Whiteside County IL Archives Biographies.....Parnham, John C 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00003.html#0000719 January 31, 2008, 2:59 am

Author: Portrait/Bio Album, Whiteside County IL 1885

John C. Parnham, farmer, section 27, Ustick Township, is the son of John and 
Mary (Craven) Parnham, whose family comprised six children, five of whom were 
younger than the subject of this sketch. They were born in the order in which 
their names are here given: Elizabeth, Sarah, Ann (1st), Charles and Ann (2d). 
The fourth child is dead. Mr. Parnham was born in England, where his parents 
passed their entire lives. His birth occurred Nov. 11, 1836, and he was 19 
years of age when he came from his native country to the United States. He 
located in Lyndon Township, Whiteside Co., where he rented farms until 1867, 
the year in which he removed to 200 acres which he had purchased in Ustick 
Township, and where he fixed his homestead. He was married in Lyndon Township 
to the widow of Alfred Parnham, Mrs. Jane (Ridley) Parnham. Her first husband 
died June 5, 1860, from injuries received in the tornado of June 3, two days 
before. The house in which the family lived was torn to atoms by the fearful 
storm which crossed from Iowa and struck the western side of Whiteside County, 
just at evening on Sunday, June 3, 1860. The two children—Charles and William 
A.—were in bed, and after the storm had passed the first child was found dead 
some distance from the house. Mrs. Parnham was born June 25, 1833, in England, 
and is the daughter of John and Elizabeth (Rush) Ridley, whose family included 
six children. The brothers and sister of Mrs. Parnham are John R., Joseph, 
Matthew, Charles and Elizabeth. By her second marriage Mrs. Parnham has three 
children—Lydia A., Katie M. and Gertie A. She and her husband belong to the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Parnham is a Prohibitionist in temperance 
principle. He has always been a Republican, and is now serving his third year 
as Road Commissioner.

Additional Comments:
Portrait and Biographical Album of Whiteside County, Illinois, Containing Full-
page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative 
Citizens of the County. Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1885.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/whiteside/bios/parnham2327nbs.txt

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