Thomas Henry Parrott (17 October 1836 – 27 March 1899) was an English musician. He operated a music business in

East Portland, Oregon East Portland was a city in the U.S. state of Oregon that was consolidated into Portland in 1891. In modern usage, the term generally refers to the portion of present-day Portland that lies east of 82nd Avenue, most of which the City of Portland ...

, which was noted as energizing the community's business environment.

Early life

Parrott was born in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England, on 17 October 1836 to Samuel Henry Parrott and the former Maria Everest, both of England. His mother's family were notable musicians in England. In 1854, the Parrott family emigrated to the United States. They eventually settled down in

Sherwood, Oregon Sherwood is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States. Located in the southeast corner of the county, it is a residential community in the Tualatin Valley, southwest of Portland. As of the 2010 census, Sherwood had a population of 18,19 ...

. However, the family moved without Thomas H. Parrott, who stayed behind to study to become a shoe maker. Two years later, he came to Oregon and worked as a shoe maker.

Music and business career

In 1862, Parrott moved to

. For $40, Parrott purchased a home on the corner of Fourth and H street. He would go on to operate the business at that location for 30 years. It was noted in the book ''An Illustrated History of the State of Oregon'' that Parrott was instrumental in growing the business community of East Portland. He worked as a

music teacher Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as primary education, elementary or secondary education, secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a res ...

and played in many

ballroom A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially historic man ...

s across Portland. Parrott could play any

musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person who pl ...

in a brass band. His specialties were the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

, and

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

. In 1889, Parrott opened another music store which featured different instruments, including hand-made pianos and cabinet organs. He also sold

music sheet Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed books or pamphlets in English, Ara ...

s and instruction books. Another business venture of Parrotts was

landlord A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, the ...

. He rented out two farms in

Yamhill County, Oregon Yamhill County is one of the Oregon counties, 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 107,722. The county seat is McMinnville, Oregon, McMinnville. Yamhill County was named af ...

Personal life

On June 8, 1861, Parrott married the former Eliza A. Rhodes of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, who was the daughter of

pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and dev ...

A. Rhodes. Together they had eight children. All of their children had a thorough education in music. Two of his sons,

Jiggs Parrott Walter Edward "Jiggs" Parrott (July 14, 1871April 14, 1898) was an American professional baseball player whose career spanned eight seasons, four of which were spent with the Major League Baseball (MLB) Chicago Colts (1892–95). Parrott, an inf ...

and

Tom Parrott Thomas William Parrott (April 10, 1868 – January 1, 1932), nicknamed "Tacky Tom", was a professional baseball player. He was a right-handed pitcher over parts of four seasons (1893–1896) with the Chicago Colts, Cincinnati Reds, and St. Louis ...

, went on to play

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

. Thomas H. Parrott was

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

politically.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parrott, Thomas H. 1836 births 1899 deaths 19th-century English businesspeople English multi-instrumentalists English music managers Musicians from Portland, Oregon English emigrants to the United States 19th-century American businesspeople 19th-century American musicians 19th-century English musicians People from Sherwood, Oregon