Person:Joseph Parsons (13)

BIOGRAPHY

According to the Beaminster town Historian (Marie Eedle) nothing is known of Joseph's father (William Parsons) before he showed up in town about the same time a woolen mill was opened nearby. Family tradition indicates that William came from Great Torrington or Tiverton, Devonshire, about 63 miles to the east. However there are no records to support this assumption. In those days, people did not generally travel long distances. Joseph's mother (Margaret Hoskins) was born in Beaminster, about 1584, her parents were Robert and Margaret Hoskins. Joseph's parents both died in Beaminster. According to Henry Parsons^[3] at the apparent age of about 15 or 17, Joseph and his younger brother (Benjamin) immigrated to the America from England in July of 1635, aboard the Barque Transport (Edward Walker, Master) out of Gravesend, Kent, England [NOTE: That ship went to Virginia; nothing connects that Jo. Parsons with Cornet Joseph Parsons of Springfield and Northampton (see NEHGR 3:389)]. 1636 The first record of Joseph Parsons being in America was on the 15th of July 1636 in New England, he was a witness to a land deal between the local Indians and William Pynchon. 1646 first official public office on the 8th of January 1646 was Highway surveyor of Springfield Massachusetts. Married Mary Bliss on the 26th of Nov 1646 through the years they had 13 children, that we know of, 8 boys, and 5 girls. Official records of note occur in the following years in Springfield 1647,1650,1652,1653 moved to Northampton 1654,and each year to,1660 Joseph owned 81 acres of land in addition to the 4 acres that his house was on.1661 thru,1670-71-72-73-77-1682-1683 Joseph died in Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts on the 9th of October 1683. An abstract from the register of the New Hampshire Society of Colonial Wars states. "Parsons, Cornet Joseph,1618-1683 Member of Capt. John Pynchon's Hampshire county troop, King Philip's War,1672-1678,appointed Cornet Hampshire troop Oct 7,1678,member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery of Boston,1679,served in the French and Indian Wars, Colony of Massachusetts Bay"

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Parsons, Gerald James. Were Joseph and Benjamin Parsons and David Wilton of Beaminster, Dorset, England, the New England Colonists?. New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Apr 1989)
   143:115.

   "Joseph¹ (Parsons), bp. (St. Mary's, Beaminster, Dorset) 25 June 1620; probably Cornet Joseph Parsons who witnessed the Springfield Indian deed 15 July 1636; d. at Springfield 9 Oct. 1683 (SVRs 1:184; Pynchon, 76); …"

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Parsons, Gerald James. The Early Parsons Families of the Connecticut River Valley. New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Jul, Oct 1994; Jan 1995; Apr 1996)
   148:216-22.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6} Joseph Parsons, in Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1860-1862)
   3:363.

   "Joseph (Parsons), Springfield, br. of the first Benjamin, witness to the deed from the Ind. to Pynchon, 15 July 1636, m. 26 Nov. 1646, Mary, d. of Thomas Bliss of Hartford, had Joseph, b. 1647; Benjamin, bur. 22 June 1649; John, 1649, d. soon; John, again 1650; and Samuel, 1653; rem. to Northampton, there had Ebenezer, 1 May 1655, who is said to be the first white b. there, and was k. by the Ind. at Northfield, 2 Sept. 1675; Jonathan, 6 June 1657; David, 30 Apr. 1659, d. young; Mary, 27 June 1661; Hannah, 1663; Abigail, 3 Sept. 1666; and Esther, 24 Dec. 1672. His w. charg. with witchcraft 1674, was sent to Boston, tr. in May 1675, and acquit. by the jury, liv. to 29 Jan. 1712. He was freem. 1669, cornet of the horse, one of the richest men in the town, rem. 1679 back to Springfield, and d. 9 Oct. 1683. Mary m. 1685, Joseph Ashley, and, next, 2 Mar. 1699, Joseph Williston; Hannah m. 6 Jan. 1688, Pelatiah Glover, jr. not his f. (as the Geneal. Reg. I. 266, says); Abigail m. 29 Feb. 1690, John Colton; and Esther m. 15 Sept. 1698, Rev. Joseph Smith, aft. of Middletown."

4.   Parsons, Henry. Parsons Family: Descendants of Cornet Joseph Parsons, Springfield 1636-Northampton 1655. (New York; New Haven: Frank Allaben; The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Co., 1912; 1920)
   1:39-49.

   Henry Parsons' lengthy sketch of Cornet Joseph¹ Parsons in Vol. 1 is, for the most part, not repeated in Vol. 2.

5.   Parsons, Henry. Parsons Family: Descendants of Cornet Joseph Parsons, Springfield 1636-Northampton 1655. (New York; New Haven: Frank Allaben; The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Co., 1912; 1920)
   2:3-6.
6.   Burt, Henry M. (Henry Martyn), and Albert Ross Parsons. Cornet Joseph Parsons, One of the Founders of Springfield and Northampton, Massachusetts: Springfield, 1636; Northampton, 1655. An Historical Sketch from Original Sources, viz., Town, County, Court and Private Records. (Garden City, Long Island: Albert Ross Parsons, 1901).
7.   Stott, Clifford L. Vital Records of Springfield, Massachusetts to 1850. (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2002)
   2:1691.

   "Cornet Joseph Parsons was Sicke & died: octob^r. 9^th 1683:"