Justification " (Boston, 1748) ; " Good News from a Far Country," said to have been the first book printed in New Hampshire (Portsmouth, N. H., 1756) ; a " Funeral Sermon on the Death of IVJr. Ebenezer Little" (Salem, Mass., 1768): "Freedom from Ecclesiastical and Civil Slavery the Purchase of Christ " (Newburyport, 1774) ; and " Sixty Ser- mons," to which is affixed his funeral sermon by Rev. John Searle (2 vols., 1779). — His son, Samuel Holden, soldier, b. in Lyme, Conn., 14 May, 1737; drowned in Big Beaver river, in either Pennsylva- nia or Ohio, ] 7 Nov., 1789, was graduated at Har- vard in 1756, studied law under his uncle. Gov. Matthew Griswold, was admitted to the bar in 1759, and settled in Lyme, Conn. He was in the state assembly for eighteen consecutive sessions, and among other important services settled the boundary of the Connecticut claims on the border of Pennsylvania. He was one of the standing committee of inquiry with the sister colonies in 1773, and originated the plan of forming the first congress, which subsequently met in New York city, and was the forerunner of the Continental congress. He was appointed king's attorney the same year, removed to New London, Conn., and was a member of the committee of correspondence. Since 1770 he had been major of the 14th militia regiment, and on 26 April, 1775, he was appointed colonel of the 6th regiment, stationed at Roxbury, Mass., until the British evacuated Boston, and then ordered to New York. While on a journey to Hartford he met Benedict Arnold, who was on his way to Massachusetts, and obtained from him an account of the condition of Ticonderoga and the number of its cannon. Taking as his advisers Samuel Wyllys, Silas Deane, and three others, on 27 April, 1775, Parsons projected a plan to capture the fort, and, without formally consulting the assembly, the governor, or the council, obtained money from the public treasury with his com- panions on his own receipt. An express messenger was sent to Gen. Ethan Allen {q. v.) disclosing the plan, and urging him to raise a force in the New Hampshire grants. Allen met the Connecticut party at Bennington, Vt., and took command. It had been re-enforced by volunteers from Berkshire, Mass., and subsequently captured the fortress. The fifty British soldiers that were taken prisoners were sent to Connecticut in recognition of Parsons's services. He participated in the battle of Long Island in August, 1776, was commissioned briga- dier-general the same month, served at Harlem Heiglits and White Plains, and subsequently was stationed at Peekskill, N. Y., to protect the im- portant posts on North river. He planned the ex- pedition to Sag Harbor, and re-enforced Washing- ton in New Jersey. He was in command of the troops that were stationed at the New York High- lands in 1778-'9, and in charge of the construction of the fortifications at West Point. In July of the latter year he attacked the British at Norwalk, Conn., and, although his force was too weak to pre- vent the destruction of the fort, he harassed the enemy until they retired for re-enforcements, and finally were compelled to abandon the attempt to penetrate the state any farther. He was one of the board that tried Maj. John Andre. Gen. Par- soris was commissioned major-general in 1780, and succeeded Gen. Israel Putnam in command of the Connecticut line, serving until the close of the war. He then resumed the practice of law in Middle- town, Conn., was appointed by congress a commis- sioner to treat with the Miami Indians in 1785, and was an active member of the State constitu- tional convention in 1778, and the same year was appointed by Washington the first judge of the Northwest territory. He removed to the west, settled near Marietta, Ohio, and in 1789 was ap- pointed by the state of Connecticut a commissioner to treat with the Wyandottes and other Indian tribes on Lake Erie, for the purjjose of extinguish- ing the aboriginal title to the Connecticut western reserve. On his return to his home from this service his boat overturned in descending the rapids of Big Beaver river, and he was drowned. It has recently been supposed, from a letter that is preserved in the manuscript volume of Sir Henry Clinton's original record of daily intelligence, now in the Emmet collection in the New York public library, that Gen. Parsons was in secret commu- nication with Sir Henry Clinton, and that one William Heron, a representative from Fairfield in the Connecticut legislature, was the intermediary to whom Parsons wrote letters which, with the knowledge of their author, were sent to the enemy's headquarters. Under date of 8 July, 1781, he wrote : " The five regiments of our states are more than 1,200 men deficient of their complement ; the other states (except Rhode Island and New York, who are fuller) are nearly in the same condition. Our magazines are few in number. Your fears for them are groundless. They are principally at West Point, Fishkill, Wapping Creek, and Newburg, which puts them out of the enemy's power, except they attempt their destruction by a force sufficient to secure the Highlands, which they cannot do, our guards being sufficient to secure them from small parties. The French troops yesterday en- camped on our left, near the Tuckeyhoe road. Their number I have not had the opportunity to ascertain. Other matters of information I shall be able to give you in a few days." This letter was sent by Heron to Maj. Oliver De Lancey, to whom Heron wrote that he had concerted measures with Parsons by which he would receive every material article of intelligence from the American camp. The charge of treason, based upon this correspond- ence, has been skilfully and plausibly answered in a pamphlet by George B. Loring, " A Vindica- tion of Gen. Parsons (Salem, 1888). Gen. Parsons published a valuable paper on the " Antiquities of Western States," in the 2d volume of the " Transac- tions " of the American academy, and left a manu- script history of the Tuily family in Saybrook (Boston, 1845). — Samuel Holden's son, Enoch, financier, b. in Lyme, Conn., 5 Nov., 1769; d. in Middletown, Conn., 9 July, 1846, received a mercan- tile education, and became a noted accountant. He was appointed by Gen. Arthur St. Clair register and first clerk of the first probate office in Wash- ington county, Ohio, in 1789, but returned to Con- necticut the next year, and, settling in Rliddletown, was high sheriff of Middlesex county for twenty- eight years. In 1817 he was appointed by Gov, OliverWolcott to arrange for an adjustment of the Revolutionary claims of Connecticut with the U. S. government. For many years he was president of the Middlesex national bank.
PARSONS, Levi, jurist, b. in Kingsboro, N. Y.,
1 July, 1822 ; d. in New York city, 23 Oct., 1887.
He was educated at Kingsboro academy, admitted
to the bar, and practised in Little Falls, N. Y. He
emigrated to California in 1849. settled in San
Francisco, and was one of the organizers of the
Whig party in that city. He was elected judge of
the San Francisco district in 1850, subsequently
engaged in business, and built the Missouri, Kan-
sas, and Texas railroad, of which he became the
first president. He retired from public life in 1866,
and spent his subsequent years in travel and in
