Papers, 1736-1835.

ArchivalResource

Parsons family. Papers, 1736-1835.

Papers, 1736-1835.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/214092765

This collection contains six volumes representing all three generations of the family. Included is a book of sermons given to Moses Parsons in 1736 by an unidentified gentleman from Virginia, with a few pages written by Moses Parsons, and an octavo folder containing seven sermons by Parsons, 1734-1738, and his diary, 1736-1740, with brief entries referring to the weather, visits, trips to Cape Ann, Massachusetts, preaching, and keeping school. The folder also includes a letter written by Moses to his son Eben at Cape Ann, and one written by Eben's brother Theophilus Parsons (1750-1813), Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court, concerning legal matters. Three volumes belonging to Eben Parsons include two marine registers, 1802 and 1807, interleaved in The Mass. Register and U.S. Calendar, containing notes on his shipping activities in Boston and listing the date, hour, and location of each docking and sailing, with the name of the ship's master. Eben Parsons' shipper's receipt book, 1784-1788, is a compilation of receipts signed by his employees, masters, doctors, and other merchants. Gorham Parsons' diary for 1835 was interleaved in Robert B. Thomas' Farmer's Almanack and written while Parsons still lived in Brighton and managed Fatherland Farm. It contains detailed daily weather records, account lists, bank notes, and entries concerning the day-to-day running of a successful farm (e.g., accounts of pork killed, livestock lists, the buying and selling of goods, expenses for the filling of an ice house, laborers' salaries, seed lists, and the planting and harvesting of fruits and vegetables). Included are references to town meetings and Fourth of July celebrations.

6 v. ; octavo.

American Antiquarian Society