Isaac Parsons (January 27, 1752 – August 25, 1796) was an American

slave owner The following is a list of slave owners, for which there is a consensus of historical evidence of slave ownership, in alphabetical order by last name. A * Adelicia Acklen (1817–1887), at one time the wealthiest woman in Tennessee, she inh ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

, and

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

(now

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

). Parsons served as a member of the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

representing Hampshire County from 1789 until his death in 1796. Following an act of the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 161 ...

in 1789, Parsons was appointed to serve as a

trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to t ...

for the town of Romney. In 1790, Parsons began serving as a justice for Hampshire County. He served as a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in command of a

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

in the Virginia militia during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

and continued to serve as a captain in the Hampshire County militia following the war. Parsons operated a public

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

across the

South Branch Potomac River The South Branch Potomac River has its headwaters in northwestern Highland County, Virginia near Hightown along the eastern edge of the Allegheny Front. After a river distance of ,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolu ...

, and later died from drowning in the river in 1796. Parsons was the grandfather of Isaac Parsons (1814–1862), who also represented Hampshire County in the Virginia House of Delegates and served as an officer in the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

Early life and family

Isaac Parsons was born on January 27, 1752, in Hampshire County,

(now

). Parsons was the third son of Thomas Parsons and his wife Parthenia Baldwin (also spelled Bayldwin) Parsons. The Parsons family was a prominent family whose ancestors arrived to the

Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of Kingdom of Great Britain, British Colony, colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Fo ...

from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1635 and relocated to Hampshire County around 1740. Parsons' father settled on the

Eastern Shore of Maryland The Eastern Shore of Maryland is a part of the U.S. state of Maryland that lies mostly on the east side of the Chesapeake Bay. Nine counties are normally included in the region. The Eastern Shore is part of the larger Delmarva Peninsula that ...

in 1725 prior to relocating to Hampshire County, Virginia.

Landholdings

Following the death of his father Thomas Parsons between the date of his

will and testament A will or testament is a legal document that expresses a person's (testator) wishes as to how their property ( estate) is to be distributed after their death and as to which person ( executor) is to manage the property until its final distributi ...

on May 27, 1771, and his will's recording on March 10, 1772, Parsons inherited a

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

on Lot Number 16 of the "South Branch Survey" of

Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (22 October 16939 December 1781), was a Scottish peer. He was the son of Thomas Fairfax, 5th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, and Catherine Colepeper, daughter of Thomas Colepeper, 2nd Baron Colepeper. The on ...

Northern Neck Proprietary The Northern Neck Proprietary – also called the Northern Neck land grant, Fairfax Proprietary, or Fairfax Grant – was a land grant first contrived by the exiled English King Charles II in 1649 and encompassing all the lands bounded by the Pot ...

and other valuable lands in Hampshire County and in the present-day counties of Hardy and

Grant Grant or Grants may refer to: Places *Grant County (disambiguation) Australia * Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia United Kingdom *Castle Grant United States * Grant, Alabama *Grant, Inyo County, C ...

. Parsons and his brother Baldwin also received land their father had acquired from Luke Collins, which was divided between Parsons and his brother by Nathaniel Kuykendall, John Foreman, and

William Foreman Captain William Foreman (1726 – September 27, 1777) was a colonial American officer from Hampshire County, Virginia, who was killed during an Indian ambush at the McMechen Narrows on the Ohio River south of Wheeling, Virginia in 1777. Fort Form ...

. By 1778, Parsons owned of Lot Number 16 and all of Lot Number 17 of Lord Fairfax's "South Branch Survey". By 1790, Parsons also owned the corner of Lot Number 1 within the town of Romney. In 1795, Parsons acquired an additional along the South Branch Potomac River. Parsons' Lot 16 property along the South Branch Potomac River was later purchased by David Gibson in 1836, after which Gibson established his

Sycamore Dale Sycamore Dale (also known as the Gibson-Wirgman-Williams House) is a 19th-century Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival Plantation house in the Southern United States, plantation house overlooking the Potomac River#South Branch Potomac River ...

plantation there.

