John W. Parsons, M.D. of Rye and Portsmouth, NH Biography from A History of Rockingham County, New Hampshire (1915)

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Source: A History of Rockingham County, New Hampshire and Representative Citizens
         by Charles A. Hazlett, Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., Chicago, Ill, 1915

Portrait of John W. Parsons on page 1065

Page 1067

JOHN W. PARSONS, M. D., who at the time of his death, February 28,
1912, was the oldest practicing physician in Portsmouth, N. H., was born
in Rye, N. H., August 1, 1841, a son of Col. Thomas Jefferson and Eliza
(Brown) Parsons, and a grandson of Dr. John Wilkes Parsons, prominent
among the earlier physicians of Rye, N. H.
   Col. Thomas J. Parsons, the father of John W. Parsons, was adjutant
of the Thirty-fifth Regiment in the old New Hampshire militia, and lieuten-
ant-colonel of the First Regiment in 1836, being also an aide-de-camp of
Gen. Isaac Hill.
   John W. Parsons attended the public schools of Rye, Hampton Falls
Academy, Pembroke Academy, Franklin Academy, was at Phillips Exeter
Academy three years, and took a scientific course of one year at Norwich
University, Vermont.  He began the study of medicine in 1861 in Dover,
N. H., with Levi G. Hill, M. D.; attended one course of lectures in Dart-
mouth Medical College, 1862, and took a course in practical anatomy there
in 1863.  He also attended two courses of lectures and summer school at the
Medical School of Harvard University, receiving the degree of M. D. there-
from in March, 1865, and took a special course in gynecology at Boston,
under Horatio R. Storer, M. D., in 1867.
   Dr. Parsons was commissioned assistant surgeon of the Twenty-fourth
Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in April, 1865, and was mustered out of
service in January, 1866.
   He settled in Portsmouth, N. H., on his birthday, August 1, 1866, and
continued the practice of medicine here until his death.  He was an able and
successful physician and surgeon, widely recognized as an authority on med-
ical matters, and no less esteemed as a citizen.  Few men were more generally
beloved.
   During his long and active life Dr. Parsons served in various important
positions with high credit.  He was for more than thirty years president of
the board of trustees of the Chase Home for Children.  He was a trustee of
the Portsmouth Hospital and a member of the board of directors of the
Portsmouth Athenaeum.  He served for many years as justice of the peace,
and in 1876 was appointed, by the governor, auditor of the New Hampshire
Asylum for the Insane.
   He held many prominent positions in his profession, being long an active
and influential member of the American Medical Association.  He was a
member of the New Hampshire Medical Society for forty-five years, serving
on its board of trustees twenty-two years and on its board of censors fifteen

Page 1068 

years, and as president in 1884.  He was a member of the Strafford District
Medical Society and served as its president in 1885-86, and also several terms
-1884, 1889 and 1891-as president of the Portsmouth Medical Association.
   He was a member of the Harvard Medical Alumni Association; an hon-
orary member of the Medical Society of the State of California; a member
of the Grand Army of the Republic; a member of the Ancient, Free and
Accepted Masons; a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of
the United States, Massachusetts Commandery, and a member of the Sons
of the Revolution.  Dr. Parsons was examining surgeon for pensions from
1885 to 1889 inclusive.  In religion he was a Unitarian, belonging to the
church of that denomination in Portsmouth.
   The death of this useful and prominent citizen caused widespread sorrow
throughout the city and wherever his character was known and appreciated.
His remains were laid to rest in the South Cemetery.  The following addi-
tional tribute to his memory is copied from the "Transactions of the New
Hampshire Medical Society, 1912":
   "During his long career in Portsmouth, Dr. Parsons became a notable
figure in the best life of the town.  He was a man who commanded, first
respect, and afterwards affection.  Nobody who knew him could help honor-
ing him for his qualities of character.  He possessed the virtues which claim
the respect and admiration of intelligent people-straight-forwardness and
integrity, frankness of speech, entire and even self-sacrificing devotion to
the duties of his profession, and the most absolute freedom from any sort
of pretension.  He was what he appeared to be-a perfectly upright, sincere,
high-minded physician, of whose faithfulness and devotion, those who came
to him could feel absolutely sure.  In the resolution passed upon his death
by the Portsmouth Medical Association, his brother physicians said of him:
'We desire to go on record as admiring his unswerving honesty, his inflexible
purity of purpose, his steadfastness for the right, his skill and judgment as a
physician, his ever-ready counsel in time of perplexity, and we believe that
his unique position in the community will never be filled.'"
   Dr. Parsons was married February 12, 1873, to Mary Augusta, a daugh-
ter of the late Capt. Ebenezer G. Adams, a sea captain, formerly of Ports-
mouth, N. H.  Mrs. Parsons survives her husband.