Scope and Content Note
The papers of the Parsons family span the years 1769-1878 and consist of correspondence, legal documents, newspaper clippings, account book, printed matter, and other papers, chiefly of Samuel Holden Parsons (1737-1789), Continental Army officer and general, his son, Enoch Parsons (1769-1846), public official and banker of Middletown and Hartford, Conn., and Enoch's son, Samuel Holden Parsons (1800-1871), lawyer and banker of Middletown. The collection includes a 1778 letter from General Parsons (1737-1789) to his friend, American loyalist William Walter, in which he argues the colonists' cause. Also included is material on Parsons's work for the Ohio Company relating to land development near Marietta, Ohio, and in the Western Reserve. Other topics include Indians in the Old Northwest, the nullification controversy, and family matters. Family correspondents include Mary Sullivan Parsons Dickson, Enoch Thomas Parsons, Henry Ethelbert Parsons, Jonathan Parsons, and Mehetabel Mather Parsons. Other correspondents include Richard Butler, Oliver Ellsworth, Jonathan Greenleaf, Benjamin Huntington, Joel Munsell, Israel Putnam, B. F. Wade, and Elisha Whittlesey.