100 11 00 Pelham, Soc. of Rev. John Keep, bal. to constitute him an H. M. 16 25 NEW HAMPSHIRE BRANCH. [Hon. Samuel Morril, Concord, Tr.] 5.00 Boscawen, W. Young Men's Ed. Soc. by Jabez Abbot Haverhill, East Cong. Ch. and Soc. by A. K. Merrill, Tr. 17 26 10 00 UTICA AGENCY. [J. W. Doolittle, Esq. Utica, Tr.] Augusta, bal. 1.25 121 63 44 42 50.83 24 57 94 17 37.95 39 11 51 37 Sherburne 31 47, Syracuse, Pres. Ch. 69 76, Cong. $92 01 Ch. 12 04 113 27 NORTH WESTERN BRANCH. Cong. Ch. and Soc. in part to const. Rev. WESTERN EDUCATION SOCIETY OF NEW YORK. [J. S. Seymour, Esq. Auburn, Tr.] 10 00 27 00-37 00 Chittenden, Cong. Ch. & Soc. in part, by Rev. C. Taylor 3 00 Clarendon, By F. Button 8 00 Craftsbury, El. Soc. 86 87, Col. Samuel French $1, by Mr. S. 8. Clark, Tr. Orleans Co. Aux. Ed. So. Glover, Cong. Ch. and Soc. by do. 7 87 100 Chemung, Rev. E. Pratt 1, Newark 29 17 30 17 Berkshire 11 42, Caroline, Miss Rich 50 cts. Ithica 62 92, Moravia 15 08 11 92 78 00 Morgan, Cong. Ch and Soc. by Mr. S. S. Clark, Tr. &c. 2 87 Auburn, 1st Ch. 60 20, Rochester, A. Champion 300 360 20 19 61 Westfield, By Mr. S. S. Clark, Tr. &c. Westminster, (W.) By Rev. Nelson Barbour 3 13 11 52 $780 76 $121 72 17 00 2. 00 83 35 25 50 13 00 16 S0 5 01 13 00 CONNECTICUT BRANCH. [Eliphalet Terry, Esq. Hartford, Tr.] Canton, Coll. in 1st Soc. by U. Hosford North Killingly, Soc. of Rev. Mr. Robinson, by Rev. G. Plymouth, Rev. Mr. Lyman, by Rev. B. Emerson, Ag't 10 00 40.82 16 00 10.00 PHILADELPHIA EDUCATION SOCIETY. [Geo. W. McClelland, Esq. Philadelphia, Tr.] 1st Pres. Ch. Phil. John M. Atwood John Lapsley 5, James A. Cambell 5 Jos. B. Lapsley 100, Wm. Wurts 25 Rev. Albert Barnes, D. D 50, 1.5 5th Ch. Phil. Geo. W. McClelland J. W. Throckmorton 20, Jas. Atwood 20 William Worrill 50, Curwin Stoddart 10 1st Ch. N. L. Phil. James Hunt 24 62 C. Deal 5, A. Green 5, C. Dull 3 A. M. Wartman 3, J. Painter 5 S. Eldridge 5, Collections 15 81 J. H. Cambell 5, A. D. Caldwell 5 Waterbury, Coll. in Ch. and Soc. in part, by Rev. Mr. Emerson [Anson A. Brewster, Esq., Hudson, O., Tr.] Austinburg, Dr. Hawley 5, Berlin 5, Burton, in part 10, 20 00 Cleveland, bal. 3, Cuyahoga Falls 14 43, Franklin, in part 1, Freedom, in part 18 43 3 85 16.00 Hudson 18 12, W. R. College 53, E. Wright's Schol. 10, H. Kingsbury's Sch. 10, P. H. Weddel's Sch. 10, 101 12 Lyme, balance 1 50 12 75 Madison, N. Ridge 1 15, Centreville 3 17, Unionville 10 14 32 Middlebury 9 75, Monroeville, bal. 5 37 15 12 Morgan 3 62, Nelson, in pt. 2, Ohio City Cong. Ch. bal. 1, 6 62 Pinesville 10 63, Shutesborough 7, Strongsville, bal. 2 25 19 88 Tallmadge, Gent. Assoc. in part 16.00 Twinsburg, 1st Ch. in part 3 12, 2d Ch. 14 50 17 62 Thompson 3 02, Vermillion 8, 11 02 Windham, in part 6 86 18 00 150 00 $252 34 111 00 Carmine St. Ch. N. Y. in part H. Bliss Do. Pr. Ch. Hunter, N. Y. John Constable, Schenectady, N. Y. 2.00 8 18 5.00 2.00 18 00 Do. Do. Spring St. Ch. N. Y. Mr. Tucker 85, Miss J. Whole amount received $8,164 15. Clothing received during the Quarter. Franklin, Ms. Ladies' Ed. Soc. by A. R. Ladd, Sec., a box valued at $17. 8 00 New Ipswich, N. H. Ladies' Char. Soc. by Mrs. Hannah John123 49 son, Sec., shirts, collars, socks, &c. valued at $21 35. Rowley, Ms. Ladies' Sewing Soc. by Mehitable S. Plummer, Treas, a bundle containing shirts, collars, and socks. Shrewsbury, Ms. Young Ladies' Ed. Soc., a box containing sundries. REV. JONATHAN PARSONS MA. Must Laws of the Fred yarnon Fatra for the American Quarter u Heisur AMERICAN QUARTERLY REGISTER. VOL. XIV. NOVEMBER, 1841. No. 2. MEMOIR OF THE REV. JONATHAN PARSONS, M. A. FIRST PASTOR OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN NEWBURYPORT, Ms. [By Rev. JONATHAN GREENLEAF, of Brooklyn, N. Y.] THE family of PARSONS, was an ancient family in England,* and some of the name were among the early emigrants to America. Two brothers of this family, Joseph, and Benjamin, came over to this country about the year 1635, and settled at Springfield, Ms. The elder brother, Joseph Parsons, commonly known as Cornet Joseph, was one of the witnesses of the Indian Deed to William Pynchon and others, July 15, 1636, which is the instrument whereby the land in and around Springfield is held. In 1645, he removed to Northampton, returned to Springfield in 1679, and died there March 25, 1684. Benjamin Parsons, the younger brother, is generally known as Deacon Benjamin. He probably sustained this office in the first church gathered at Springfield. Certain it is that he lived there, and died there in the year 1690. Among his sons was Ebenezer Parsons, who was born in 1668. He lived in West Springfield, and was chosen a deacon of the first Congregational church in that place in the year 1700, in which office he continued till his death, in 1752.