Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/666

 592 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST ^MISSOURI death, and it is not deemed necessary to util- ize formal designation of quotation in draw- ing from such source. Charles Bunyan Parsons was born at Ben- son, Rutland county, Vermont, on the 26th of February, 1836, and died at his home in Riverside, Jetferson county, Missouri, on the 28th of January, 1910, secure in the lasting esteem of all who knew him. He was a scion of a family, of staunch English origin, that was founded in New England, that cradle of so much of our national history, in the early colonial days, and he came from a long line of educated and talented folk. His grand- father, Reuben Parsons, was a man of fine intellectual attainments and wielded benig- nant influence in the conuuunity in which he lived. His maternal grandfather. Judge Chauncey Smith, was a citizen of distinctive prominence and influence in Vermont, where lie acquired great wealth, as gauged by the standard of the locality and period. He served in a magisterial or judicial capacity for a number of years and for several years represented his county in the state legislature of Vermont. Concerning him, with inci- dental reference to the grandson, Charles B. Pai-sons, the following pertinent statement has been made: "He was a large contributor to the needs of all worthy persons and causes, a trait of character strongly developed by his grandson, Charles B. Parsons." Henry Augustus Parsons, father of him whose name initiates this memoir, was likewise a native of Benson, Vermont, where he was born on the 19th of August, 1790, and where he was reared and educated. He was promi- nent in the social and religious life of the town, and, being a fine musician, was for forty years a member of the local church choir. He was closely identified M'ith the various interests of his home town, and as a member of the state militia he was with the troop that went from Benson to meet General LaFayette, in 1824, on the occasion of the visit of the distinguished nobleman to the land whose gaining of independence he had so signally aided in the war of the Revolu- tion. By vocation Henry A. Parsons was a saddler and harness manufacturer, and he continued to follow this line of enterprise in his native town until impaired health com- pelled him to seek a change of climate. He first removed to Brighton, New York; thence to Rochester, that state, where he remained until 1854, when he removed with his family to Michigan, where he passed the residue of his life, his death having occurred at Hills- dale, that state, on the 22d of January, 1862. His cherished and devoted wife, whose maid- en name was Elizabeth Smith, was born at Benson, Vermont, on the 12th of April, 1791, and died at the home of her son Charles B., subject of this review, in Bonne Terre, Mis- soui'i, on the 30th of November, 1884, at the venerable age of ninety-three years. Con- cerning her the following appreciative words have been written: '"She was a woman of great force of character and loveliness of dis- position. She came to Bonne Terre, Missouri, after the death of her husband and her de- clining years were spent in the pleasant home of her son. She passed to the life eternal well beloved by all who had known her." Henry A. and Elizabeth (Smith) Parsons be- came the parents of six sons and five daugh- ters, all of whom are now deceased except the youngest daughter, Emily, who married Gen- eral C. C. Doolittle, brother of Mr. Parsons' wife. Of the eleven children Charles B. was the youngest. Two of the sons, Lafayette and Chauncey, were graduated in the collegiate institution at Castleton, Vermont, and in the medical college at Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Both practiced their profession in Michigan, and another brother, Reuben, was just enter- ing upon the practice of the same profession when he sacrificed his life during the great cholera epidemic of 1849. Dr. Lafayette Par- sons served as a member of the Michigan legislature, and late in life he removed to Adair county, Iowa, where he died at the age of eighty-three years. When it was deemed expedient for the family to remove to Michigan, Henry Par- .sons was sent on ahead to begin the work of clearing the homestead which had been .secured in the midst of the forest in St. Joseph county, Michigan. A few weeks later Charles B. Parsons, who was at the time seventeen years of age, and who had been afforded the advantages of the Rochester schools, set forth for the new home to join his brother Henry and help in the clearing. He started with a team and a load of house- hold goods for this overland trip. Concei-ning this memorable journey the fol- lowing description' has been given: "With only his dog for company, he made the dreary trip of more than five hundi"ed miles, cross- ing the Niagara river into Canada and re- ci-ossing the boundary into the United States at Detroit. In due time he arrived at the clearing made by his brother. Three weeks