The Case of Two Elmer Parsons-and yes there were two!

October 07, 2020

One of our family's genealogical brick walls is who the heck was Elmer Parsons' mother (or father). Before we begin lets first get to know Elmer Ellsworth Parsons. Elmer was my paternal grandmother's grandfather. Elmer was born on March 29, 1862 in Holmes County, Ohio. His father as far as I know was Henry Whitman Parsons, who died during the Battle of Antietam in October of 1862. Now for his mother it is anyone's guess. On some documents that we have the name was given as Mary Ann Sells and then on Elmer's death certificate it list a Mary Ann O'Connor. There is also the last name of Grey that has been suggested as his mother's last name.

Elmer's paternal grandparents were Isaac and Rachel Parsons and with plenty of DNA matches to this family, it is safe to say we link to this Parsons' line. For a long time we could not find Elmer E Parsons on the 1870 or 1880 census. (Most of the US's 1890's census records were lost to a fire). Then a few years ago we found a Elmer Parsons on a 1870 census in Ohio living with a Melissa (Llewellyn) Parsons and her husband Lewis F Parsons. The 1870, 1880 and the 1900 shows this couple living in Homer, Morgan County Ohio. They were married on 26th of May 1861 and went on to have the following children Elmer, Effie (died young), Annie, Fred and John. For several years we believed this Elmer was our Elmer Ellsworth and that Melissa had just by coincidence married two men by the last name of Parsons. What makes this confusing is that both Elmers had the middle initial E and were both born the same year of 1862.

However, I spent the summer researching everyone in Lewis and Melissa Parsons' family and I have come to the conclusion this is not our Elmer. Therefore, Melissa Llewellyn was not his the mother. I looked at all the documents and Melissa was never in Holmes County Ohio, which is an hour or two away from Morgan County Ohio. She spent most of her life in Morgan County until she moved with her husband in their old age to Union County to live with their son Fred.

I then researched the other children of Melissa and Lewis looking for any clues. Then I turned my attention to Melissa's Elmer. I found documents that show he got married to Eva Chappalear on the 13 of December 1884 in Morgan County Ohio. They had one child named Venus Fern who eventually had three children. Eva remarried in 1919 and the best that I can guess is that this other Elmer died sometime around 1915 in Arkansas. I did find his picture and that of Eva with two of her grandchildren.

I have not found our Elmer on the 1870 or 1880 census. He shows up in Hancock, Iowa when he marries Margaret Sarah Scott in 1888. He is in Moberly Missouri in 1889 with the birth of Ralph Parsons. He is Bewer Iowa with the birth of Verne Parsons. The Iowa census of 1885 shows him in Bewer, Iowa. In 1898, he is in Akron Iowa where his daughter Gladys was born. The 1900 census they are in Butler, Iowa and the 1910 census he is in Chetopa, Wilson County Kansas. He gets a divorce in 1911 in Kansas. I believe he lived in the Edmond, Oklahoma area between 1911-1917. He remarries in 1917 and lives in Texas, Oklahoma. The 1920 and 1930 census finds him living in Stratton, Oklahoma.

Unfortunately, this information that Melissa Llewellyn was Elmer's mother has been on Ancestry.com for several years and many trees have copied this information into their trees. I have taken this link off my tree and now have returned to questioning who Elmer's mother really was.

I also have some doubts that Henry Whitman was his father. The muster records for Henry Parsons during the Civil War is May 30, 1861. Elmer was born in March of 1862. There is a slim chance that he was around when Elmer was conceived, but I have my doubts. More records would need to be found to verify Henry's whereabouts during April -July 1861. Also finding some sort of documents to show if Henry was ever married would be helpful.

If Henry wasn't his father, I believe a sister of Henry's probably was his mother and he could have been born out of wedlock or the result of a sexual assault. Then, the family to avoid a scandal said Henry was the father, so the boy wouldn't grow up carrying around any kind of stigma. This is only a theory.

Elmer did have one aunt that was very important to him and that was Mary Ann Parsons (Sells ) My father was told by his grandfather that Mary Ann was very important to Elmer and he showed my father her grave when they visited Iowa for a family reunion in the 1950's. Elmer was even included in a family picture with the rest of Mary Ann's children. Mary Ann didn't get married until 1867 to an Emanuel Sells. What is puzzling is that Elmer doesn't show up on any census records with Mary Ann. Did she or other family members keep him secret from the census workers. Who knows??

My theory is that she might be the mother of Elmer and that is how we are getting DNA matches with this Parsons line. One way we could verify this is to have a YDNA test done and see if we have a match that way. More research needs to be done in person in Ohio and possibly Iowa.