The name of PARSONS is found among the earliest emigrants to New
England, and it designated a family of high respectability in the
parent country. As early as 1481, John Parsons was Mayor of Hereford in
the county of Herefordshire, and Sir Thomas Parsons of Great Milton,
from one branch of the family, received the honor of knighthood from
Charles I., about the year 1634, and his descendants are still found
at Great Milton and in the city of London. The Coat of Arms granted to
Sir Thomas is thus described: "He beareth gules, two chevrons ermine,
between three eagles displayed, or;" Crest: "an eagle's leg erased at
the thigh, or, standing on a leopard's head, gules."
These armorial bearings are retained in the Parsons Family in the
United States, and by the descendants of Sir Thomas in London, among
whom were Sir John and Sir Humphrey Parsons, the former Lord Mayor of
London in 1704, and the latter in 1731 and 1740; also by the branch of
the family that settled in Barbadoes, of which Rev. John Parsons, M.
A., of Beybrook House in the county of Gloucester, Vicar of Marden,
county of Wilts, is a descendant, being the son of Daniel Parsons, M.
D., of Barbadoes.
ENOCH PARSONS, ESQ., of Hartford, Ct., the particular subject of this
memoir, was born at Lyme, Ct., Nov. 5, 1769. He was the third son of
Samuel Holden Parsons, an Aid to General Washington, a Major-General in
the Revolutionary army, and subsequently, Chief-Justice of the North
Western Territory. Mr. Parsons was also grandson of the Rev. Jonathan
Parsons, a distinguished clergyman first of Lyme, Ct., and secondly of
Newburyport, Ms. His mother, who was a daughter of Richard Mather of
Lyme, was lineally descended from the Rev. Richard Mather, the first
clergyman of Dorchester, Ms., ancestor of the Rev. Messrs. Increase and
Cotton Mather of Boston. His grandmother was sister to the Hon. Matthew
Griswold of Lyme, formerly Governor of the State, and was lineally
descended from Henry Wolcott, 1st, of Windsor, the progenitor of all
who bear that name in Connecticut.[T]
Mr. Parsons was distinguished in youth for mental vigor and accurate
discrimination, and for his devotedness to the more abstruse and severe
sciences, particularly the mathematics. This laid the foundation of
his future eminence as a financier. He did not receive a collegiate
education, but his academical course pursued at the Institutions at
Pomfret and Plainfield, was extensive and thorough. His favorite
studies naturally inclined him to commercial pursuits; and to qualify
himself for these, he engaged in the year 1785 and 1786, in the
service of Messrs. Broome and Platt, who, at that time, owned a great
commercial house in New Haven, where he acquired a complete mercantile
education. His proficiency and accuracy as an accountant soon brought
him into notice, and in the year 1787 he was employed by the late Gov.
Oliver Wolcott, Jun., who was at that time State Auditor of accounts,
to arrange and prepare for adjustment the Revolutionary claims of
Connecticut upon the United States. This was an arduous task for a
young man, requiring great methodical accuracy and precision, and it
was performed with ability and acceptance.
But Mr. Parsons was not confined to his favorite pursuits; he had a
thirst for knowledge generally, and improved every opportunity for
research in the various departments of science and the arts with a
proportionate zeal and accuracy. Evidences of this are furnished in a
Journal[U] which he, at the age of only nineteen, kept while on a tour
to the North Western Territory during the spring and summer of 1788, in
company with his father, who was about that time appointed by President
Washington Chief-Judge in and over the Territory, which included the
States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan. The geology of the
country, the customs, manners, and language of the native sons of the
forest, are described and commented upon with a minuteness and vivacity
interesting alike to the geologist, the antiquary, and the philosopher.
He was, we believe, one of the original investigators of the tumuli
at Marietta, the first and at that time the only settlement of
importance in that region of country. A description of one of these
remarkable mounds, excavated and explored by him, he communicated in
1789 to President Stiles of Yale College, and is preserved among his
manuscripts in the College Library.
May 14, 1789, Mr. Parsons was appointed by Gov. Arthur St. Clair,
Register and Clerk of the first Probate Record Office, established in
the county of Washington, which was the first county erected north-west
of the river Ohio. He there remained, faithfully discharging the
duties of this appointment, until April, 1790, when he resigned and
returned to Middletown, Ct., his family residence, and was appointed
by the General Assembly of the State at their ensuing session, in May,
High Sheriff of Middlesex County. This office he accepted, being then
only twenty-one years of age; and he continued to perform its duties
with fidelity and public acceptance, till he attained the age of 49,
a period of _twenty-eight_ years; when he was compelled by ill health
and various imperative avocations, to relinquish its fatigues and
solicitude.
