Category: Blog

Samuel was born on the 29th August 1831 in Reading Township, Perry County, Ohio to Samuel and Ellen Mohler Parkison. He was one of 11 children. Many of the children, including his father and mother, settled in the Mt. Pleasant Township area after they moved from Perry County, Ohio in 1839.

His siblings are as follows:

1) Eli P Parkison 1822-1892. He married Sarah Jones in Delaware County. They were in the but they were in Mt. Pleasant Township in the 1850 census with two children. They later moved to Iowa;

2) Catherine Parkison 1824-1898. She married Emanuel Warfel 1820-1874. They were residents of Yorktown and had at least 9 children.

3) George Wellington Parkison 1826-1898. He married Eliza J Beath. They had ten children and were residents of Yorktown. A full biography will be posted about George;

4) Elizabeth B Parkison 1828-1840. She died at 13.;

5) William “John” Parkison 1829-1862. He married Hetty Staggs. He may have returned to Ohio to come back to Indiana in 1850. He was living with another family at age 20 working as a chair maker. He married Hetty the next year in Delaware County. He was also shown as being with his father in the same census. He was killed in the Civil War, A8 Indiana Infantry.

6) Samuel Mentor Parkison (above and below)

7) Eleanor(a) Parkison 1833-1894. She married James Greggs/Griggis, a blacksmith and they moved to Tippecanoe County, Indiana.

8) Anna Marie Parkison 1836-1888. She married Charles Morris. They lived in Yorktown.

9) Sarah Jane Parkison 1838-1914. She married James D Reynolds. He was a carpenter and served in the Civil War. They lived in Yorktown.

10) Harriet Margaret Parkison 1841-Before 1880. She married John H Adams and they lived in Yorktown. He was a widower in the 1880 census. In 1881 he remarried Hannah Newhouse.

11.) Henry Clay Parkison 1843-1922. He married Christina Fridge. He was a Civil War veteran and they lived in Yorktown. More below.

While doing research for our web page, I found a picture of (what was known to me as) the old Don and Mary Ann (Mackey) Bonnet family home, I played in this home and in the surrounding fields when I was a child. The house sits on the east side of Yorktown on the north side of Hwy. 32–now surrounded by Grandview Square apartments.

The history of the big old brick house always intrigued me. The photo of the house as posted here was taken in 1888. It was was built by Samuel Mentor Parkison, Jr.

A little about Mr. Samuel Mentor Parkison, Jr. not in his two page biography from the book: Portrait and Biographical Record of Delaware and Randolph County published 1894, pages 670-671–see photos for these two pages.

The photo was found behind a cabinet in the attic of the house as the Bonnets were moving out. The photo was given to the YMPHA. The current owners of the house are Paul and Mary Ellen Cox.

The back of the photo is a little light. It says: Joseph Parkison (picking teeth), Samuel Parkison, Margaret Parkison, Lula Parkinson (5 years old), Ella Reed in window, Lottie Pence, neighbor girl.

Ella’s mother, Margaret (Keiger) Parkison, was previously married to Cornelius Reed before he died in 1877. Also note that the 1894 biography in the photos misspelled Lula’s name as “Luo”. Maybe it was a nickname?

The five children of Samuel Mentor Parkison and Eliza Jane Neely are:

1) Emma C. Parkison. (1856-1887). She married Jacob M Koontz (1852-1922);

2) Issac Newton Parkison (1857-1936). He married Amanda Beuoy (1863-1942);

3) John A Parkison, (1859-1927). He married Mary Isabelle Williamson (1859-1908);

4) Oliver Perry Parkison No information of his birth or death. He is referenced in the biography.

5) Joseph A Parkison (1867-1923). He married Melvina S Humbert (1871-1947)

The sixth child was the only child from Samuel Mentor Parkison and his second wife, Margot Keiger.

6) Lula Parkison (1883-1976). She married James Monroe Fitch (1871-1957).

Samuel’s brother, George W. Parkison also had a featured biography in the 1894 book. I will post information about George and his family in a different post.

About the map:

This is a small clip from the 1887 Atlas of Delaware County, Indiana showing where the Samuel Mentor Parkison, Jr. property was situated in Mt. Pleasant Township.

On the map, if you look under the name of Elizabeth Wilson, you will see the word YORKTOWN PIKE. This is the Yorktown toll road that later became State Highway 32. Finding that might help get your bearings on the map.Yorktown Pike dissects Parkison‘s property.

In his 1894 biography, it was written that he purchased his first property in 1857 and later purchased the Dragoo Farm. He bought additional real estate “from time to time until he became a possessor of a large amount of real estate”. He sold all but the 30 acres on which the house sat, much of it to the Western Development Company (WDC) for a nice profit.

The WDC was responsible for the building of the West Muncie development. Had there not been a national economic depression in the early 1890’s, Yorktown would have be called “Old Town” and incorporated into the West Muncie project. (Much more about this will be elsewhere on our web site.) The biography also says that Parkison bought the “Gilbert farm of 208 acres” and that it was later known as the Wilson farm. You can see adjoining the Parkison property the 208 acres owned by Elizabeth Wilson. You can see Gilbert properties north, west and east of the Wilson farm.

The Parkison house is shown on Yorktown Pike marked with a square and “Res” denoting his residence. His brother, George W. Parkison owned about 200 acres north of White River and a little west of downtown. I’ll write more on George Parkison in a different post.

If you want to see the whole map of Mt. Pleasant Township, you can go to this link at BSU Archives: https://dmr.bsu.edu/digital/collection/InHisAtls/id/1350 Look at the earlier post to see the house that started this line of research.

PLEASE: Add, correct, and ask questions about the post.

Notes:

There are some advertisements for the Delaware County Fair in which Samuel Parkison‘s name appeared as one of the organizers.