long and severe sickness (in 1860) com- pelled him to retire; he had overtaxed a delicate constitution, and a long rest was enforced.

The war came in 1861, and his quickened pulse beat high again. During the summer he received an unsolicited permit to appear before the army medical board, was examined, and was urged by the eminent Dr. H. H. Smith, surgeon-general of the State, to apply to the Navy Department, and was at once appointed, September 20, assistant-sur- geon in the navy, and assigned to duty at the Naval Asylum, Phila- delphia. On December 17, following, he was ordered to the U. S. frigate " Congress," Hampton Roads, and was in the battle of March 8, 1862, when the "Congress " and "Cumberland " were destroyed by the rebel " Merrimac." On his vessel, out of a crew of 250, one hun- dred were killed and thirty wounded. The commanding officer was killed, the surgeon disabled, the vessel on fire beneath the magazine, and the duty of caring for the wounded, getting them on shore and into a hospital, devolved upon Dr. Payne. He was detailed to bring the wounded to Hygiea Hospital, Old Point Comfort, which was accomplished on the 10th, the steamer "Adelaide " being placed at his disposal for that purpose. For his gallant services on that occasion he received high commendations from Surgeon Shippen. On Sunday, the 9th, he witnessed the battle between the "Monitor" and "Merrimac." In June, following, he was ordered to the " Powhatan," and joined the

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Sonth Atlantic blockading squadron, off Charleston, and witnessed the first iron-clad attack on Fort Sumter. In May, 1863, he was inva- lided and sent North, but in a few days reported for duty and was appointed to the Naval Rendezvous, Chicago. On August 15, follow- ing, he applied for surgical duty, and was ordered as surgeon of the U. S. S. " Metacomet," and in her joined the West Gulf blockading squadron, under Farragut. At the battle of Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864, the "Hartford," Farragut's flag ship, and the "Metacomet," led the line of battle, lashed side by side. When opposite the fort the " Meta- comet " received orders to cast loose and engage the rebel vessels. She pierced the "Gaines" with a shot which sent her disabled under the walls of Fort Morgan, chased the " Morgan " behind the defenses, below the city, and captured the "Selma." Here again Dr. Payne was highly com- mended for his conduct, by the commander of his vessel, to the Admiral, as appears in the reports of the Secretary of the Navy. On January 24, 1865, he was ordered North, and March 6, to the Naval Rendezvous, Philadelphia. While there he was examined for surgeon, and on the 28th of that month was promoted to passed assistant-sur- geon. On July 19, he was ordered to the Pacific Station, Panama, where he joined the ship " Farallones." and went to the Straits of Magellan to meet the squadron under Commodore Rogers; returned to Panama, in April, 1866, and in May was sent to the "St. Marys," and in this ship to San Francisco; thence was ordered home, via Panama.

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 124

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.) Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago, S. B. Nelson Number of Pages: 1340

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.)
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1340