During the period of his official duties as Sheriff, Mr. Parsons was
also actively engaged in various other public avocations, and in
mercantile business. He was called to preside over different local
institutions and organizations in the place where he resided; acted
a while as Secretary to an Insurance Company, and was repeatedly
elected an Alderman of the city of Middletown, and Representative
in the General Assembly of the State. He was also presented by his
Congressional friends as a rival candidate of the late President
Harrison in the year 1791 for the office of Secretary and ex-officio
Lieut. Governor of the N. W. Territory, but he declined the nomination.
He likewise declined the honor, though repeatedly solicited, to
represent his fellow-citizens in the councils of the nation. His own
private affairs too much required his attention to permit him to engage
in this high trust.
In the year 1816, when the late Bank of the United States was
incorporated, Mr. Parsons, believing that the establishment of
a Branch in Connecticut, (by many deemed impracticable,) would
materially promote the commercial interests of its citizens, visited
Philadelphia in company with other gentlemen, with a view to this
object. By the most persevering efforts, and through his active and
efficient influence and exertion, a Branch was located in Connecticut
at Middletown. He was chosen a Director of the institution immediately
upon its organization, and continued in the direction during the
existence of the Charter.
In 1818 he was elected President of the Connecticut Branch, on the
resignation of the Hon. Samuel W. Dana, then a Senator in Congress;
and was annually elected, until it was transferred from Middletown to
Hartford, in the spring of 1824. Having removed thither himself about
the same time, he was re-elected, and continued to preside over the
institution with acknowledged impartiality, ability, and firmness, and
the most unflinching integrity, during the operations of the Branch in
Connecticut, and until the expiration of the Charter.
Though educated a merchant and eminent as a financier, Mr. Parsons
was also a sound _lawyer_; not by profession or practice, but by the
acquisition of the requisite legal knowledge. The office of Sheriff,
when he was called to fill it, was one of honor as well as profit.
Its incumbent was the companion of the Judges. He attended at their
"chambers" as well as in the "court-room." He listened to, and
participated in, their deliberations and discussions. Thus Mr. Parsons
breathed a legal atmosphere. Being by his official duties, through
a period of _twenty-eight_ years, in familiar intercourse with the
_Bench_ and the _Bar_, and having read the best elementary writers,
endowed, as he was, with a remarkably retentive memory and a logical
and inquisitive mind, it is not surprising that he retained to the
close of life the principles and maxims of jurisprudence thus deeply
implanted. Though not a member of the Bar, his opinions on elementary
points were seldom questioned.
Mr. Parsons wrote some, but reflected more. His published writings are
few and chiefly _political_. His unpublished manuscripts are numerous
and mostly in an _epistolary_ form, relating principally to the subject
of _finance_.
In all the relations of domestic and social life, Mr. Parsons was
beloved and respected. He was twice married, and left three children
by the first marriage, and one by the second; two only of whom survive
him; namely, one residing in Hartford, Ct., Samuel H. Parsons, Esq.,
and one in the State of Ohio. In these relations, he was ever the
generous and affectionate husband, and the kind and faithful parent.
His habits and feelings were social and communicative; and in his
intercourse with his fellow-men, dignity was seen blended with the
utmost courtesy and kindness. He was a true gentleman of the olden
school, and every son of New England will understand what this means.
His personal appearance was dignified and commanding. His stature large
and well-proportioned; high forehead and bald, with dark blue eye, and
a countenance indicative of his mental characteristics of thought,
deliberation and energy, blended with mildness.
Mr. Parsons was a firm believer in the Christian religion. He adopted
the principles of the gospel as the standard of human action; and
frequently remarked, that through life he had made it an invariable
rule never to close his eyes in sleep without first communing with his
God.
About a year previous to the close of his interesting life, his system
became generally debilitated, and during the last three or four months
he was unable to leave the house. He expressed himself perfectly
resigned to the will of Heaven, and gradually sunk into a lethargy,
which continued until the morning of July 9, 1846, when he slept in
death, in the 77th year of his age.