† He married Margaret Marshfield, and had five sons and two daughters. His youngest son was Jonathan, the subject of the following memoir. JONATHAN PARSONS was born at West Springfield, Ms., November 30, 1705. He was originally designed for a mechanical employment, and commenced learning a trade, but having a great desire for a public education, in which he was much encouraged by the Rev. Jonathan Edwards of Northampton, he began his preparation for college alone, while still at work with his hands, and plied his trade diligently, with his book often lying on the bench beside him. At the age of 20 years he entered Yale College, and was graduated there in the year 1729. He does not appear to have been devoutly disposed at the time he entered college, and probably had no intention then of entering the Thomas Parsons, of Great Milton, received the honor of knighthood from Charles I., about the year 1634, and his descendants remain at Great Milton, and in the city of London, to this day. He married Catharine, the daughter of Alderman Radcliff of London. The coat of arms granted to Thomas Parsons, and still retained in the Parsons family in the United States, is thus described: "He beareth Gules, two chevrons Ermine, between three Eagles displayed, Or." ministry; and it was not until the middle of his college life, that he began to think seriously of religion. In a manuscript journal of his, and on his birth-day, within a few years of his death, Mr. Parsons makes a review of his life, with special reference to the great change in his religious views. The following extracts from this document will give us authentic information in relation to this matter: "Though I had religious parents, who took great pains with me, yet my childhood and youth were vanity. I broke through all the restraints of education and conscience, and gave loose to the way of my carnal heart. When I was studying in order for college, I behaved more soberly in the sight of the world, but really no better, and after I entered college, though I was more studious than some, yet I know of none more wicked, though some were more open in their wickedness. When I had been two years in college, I was taken with a fever, at my father's house, and at this time was under a great sense of my sin and danger. After my recovery, my conscience was tender, and I became so serious and strict that the most of my acquaintance took me for a converted person. I thought it was my duty to make an open profession of religion, and did it accordingly. I thought I was in a fair way for heaven, though I am now convinced that I was a stranger to the new birth." Designing now to enter the ministry, Mr. Parsons, before he left college, turned his attention to theological studies, under the direction of the President, Rev. Elisha Williams, and afterward, for a short time, with the Rev. Jonathan Edwards, at Northampton. It seems somewhat surprising that men as discriminating as President Williams and Mr. Edwards, should not have detected the fallacy of Mr. Parsons's experience, and more especially as it was in his case connected with Arminian views of doctrine. But so it was, and he was licensed to preach. In less than a year after he left college, he was invited to the pastoral office, in the Congregational church in Lyme, Ct., and was ordained there in March, 1731. In December of the same year, he was married to Phebe Griswold, the eldest daughter of John Griswold, Esq. of Lyme.* The erroneous views which Mr. Parsons held, joined with the defects in his Christian experience, prepared the way not only for difficulties in the congregation, but for an awful struggle in his own mind. "Inexperienced, and unsettled in the doctrines which are according to godliness, and lax in his views of ecclesiastical discipline, he lacked, at this time, important qualifications for a teacher and ruler in the house of God, and early led his people to establish a righteousness of their own, rather than to submit to that which is of God by faith; and was by these means unconsciously preparing the way for his removal, when he should be made to understand the way of God more perfectly." But let us hear his own account of the severe conflict in his mind at this time. "Soon after my settlement," he remarks, "there was a great and general concern about religion, especially among the young people. I was very zealous in my *The Griswold family were among the first settlers at Lyme. They occupied the point bounded by Long Island Sound on the south, and Connecticut River on the west, usually known by the name of "Blackhall." Matthew Griswold lived there in the year 1683. He married Phebe Hyde, and they had eleven children, of whom John Griswold, Esq. was the fifth. He was born December 22, 1690, and died September 29, 1764. His younger brother, George, was graduated at Yale College in 1717, and entering the ministry, was settled at East Lyme. Mary Griswold, a sister of these, married Edward Dorr, of Lyme, whose daughter, Eve Dorr, was the mother of Rev. Dr. Edward Dorr Griffin, late President of Williams College. John Griswold married Hannah Lee, in 1713, and had eleven children. Matthew, the eldest, born in 1714, was Governor of Connecticut, and his son Roger, was afterwards Governor of the same State. † Williams's Hist. Sermon at Newburyport, p. 44. |