ThomasP. Parrott
THOMAS P. PARROTT, an intelligent and public-spiritedcitizen of Buena Vista township, is a pioneer of 1831, since which timehis interests have been identified with those of his favorite county. Heis a native of Kentucky, having been born in Glasgow, that State, on September3, 1825.His father, Josiah Parrott, was a nativeof Maryland, having been born in Talbot county, that State, on July 20,1800. He had no school advantages, but acquired an excellent business educationin Glasgow, Kentucky, to which place he early removed. He was possessedof unusual financial ability, and had a remarkable aptitude for mercantilepursuits. In time he became the owner of three stores, one at Glasgow,one at Thompsonville, and another at Gainesboro, Tennessee. He was marriedin Kentucky, to Nancy G. Bransford, a native of Rockingham, Virginia, inwhich place she was born on July 27, 1807. She was a daughter of ThomasBransford, a prominent citizen of that place.
In 1830 Mr. Parrott came to Rushville, Illinois,which was then a new and sparsely settled country, and opened a store atthat place. He had at that time $60,000 and a large stock of goods. Afterstarting his store, he returned to Kentucky, and in the spring of the followingyear, 1831, he removed his family to Rushville, where he continued in businessfor more than forty years, being the oldest merchant of that place. Healso started several other stores at the same time, in different towns,one at Beardstown, and another at Princeton, while he had still anotherat Pulaski. All were general stores and all carried large stocks of goods.He possessed very great energy and excellent financial ability, and waseminently successful in business. He invested largely in land, and becamethe owner of thousands of acres of the richest land of Schuyler county.He voted with the Whig party, and later with the Republican, but neverdesired to hold office. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity, beingone of the charter members of the lodge in Rushville. He was a prominentmember of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he was a liberal supporter.He helped to build the first Methodist church in Rushville, and contributedtoward the erection of the present handsome edifice.
Mr. Parrott’s first wife died on July 26,1835, leaving four children to the care of her husband, and many friendsto mourn her loss. She was a woman of intelligence and many charms of character,a faithful wife and fond mother, and was much lamented by all who knewher. The children were: Thomas P., subject of our sketch; James H., nowa real-estate man of Omaha, Nebraska; John B., who died in Buena Vista,unmarried; and Susan, who died unmarried.
Mr. Parrott was subsequently married again,his second wife being Catharine Scripps, a native of Missouri. They hadtwelve children: George, deceased; Maria, who married Colonel William McAlister,and died in Rushville; Lydia, married; Sarah, who married Albert Clark,and died in Kearney, Nebraska; Josiah, a traveling salesman; Catharine,deceased; Charley, a resident of Lincoln, Nebraska, and was for many yearsa banker in Omaha; Walter, a wholesale dealer in hats, caps and notions,in Chicago; Frank, deceased; Marcus, a resident of Omaha; Ellen, deceased;and Lewis, a real-estate man of Omaha, Nebraska.
The father died at his home, surrounded byhis family and friends, on May 29, 1881, aged eighty-one years, much lamentedas a faithful friend and fond husband and father.
The subject of our sketch was but a mereboy when the family came to Rushville in 1831. He attended school in Rushville,and when young began to assist in the duties about his father’s store,and when grown, became a partner. The confinement of indoor work, however,did not agree with his health, and consequently, during the war he locatedon a farm in Buena Vista township. He is now the owner of 320 acres ofhighly cultivated land. Besides his farming interests, he is largely engagedin stock-raising, being a breeder of shorthorn and red-polled cattle, andof Morgan and Clyde horses, and has some of the finest specimens of thevarious breeds to be found in the country.
On January 25, 1848, he was married to SarahWright, a daughter of E. M. and Sarah Wright. She was born in Syracuse,New York. Their happy married life was doomed to be of short duration,for, after little more than a year, on November 12, 1849, his wife died,leaving to his care one child, Sarah G., now the wife of Insco Marine,and resides at Beatrice, Nebraska.
On October 10, 1860, our subject was marriedagain, his second wife being Emma Window, born in Macomb, Illinois, a daughterof Rev. William H. Window. Her father was a Methodist Episcopal minister,widely and favorably known in Illinois. They had eight children, two sonsand six daughters: Susan, wife of E. H. Lugg, of Warsaw, Illinois; William;Grace; Harry; Catharine; Ida; Blanche and Margaret. The faithful wife anddevoted mother died on July 22, 1890, much mourned by her family and friends.April 13, 1892, Harry married Miss Carrie McCormick, of Buena Vista.
Our subject affiliates with the Republicansin politics, and though averse to office has, at the earnest solicitationof his numerous friends, served in some local positions of trust, to theentire satisfaction of his constituents. He is, like his father beforehim, a liberal supporter of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which denominationhas found in him an earnest and sympathetic friend.
Of high integrity and morality, of rare abilityand warm impulses, he enjoys the confidence of his fellow citizens, andthe esteem of his family and a host of friends.
Biographical Review of Cass, Schuylerand Brown Counties, Illinois, Biographical Review Publishing Co., Chicago,1892, pages 227-228.
Copyright1999-2006 Judi Gilker; all rights reserved. For personal use only.Commercial use of the information contained in these pages is strictlyprohibited without prior permission. If copied, this copyright must appearwith the information.
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