Ferry service

Parsons petitioned the

to establish a public

across the South Branch Potomac River, thus connecting his property on both sides of the river. In October 1786, the Virginia General Assembly passed an act establishing the public ferry at Parsons' property near the present site of the

U.S. Route 50 U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlanti ...

bridge west of Romney. The assembly's act set the ferry's toll at three

pence A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is th ...

and three farthings per man, and the same price per

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

. By 1790, Parsons was continuing the operation of the ferry, which had become known as "Parson's Ferry". On December 26, 1792, the Virginia General Assembly passed an additional act for the settlement and regulation of public ferries. The assembly's act mandated that Parsons' ferry be "constantly kept" at its location, and established its toll amounting to six cents per man, and six cents per horse.

Political and military careers

During the

, Parsons served as a

in command of a

under the charge of Major Vincent Williams in the Virginia militia. By December 11, 1788, Parsons was again serving as a captain in command of a company in the Hampshire County militia. Parsons served as a member of the

representing Hampshire County from 1789 until his death on August 25, 1796. Parsons represented Hampshire County, which was a multi-member electoral district, in the Virginia House of Delegates. During the October 19 – December 19, 1789, session, Parsons served alongside Elias Poston and Isaac Miller. In the sessions between 1790 and 1793, Parsons served alongside Elias Poston. Parsons served alongside Francis White during the 1794 session. During the 1795 session, he again served alongside Elias Poston. Parsons died on August 25, 1796, before the November 8 – December 27, 1796, session of the Virginia House of Delegates, where he was to have served alongside Alexander King. Parsons' seat was filled by Fielding Calmes, who served out Parsons' term during this session. During his final two sessions in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1794 and 1795, Parsons was a member of the

Federalist Party The Federalist Party was a Conservatism in the United States, conservative political party which was the first political party in the United States. As such, under Alexander Hamilton, it dominated the national government from 1789 to 1801. De ...

. By February 14, 1788, Parsons had been appointed as an

appraiser An appraiser (from Latin ''appretiare'', "to value"), is a person that develops an opinion of the market value or other value of a product, most notably real estate. The current definition of "appraiser" according to the Uniform Standards of Prof ...

of property in Hampshire County by an act of the Virginia General Assembly. On December 4, 1789, Parsons was again appointed by an act of the Virginia General Assembly to serve as a trustee of the town of Romney. Parsons served as a trustee alongside Isaac Miller,

Andrew Wodrow Andrew Wodrow (1752–1814) was a prominent Scottish American merchant, militia officer, clerk of court A court clerk (British English: clerk to the court or clerk of the court ; American English: clerk of the court or clerk of court ) is an o ...

, Stephen Colvin, Jonathan Purcell, Nicholas Casey, William McGuire, Perez Drew and James Murphy. Parsons and his fellow trustees were given authority by the Virginia General Assembly to settle disputes regarding the town's

land lot In real estate, a lot or plot is a tract or parcel of land owned or meant to be owned by some owner(s). A plot is essentially considered a parcel of real property in some countries or immovable property (meaning practically the same thing) in ...

s and to "open and clear" the town's "streets and lanes" in accordance with the original survey and plan for Romney. In 1790, Parsons was either elected or appointed as a justice for Hampshire County alongside Jonathan Purcell, James Martin, Cornelius Ferrel, Edward McCarty, Solomon Jones, and Elias Poston. Parsons died on August 25, 1796; according to tradition, he died from

drowning Drowning is a type of suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where others present are either unaware of the victim's situation or unable to offer a ...

in the South Branch Potomac River.

Personal life

Parsons was married on April 23, 1772, to Mary E. Ellender Gregg. Mary E. Ellender Gregg was born on February 27, 1756. Parsons and his wife had two sons: James Gregg Parsons (1773–1847), married to Mary Catherine Casey in 1795, and David Parsons (1775-1857), married to Catherine Miller.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Parsons, Isaac 1752 births 1796 deaths 18th-century American landowners 18th-century American politicians Accidental deaths in West Virginia American people of English descent American planters American slave owners Deaths by drowning in the United States Farmers from Virginia Farmers from West Virginia Members of the Virginia House of Delegates Military personnel from West Virginia Parsons, Isaac 01 People from Romney, West Virginia Trustees of populated places in Virginia Virginia Federalists Virginia militiamen in the American Revolution West Virginia colonial people