William Parsons Jr. (abt. 1709)

Descendants

Died [date unknown] in Colony of Virginia

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Nathan Ritter [send private message]

Biography

Do feel free to post comments on the G2G post

(Silva-1055 22:55, 30 April 2019 (UTC))

Conflated Profile

There is a lot of conflicting information which makes it difficult to establish actual identity of this person. Having said that, I believe that the information originally added to this profile pertains to another William Parsons (who was the first citizen of Easton, Pennsylvania), not THIS William Parsons. I have not been able to establish any connection between this William Parsons and the Easton, PA founder, who was related to the Sproegel and Zeidig families. According to Shawnee Heritage vi by Don Greene, this William was actually William Parsons III (b. 1725 PA, d. 1778) and that his father was William Parsons, Jr. (1700 PA-1757 in NJ) and his mother was an Unknown Lenape (Native American).

Since this book also claims that William Parson's wife was Martha Hughes and that Martha's parents were Jane Foulkes (probably misspelled -- should be Foulke) and Ellis Hughes, which I have established is incorrect, I question everything, including the Native American connection. Can anyone help with this?

For excerpts from book, see Shawnee Heritage IX on Google Books.

Robert Babin

Note: This is a conflated profile that contained information on additional generations that added to the confusion. These sources all need to be carefully examined to weed out which belong to the William this profile was made for. That data is visible in Edit mode only. (Silva-1055 22:50, 30 April 2019 (UTC))

Questionable Wives

Amidst the general confusion on which records belong to 'this' William Parsons four wives were attributed to him (one with no name). Until such time that any of them can be proven to be his spouse I have disconnected them. Although Garturett is the most commonly stated wife, she has been disconnected as well until valid sources are found. Note: she was also attached as the wife of her son Charles.(Silva-1055 11:38, 1 May 2019 (UTC))

Wives:

1. Garturett (Lauray) Parsons m 6 Jan 1733 in Queen Anne's County, Maryland
2. Martha (Hughes) Parsons m 5 Dec 1744 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia Co., PA
3. Elsie (Lowther) Parsons m before 1769 [location unknown]
4. third wife m after 1797 [location unknown]

Surname Origins

In England, in the year 1400, lived one John Parr, who had twelve sons born to him, and as these sons grew to manhood, they became known as 'Parr's sons.' This name spelled Parrssons, until the beginning of the last century when some of the middle letters were dropped, leaving the name as it is today.^[1]

Research Notes

This is the correct Parsons:

William Parsons

1709-1778 (Note Removed death date and birth place for now as they haven't been cofirmed.)

Born: Leyton, Essex, England

Died: Lewis County, Virginia (now West Virginia) or Harrison Twp, Charles County, Virginia

Life Story

Birth 1709 Leyton, Essex, England

Arrival 1723 Annapolis, Maryland

Arrival 1723 Colony of Maryland

Marriage 1733 Queen Anne's County, Maryland, USA

Posted by historiccook

Death 1778 Lewis County, Virginia (now West Virginia) or

Harrison Twp, Charles County, Virginia, USA

This is incorrect: (Note: The Will of William Parsons, husband of Johanna Zeidig, bequeaths money to his sisters Mary and Sarah, his son-in-law James Worrell, money to decorate the tombstones of his three children Robert, Susannah and Hannah, to his niece Elizabeth Cumins, to his wife with her portion going to the three living children Molly, Grace and Sallie after her death.)

Family Members

Father William Parsons 1699-1757

Mother Johanna Christine Zedig 1699-1773

Looking at the above, the children are incorrect also

1. William parsons 1725-1778
2. Ann Mary Parsons -1759
3. Hannah Parsons -1753
4. Robert Parsons -1757
5. Johanna Grace Parsons 1736-
6. Juliana Sarah Parsons 1738-1808
7. Johanna Solome Parsons 1759-1769

These should be Robert, Susannah "Susan", Molly, Robert, Johanna "Hanna", Grace and Julianna Sarah "Sally"

Is this his true family?

Wife Garturett Lauray 1709-1741

Daughter Johanna Grace Parsons 1736- (No, see above)

Son William Parsons 1737-1741

Daughter Juliana Sarah Parsons 1738- (No - see above)

Son Thomas C Parsons 1740-1837

Married 1744 2nd wife after 1st wife death in 1741

Wife Martha Hughes 1724-

Son Charles Parsons 1745-1823

Son Joseph Parsons 1755-1835

Questions

• Did THIS William Parsons travel from England to Maryland?
• If so, did he migrate to Virginia? What proof of this is there?
• Is the above list of children correct?
• What is the closest generation that is correct? His child?
• Where did the additional information come from about son Charles? According to that Charles was the son of William Parsons that came from Prussia (not England) about 1725. That Charles was born in Maryland.
• Why is this profile being compared to William Parsons III in the Shawnee Heritage book when that family spent time in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, while this William Parsons was supposed to be England, Possibly Maryland, and Virginia? William Parsons is a common name (like America's John Smith) and the records can easily be commingled (or appear to be so).

Sources

1. ↑ MacCabe, Virginia Parsons. Parsons Family History and Record, (Decatur: Charles W Nickey, 1913), np.

See Also:

• Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 30 April 2019), memorial page for William H. Parsons (unknown–unknown), Find A Grave: Memorial #47217268, citing Childress Cemetery, Kanawha County, West Virginia, USA ; Maintained by Robert Fitch (contributor 47143037) .
• UK Ancestry profile This information comes from one or more individual Ancestry Family Tree files.
• UK Ancestry profile This information comes from one or more individual Ancestry Family Tree files.

Acknowledgements

• WikiTree profile Parsons-1554 created through the import of GerkeFam.ged on Jun 14, 2012 by Matthew Gerke. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Matthew and others.