NormanParsons
NORMAN PARSONS, now retired and living quietlyat his home at the corner of Fifth and Washington streets, is one of theold settlers, having come here in 1854. He was born in Hartford, Connecticut,November 6, 1811, and was a child only a few years old when his parents,Moses and Elsiby (Pease) Parsons, with a colony of twenty families, duringthe war of 1812, came overland with teams to Geauga county, Ohio. Theyarrived in June, 1814, and made a settlement in the heavy timber of thatnew, unbroken country, surrounded by Indians and plenty of game. He therelived until the country was well improved, when he died some years agoat the advanced age of eighty-seven years. His wife had died some fiveyears before. They were Methodists, and the father and seven sons wereall Republicans.Norman Parsons served with his State militia,went through all the promotions from First Lieutenant to Colonel of hisregiment. He was one of the organizers of the G. A. R. at Beardstown.
After his arrival in Beardstown he becamea member of the firm of Fischer & Parsons, wagon manufacturers, whodid business for two years. A company was then established known as Putnam& Parsons, doing a general tombstone business. This continued for twoyears, and at this time Mr. Parsons bought a stock of goods at Falls City,Nebraska, where he lived for one year, and then returned to this county,where he secured and began to improve 175 acres of land near Beardstown.Here he continued until 1861, when he enlisted in the Third Illinois Cavalryand was soon after made Sergeant of Company C. He served three years inthe army of the West. At Germantown, Tennessee, he veteranized and wasmade First Sergeant of Company F. of Third Illinois Cavalry, re-organized,and served until the fall of Richmond. He returned to St. Louis, Missouri,with his regiment in 1865, and later was sent to Fort Snelling, Minnesota,to protect the whites against the Indians. He was honorably dischargedat St. Paul, Minnesota, June 20, 1865. He was in all the great battlesof his division of the army, and had many narrow escapes, and at one timewas surrounded by General Forrest’s men and made his escape only by hismilitary tactics. He was a man of daring and bravery. He returned to Beardstownin 1865, made a trip to Nebraska on horseback, and spent some time therelooking after his real-estate interests.
He was appointed Postmaster of this placeby President Grant in his first term, and held it for eighteen years consecutively,and had in the meantime served as Justice of the Peace. He was one of theorganizers of the Republican party in Geauga county, Ohio, and was vice-presidentof the first anti-slavery society organized in that section.
He was first married in Ohio, to Amanda F.King, who died in 1852, aged thirty-four. She left two sons: Melbourne,living in Beardstown, and William; both of these gentlemen made very finerecords indeed in the war of the rebellion. Mr. Parsons was married a secondtime to Mrs. Catherine Saunders. She has three children by a former marriage,namely: John, a mercantile bookkeeper; George, who was a member of BatteryB, Second Illinois Light Artillery, in the late war; and Elva J., a ladyof superior talent, and a teacher in the high school, and is now the wifeof Mr. Saunders.
Biographical Review of Cass, Schuylerand Brown Counties, Illinois, Biographical Review Publishing Co., Chicago,1892, pages 223-224.
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