Joseph Parsons

Abt 1647 - 1729  (~ 82 years)

• Name	Joseph Parsons  [1]
  Birth	Abt 1647	Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts   [2, 3, 4]
  Gender	Male
  Death	21 Nov 1729	Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts   [2, 3, 5, 6]
  Alternate death	29 Nov 1729	Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts   [3]
  Burial	Bridge Street Cemetery, Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts   [3]
  Siblings	1 sibling
  + 1. Joseph Parsons ,   b. Abt 1647, Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts d. 21 Nov 1729, Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts  (Age ~ 82 years) ▻ Elizabeth Strong ,  m. 17 Mar 1669 + 2. Mary Parsons ,   b. 27 Jun 1661, Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts d. 23 Aug 1711, Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts  (Age 50 years) ▻ Joseph Ashley ,  m. 15 Oct 1685
  Person ID	I9587	Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others | Ancestor of TNH
  Last Modified	26 Dec 2015

  
  

  Father	"Cornet" Joseph Parsons,   b. Bef 25 Jun 1620, Beaminster, Dorset, England d. 9 Oct 1683, Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts (Age > 63 years)
  Mother	Mary Bliss,   b. Abt 1628, Gloucestershire, England d. 29 Jan 1712, Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts (Age ~ 84 years)
  Marriage	26 Nov 1646	Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut   [2, 3, 4, 7, 8]
  Family ID	F1468	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Elizabeth Strong,   b. 24 Feb 1648, Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut d. 11 May 1736, Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts (Age 88 years)
  Marriage	17 Mar 1669	Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts   [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
  Children	+ 1. Josiah Parsons,   b. 2 Jan 1681, Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts d. 12 Apr 1768, Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts (Age 87 years) + 2. Abigail Parsons,   b. 1 Jan 1690, Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts d. 17 Aug 1763, Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts (Age 73 years)
  Family ID	F339	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	26 Dec 2015

  
  

• Notes

  "Elizabeth's husband was a fur trader, lawyer, first judge of Hampshire County Court, and a founder of Northampton, MA." [Freeman" target="_blank">http://kinnexions.com/smlawson/index.htm">Freeman Family Lines, from the files of Stephen M. Lawson (via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine)] From the Wikipedia article about Joseph Parsons, Jr.: "Joseph Parsons, Jr. (1647-1729) was an early settler and prominent colonial leader in Northampton, Massachusetts. [...] "Parsons, Jr. was involved in several business enterprises in and around Northampton, including grist mills, sawmills, and iron. He later became active in politics; in 1696, he was commissioned as one of the four judges on the Hampshire County Court of Common Pleas, which at the time included all of Western Massachusetts. He served in this capacity until 1719. Parsons, Jr. also served as a representative in the Massachusetts General Court; he represented Springfield in 1706 and 1708, and Northampton from 1711-1715, 1717, 1721, and 1724. In addition, he held several other minor offices; in 1700, he was appointed as the first town moderator in Northampton history, and he also served as justice of the peace for a number of years. "Throughout most of Parson, Jr.'s life in Northampton, Solomon Stoddard was the pastor of the church. However, by 1725 Stoddard was 82 years old and unable to fulfill all of his pastoral duties alone. So, the town voted seven members onto a committee to find a suitable candidate to assist, and upon Stoddard's death, replace him as pastor. Joseph Parsons, Jr. was one of the members of this pastoral search committee, which ultimately chose Jonathan Edwards, whose tenure as pastor would lead to the Great Awakening." It's not mentioned in the Wikipedia article, but Joseph Parsons and Elizabeth Strong were also ancestors of early Caltech rocket scientist, JPL co-founder, and Aleister Crowley disciple Marvel Whiteside "Jack" Parsons (1914-1952), famous for having (1) welcomed the pre-Scientology L. Ron Hubbard into his life, (2) having his wife, yacht, and savings stolen by Hubbard, and (3) later dying as the result of a chemical explosion in his garage.

  
  

• Sources

  [S101] The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, Volumes 1-3 and The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volumes 1-7, by Robert Charles Anderson. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1996-2011. [S256] The Parsons Family: Descendants of Cornet Joseph Parsons by Gerald James Parsons. Baltimore: Gateway Press, 1984. [S682] Gerald James Parsons, "The Early Parsons Families of the Connecticut River Valley." The New England Historical and Genealogical Register 148:215, July 1994. [S899] The Mary Bliss Parsons Trial, website developed by Historic Northampton and the Center for Computer Based Instructional Technology (now the UMass IT Center for Educational Software Development [CESD]) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. [S390] Freeman" target="_blank">http://kinnexions.com/smlawson/index.htm">Freeman Family Lines, from the files of Stephen M. Lawson (via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine). [S899] The Mary Bliss Parsons Trial, website developed by Historic Northampton and the Center for Computer Based Instructional Technology (now the UMass IT Center for Educational Software Development [CESD]) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst., month, year, and place only. [S387] Hale, House and Related Families, Mainly of the Connecticut River Valley by Donald Lines Jacobus and Edgar Francis Waterman. Hartford, Connecticut: Connecticut Historical Society, 1952. [S3270] Anne Selene Bennett, "The First Wife and Older Children of Thomas Bliss of Gloucester, England, and Hartford, Connecticut." The American Genealogist 91:43, Jan 2019.