Elijah Parsons

ELIJAH PARSONS

A brief sketch of the life of Elijah parsons, prepared by Della Parsons Ware and given by her at the first reunion of the Parsons family, held on the Monroe City Park, August 7, 1957.

Elijah Parsons, my grandfather, was born March 12, 1842 in Bromley, Kent, England.  His father, Williams Parsons, was born in the adjoining county of Buxted, Sussex, England.  His father was a master bricklayer in Bromley, Kent, England.  The 1851 census in England lists the older sons, William and Thomas, as apprentice bricklayers; the two younger sons Matthew and Elijah, as scholars, all born in Bromley.

Elijah’s mother, Sarah Francis, was born in Swansez, Glamorgan, Wales.

Records of LDS baptisms from the Bromley Branch show that Grandfather Elijah was baptized at the age of 14, March 4, 1856.  His mother was baptized September 10, 1848 by Elder Roberts.  Thomas was baptized March 31, 1850 by Elder Savage, who no doubt this was my great grandfather on my mother’s line (Henry Savage), as he was laboring in the area at that time.

According to records in the Church Historian’s office, Elijah and his mother sailed from Liverpool, England, March 28, 1857 on the ship “George Washington.”  They crossed the plains to Utah in separate companies, Elijah with Horton D. Haight’s ox-train company; his mother with Captain James Brown’s company, arriving in Utah three days earlier than her son, on August 29^th, and September 1^st, 1859.

Grandfather attended school in England and after his arrival in Utah was a schoolteacher.  In a letter from the Rector of Uckfield, who did genealogical research for Uncle George Parsons, he said “Your Parsons forebears were all literate, that is, wherever, from 1745, names had to be signed, they all signed for themselves and not by a mark.”  Grandfather was an exceptionally fine penman.

Grandfather also followed the mason trade for a number of years, working on the Lehi Sugar factory, the Manti Temple, the Salina meetinghouse, and early buildings in Richfield.  In his young manhood, he hauled freight across the plains.

His kindness of heart was shown when he befriended a young crippled girl, Mary Johnson, who had lost both legs at the knees while crossing the plains with the ill-fated Martin Handcart Company (Walker Company).  Grandmother has told my mother than when on picnics with groups of lively young people he would take time to lend her a helping hand and help her keep up with the group, showing great consideration for her.  They fell in love with each other and were married in the Endowment House, January 11, 1869.

They moved south to Richfield some time before 1876, where they lived for about 6 years.  Then moved to Grass Valley along with Jeppe and Catherine Sorensen.  Catherine was grandmother’s sister, a mid-wife, and gave valuable assistance in waiting on the family when there was illness.

Grandfather had always been able to find employment in the larger communities, so he became very discouraged as he was not suited to farming and ranching.  His desire was to move back to Salt Lake, but the family was settled in their home and for various reasons it was not practical for the whole family to move.  With the idea that his family might be better provided for, he went to Salt Lake alone.  As years passed his visits were farther apart, and until he was about 70 years old, he lived in Salt Lake.  In his later years he worked for the Salt Air resort.  Grandfather was always a student having in his possession works of the best writers.  He made many visits to the Mormon Tabernacle, where he especially enjoyed the choir.

In about 1912, he came home to Koosharem where he lived for several years with his son George.  Then he lived for a time in a little house near his son Will.  When he was too feeble to live alone, his eldest daughter, Annie, and son-in-law, James Anderson took him to live with them in their home in Salina, where he passed away at age 88, December 20, 1930, and is buried in the Koosharem cemetery.