OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: Gen. Parsons [1]
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Darlene E. Kelley
http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374
June 27, 1999
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Historical Collections of Ohio
The Kelley Family Collections
Newspaper article, Plains Dealer
compiled by S.J. Kelley-- 1925
And Then They Went West
by Darlene E. Kelley  1998
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Part 1-- First Owner on
the Western Reserve--

Gen. Parsons--

    Samuel Holden Parsons, prominent in the affairs of the Western
Reserve, 10 years before the coming of Moses Cleaveland, was one of the
most stable, yet picturesque characters in the history of the tract, in
a forgotten period of real pioneers, frontiersmen, backwoodsman, remote
settlements, winding forest streams, Indian fights, block-houses, and
scalping forays.  For, four years, he was a leading figure in settling
Ohio lands and in opening the Northern Territory.  Over two years of the
time was spent in the territory and part of it on the Reserve. In the
whole period of his connections with the western settlements, he
returned once to his New England home and visited an eastern city.
     Married into the ancestral family of the Cleveland Mathers, he
became interested in Connecticut's western tract, explored it and with
associates was the first purchaser within its boundaries. He is credited
with plotting a section of a township of the site of this city, a decade
before Cleaveland's survey. All of this was after becoming a successful
lawyer and a long career in the Revolutionary Army, in which he rose to
high rank, taking part in the important engagements around Boston and
New York. His resignation from the Continental Army at the close of the
war was followed by a legislative career, then by apointment as a
commissioner to extinguish Indians titiles north of the Ohio River, and
this in turn by a lawmaking and lawgiving position in the lately created
territory of the northwest. Becoming a resident and an extensive land
owner, the last period of his life, as eventful as any, was spent on the
Western Reserve, and no one is more identified with the history of the
Cleveland region.

Early History--

    Gen. Parsons was born in Lyme, Conn., May 14, 1737, a son of Rev.
Johathon and Phebe Griswold Parsons. Rev. Mr. Parsons, a Congregational
Minister, was decended from Benjamin Parsons, who came from England and
settled in Springfield, Mass., about 1651. Entering Harvard College at
15, Samuel Parsons graduated in 1756, and received his degrees.
Studying law with his uncle Mathew Griswold, Governor of Connecticut, he
was admitted to the bar at 22. Among his classmates at college were John
Hancock, signer of the Declaration of Independence, Johnathan Trumbull,
was Governor of Connecticut, and John Adams, second President of the
United States, with whom he long corresponded.
    In 1761, at 24, he married Mehitable Mather, a lineal descendant of
the first Richard Mather, who came from England. A year later, he was
elected to the Colony Assembly and continued in office for 12 years;
meanwhile he was appointed an auditor for Connecticut.  In 1773, he
became familiar with the colony's Western lands through an appointment
on a committee with other leading men, to protect its claims. They were
authorized to send a delegation of three, to Philadelphia and treat with
Gov. Penn regarding the interferring boundries of their colony with the
"province of Pennsylvania."
     Concerned in all the events leading to the Revolution, on May
1,1775, he was made Colonel of the Sixth Regiment of New London.  Swept
into the war, he became commander of different regiments, and was never
again to resume the practice of his profession.  At the capture of Fort
Ticonderoga and the Battle of Bunker Hill, he was detailed to assist
Washington in the attack on Trenton. With his troops, he took part in
all engagements connected with Howe's capture of New York and commanded
them at the Battle of White Plains. In 1777, he organized Connecticut's
eight regiments of the line.  In 1778, he was in command at West Point,
with orders to complete the fortifications.  Early in 1779, he commanded
New London's detachment of Continental troops and militia, protecting
the town. Again Commander at West Point, he was appointed by Washington,
one of the 13 Major and Brigadier Generals to try Maj. Andre. Congress
made him a Major General , Oct. 23, 1872.
     At 45, Gen. Parsons could look back to leading career in the
Revoluntionary War. An officer from the Lexington Alarm, he served in
important engagements for seven years.  Encamped with Washington at
White Plains and Morristown, one of his generals and trusted advisor
throughout the war, a friend of Lafayette, he was to enter another
career in the western wilderness, travel miles of forest to treat with
savage tribes and meet a lonely end in navigating one of Ohio's historic
streams.
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Continued--