HON. GEORGE PARSONS. A modest, unassuming man, possessing undoubted
business ability and judgment, Hon. George Parsons, now serving his fourth
term as mayor of Cairo, is numbered among the representative citizens of
Southern Illinois. The seventh child in succession of birth of the nine
children of Joseph and Mary (Cram) Parsons, he was born in April, 1854, on a
farm in Kennebunk, Maine, the old homestead on which he was reared still
belonging to the family.
His early life, like that of many New
England boys of his day, was one of hardships and struggles, ready money
being scarce and wage-earning opportunities rare. Hard-working people, with
limited means, his parents trained their sons and daughters to habits of
industry, honesty, and thrift, and lived to see all of them well settled in
life. At the age of sixteen years, through the generosity and kindness of a
kinsman, George Parsons was enabled to prepare for college, and was
graduated from Bowdoin College, in Brunswick, Maine, with the class of 1876.
The ensuing fall he entered Comer's Commercial College, in Boston,
Massachusetts, and having completed a course of six months in that
institution accepted a position in the office of Edwin Parsons, of New York
city, where he remained four and one half years, gaining valuable business
knowledge and experience.
Leaving that mart of human activity and
commercial strenuosity in October, 1881, Mr. Parsons made his way westward
to Alexander county, Illinois, and soon afterward entered the service of the
Cairo Trust Property as bookkeeper, and has since been closely associated
with this organization, for many years having served most ably and
efficiently as its managing head.
A stanch supporter of the
principles of the Republican party since casting, in 1876, his vote for
President Hayes, Mr. Parsons contributes liberally of his time, influence
and services towards the advancement of his party and the welfare of city,
town and state, being ever mindful of the interests of the people. In the
spring of 1905, he was elected mayor of Cairo, and the following November
was the choice of the people for county commissioner of Alexander county,
polling the largest vote ever cast for a Republican candidate at a similar
election, and in the spring of 1907 was honored with a reelection to the
mayorship of the city. The work of Mr. Parson both as mayor and as
commissioner was such as to reflect credit upon his administrative
abilities. Upwards of a million dollars worth of improvements were
inaugurated, including a good sewerage system, the paving of many streets,
the building of cement sidewalks, and the improvement of the public highways
throughout the city and county. For many years Mr. Parsons has been an
active member of the National Good Roads Association, which has been
influential in materially improving the highways, more especially the
country roads. In the work of improving the roads leading to the National
Cemetery in Pulaski county, near Mound City, Mr. Parsons was an active and
interested worker, having donated to the United States Government the right
of way from Cache bridge to the cemetery. He also surveyed the road, was
instrumental in securing an appropriation from the National Congress for its
building, and in May, 1907, brought the matter before the war -department,
at Washington, D. C., in such an effective manner that during the following
summer repairs amounting to five thousand dollars were made upon the road.
In 1908 Mr. Parsons acceded to the wishes of his many friends and
became a candidate for Congress from the Twenty-fifth congressional district
of Illinois. The improvement of the internal waterways has long been of
supreme moment, to the people of Southern Illinois, which has a vast
frontage on two of the largest rivers of the country, the Ohio and the
Mississippi, and this improvement has been intelligently developed through
the indefatigable labors of the various River Improvement Associations, in
each of which Mr. Parsons is an active member. Largely through his personal
influence, in October, 1907, President Roosevelt and the Inland Waterways
Commission made a trip on the Mississippi from Keokuk to Memphis, arriving
in Cairo, Illinois, in company with a large delegation of governors and
other public officials on October 3, it being the first visit of a president
of the United States to the Twenty-fifth congressional district of Illinois.
The President and his companions were most hospitably entertained by Mr.
Parsons, who likewise had the distinction, in October, 1909, of entertaining
President Taft and his party on their river journey from Saint Louis to New
Orleans, an honor which rarely comes to men so far removed from the seat of
government.
In November, 1911, the guests aboard the replica of the
boat "New Orleans," making its centennial trip from Pittsburg to New
Orleans, were entertained at the home of Mayor Parsons, who extended a
public invitation to the citizens of Cairo to gather at his house, express
their interest in the great event being commemorated, and extend a
neighborly greeting to the distinguished party from the head waters of the
Ohio. On November 30, 1911, another honor fell to the lot of Mayor Parsons,
when he had the pleasure of extending his hospitality to Alfred Tennyson
Dickens, son of Charles Dickens, whose descriptions of Cairo after his own
visit to this city connects this part of Southern Illinois with the writings
of the famous English author and novelist.
Mr. Parsons has been
thrice married. He married, first, in Cairo, in 1882. Ada V. Scarritt, a
daughter of Rev. J. A. Scarritt. She passed to the life beyond in 1897,
leaving one child, Blanche Parsons. Two years later Mr. Parsons was united
in marriage with Isabel Hartley, of New York, who passed away in February,
1911. On February 27, 1912, at Little Rock, Arkansas, he married Miss Mary
Pearl Shields, a native of Kentucky. Her father, Charles P. Shields, was at
one time professor of languages in Bethel College, Russellville, Kentucky.
Extracted 06 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from 1912 History of Southern Illinois, Volume 3, pages 1188-1190.
| Cape Girardeau MO |
Union | |
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Pulaski | |
| Scott MO | Mississippi MO | Ballard KY |
