Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/227

 PARSONS

PARSONS

(Loxley) Rhees and of Col. Benjamin Loxley, a Revolutionary patriot. He was graduated from Cornell, B.C.E., 1873 ; engaged in railway en- gineering, 1873 ; worked in a rolling mill, 1874 ; taught a district school, and afterward French, mathematics and drawing in the high school, Southbridge, Mass., 1874-81. He was admitted to the Massachusetts bar, 1881 ; was in New Mexico in the railroad business, 1881-84 ; was employed as chief clerk by a leading Boston law firm, and engaged as a legal text writer for Little, Brown & Co., 1885-97. In 1890 he obtained a lectureship in Boston University Law school, and w^as a member of the faculty of the Boston Y.M.C.A., lecturing on English literature. He lectured on economics and sociology, and was professor of history and political science in the Kansas Agricultural college,1897-99,and in 1899 as- sumed the same chair in Ruskin college, Trenton, Mo. In 1900 he was called to testify on railways before the U.S. senate committee on interstate commerce, and the next year the U.S. Industrial commission sent for him to testify on railways, telegraphs, telephones and municipal monopolies. In 1901-02 he spent about eight months traveling in Great Britain, France. Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany, Belgium and through the United States, studying railways, cooperative industry, municipal monopolies, government and labor conditions in preparation for w^orks on trans- portation, cooperation and municipal govern- ment. In 19C2 he lectured in the leading cities of the west under the auspices of the Chicago University association. He was elected to membership in the American Academy of Poli- tical and Social Science, the American Social Science association and other organizations ; became president of the National Public Owner- ship league and of the National Referendum league ; director of the Co-Workers' fraternity, and vice-chairman of the National Non-Partisan Federation for Majority Rule. He is the author of : TJie World's Best BooJcs (1892) ; Ovr Country's Need (1894); The Drift of Our Time (1898); Rational Moneij{18dd) ; TJie New Political Economy (1899); The Power of the Ideal (1899); TJie City for the People (1900 and 1902); Direct Legislation (1900); The Bondage of Cities (1900); Great Movements of the Nineteenth Century (1901); Public Ownership (1902), and many contributions to periodicals.

PARSONS, James Russell, jr., educator, was born in Hoosick Falls, N.Y., Feb. 20, 1861 ; son of James Russell and Ellen Edgerton (Hinds- dill) Parsons ; grandson of Seth and Carolina Althea (Edgerton) Parsons, and a descendant of Dr. Jonas Fay (q.v.;. He was prepared for college at Bede Hall, Cooperstown, N.Y. ; was graduated as valedictorian at Trinity college,

Conn., A.B., 1881 ; A.M., 1884: was secretary to Bishop Williams of Connecticut, 1882-85 ; school commissioner in Rensselaer county, N.Y., 1885- 87 ; U.S. consul at Aix-la-Chapelle, Germany, 1888-90 ; inspector of academies, University of tlie State of New York, 1891 ; of teachers' train- ing classes. New York department of public instruction, 1892 ; director of examinations. Uni- versity of the State of New York, 1892-97 ; director of high school and college departments from 1898, and secretary of the university from 1900. He was married, Feb., 18, 1896. to Frances Theodora (Smith) Dana (q.v.). Trinity gave him the degree LL.D. in 1902. He is the author of : Prussian Schools through American Eyes (1891); Academic Syllabus ; or, Outlines of Work for New York Secondary Schools (1891); French Schools through American Eyes (1892); Revised Academic Syllabus (1895) ; Professional Educa- tion in the United States (1900).

PARSONS, Lewis Eliphalet, governor of Alabama, was born in Broome county, N.Y., April 28, 1817. He was a great-grandson of Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758). He studied law under Frederick Tallmadge of New York, and G. W. Woodward of Pennsylvania, settled in practice in Talladega, Ala., in 1840, and in 1841 associated himself with Alexander White. He was a presi- dential elector on the Fillmore and Donelson ticket in 1856, and representative in the Ala- bama legislature in 1859. Hei'; was a delegate to the Demo- \ cratic national convention at Charleston, S.C., and Balti- more, Md., in 1860, and a rep- resentative in the state legislature in 1863. where he opposed the militia system of the state, as the Confederate government had full power of con- scription. He was appointed provisional governor of Alabama by President Johnson, June 21, 1865, and devoted himself to the work of reconstruc- tion until Dec. 20, 1865, when he was elected to the U.S. senate ; but not being allowed to take his seat, he resumed the practice of law. He served several terms as a representative in the state legislature, and was speaker of the house in 1872. He died in Talladega, Ala., June 8, 1895.

PARSONS, Mosby Monroe, soldier, was born in Charlottesville, Va., May 21 , 1822. He removed to Cooper county, Mo., with liis parents, in 1835, and subsequently settled in Jefferson City. He completed his education in St. Charles college, and was admitted to the Missouri bar in 1846. He practised in Jefferson City, and at the out- break of the Mexican war raised a company ; joined the regiment of General Doniphan, and served under General Kearny in New Mexico, receiving honorable mention for his conduct at