How many wives did William Parsons have?

Question

This William Parsons has become a combination of several Williams that lived in the same time. So how many wives did William actually have? I truly don't know - but it wasn't four.

Can anyone shed light on this man's life?

Comments

Note the marriage date on the 'third wife'

Answer 1

Does this profile need input from the England Project to confirm whether the Essex born William actually left England?

Comments

I cannot find any record for a William Parsons born in Essex in 1707-1711.  Quite a lot born in England, but not in Essex.

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Thanks Stephen

I think this person needs a source confirming his emigration before any English birth is worth investigating further.

Currently not enough information about who exactly this person was from the later records.

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Looking at the data out there I have a feeling he may be more than one person.  It's not hard to imagine two William Parsons in the Virginia Pennsylvania Maryland area in that time frame.

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I'm not sure that 'this' William actually came from England. The member that created it has been inactive for years. I believe that Charles Parsons is the last 'proven' ancestor on that line and he was born in Maryland. That profile has issues also as he is married to Garturett (Lauray) Parsons and so is his father. 

WikiTree has a William Parsons b 1699 England and died there. Another William Parsons was born 1700 in England, death info unknown. A third William Parsons (aside from the one above) is William Parsons b 1698 unknown, married and died in England. I may need to create an additional William Parsons to cover the 'incorrect' William listed on the above profile. 

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The Parsons book listed in the sources is online.  It has William as the father of Charles and Thomas.  In one place it says he came from Prussia via Holland and in another it says he clearly has English roots. I'd say the latter was more likely.  But based on that book all of the wives are missattributed to him.  I would say there is a case for stripping this back to what can be proven, which is probably not too much.  

Like all of us with early American forebears we have to be really careful not to embellish.  Sometimes the gaps just have to remain as unknowns, frustrating though that is.

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I saw that. Most of the information on the (originally lengthy) profile was about 'Charles' but it seemed useless to move it as there was conflicting information on him as well. I agree, the wives still need to be disconnected. I'll do that now and link them in the biography.

I would rather have little information on William's profile than a lot of incorrect or dubious information.

Answer 2

I think the appropriate question might be: how many William Parsons were there in Virginia in the 18th Century?

Comments

You're right Stephen as there was definitely more than one. Unfortunately I don't know enough about this family line to determine which is which.

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This profile was discovered by a team member during the Clean-a-Thon. I'm hoping to clear some of the questions up. Any and all help is appreciated!

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There are two Williams I think you are concerned with.  I call the first one William Sr. although he was technically a jr.  His son you will see they call him either the III or Jr.  William Sr. was born circa 1701 and migrated from England.  Family spoke of a Hessian soldier that supported the Americans. Possibly born in Germany.  He arrived in Maryland with his son also from England.  I know he married in Philadelphia.  Still straightening out  the Jr. Sr. confusion.  Will provide more information as I get it.

Answer 3

From several sources, ultimately derived from the genealogy holdings of the Ripley Library, the county seat of Jackson County, West Virginia:

There is a Charles Parsons (“Old Charlie Parsons”) who is said by tradition to have been born in Queen Anne County, MD, and who lived much of his life in what is now Jackson County, West Virginia—and is buried there. His father was William Parsons.

This William Parsons was not married to Martha Hughes, nor did he survey Easton. Tradition has it that he emigrated from England to Queen Anne County, Maryland. However, no records of him living in Maryland, or anywhere else, exist—as far as I know. Jackson County tradition says William was the father of Charles. I’ve seen William’s DAR gravestone in Jackson County. I’m not sure he’s actually buried there. The only proof that he existed, that I know of,  is a Revolutionary War pension application in which Thomas, the brother of Charles (Old Charlie) Parsons mentions that he and his brothers (including Charlie) came to Jackson County from Queen Anne County, MD—and that their father was named William.

The idea that William came from Prussia was last held in the 1960s, and is presumed to be wrong.

Don Greene’s suggestion that there  is an American Indian connection is doubtful, but not disproven.

Charlie Parsons, son of William, my 5th great-grandfather, is well-sourced in Jackson County, WV.

Comments

Any suggestions that come from Don Greene’s “books” should be presumed false.  The vast majority of Green’s claims are at best undocumented and mostly just invented.