Research Resources relating to the Parsons Family
at Historic Northampton

• Genealogical Books and Secondary Source Books
• The Parsons House
• Genealogical Charts
• Other Parsons Family Resources

Genealogical Books and Secondary Source Books

Parsons, Gerald James, The Early Parsons Families of the Connecticut River Valley; Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1999, 69 pages.

Parsons, Gerald James, The Parsons Family, Volume One: The English Ancestry and Descendants to the Sixth Generation of Cornet Joseph Parsons (1620-1683),Springfield, Massachusetts, 1636, Northampton, Massachusetts, 1654,Baltimore: Gateway Press, Inc., 2002, 829 pages.

Parsons, Gerald James, Our Parsons Heritage: The Lineage of Gerald James Parsons and Paul Wilson Parsons from Cornet Joseph Parsons (1620-1683), A Native of Beaminster, County Dorset, England and a Founder of Springfield, Massachusetts, 1636 and Northampton, Massachusetts, 1654, Baltimore: Gateway Press, Inc., 2003, 267 pages.

Parsons, Gerald James, The Parsons Family; Descendants of Cornet Joseph Parsons (c. 1618-1683) Springfield, Mass., 1636; Northampton, Mass., 1654 through his grandson Jonathan Parsons (1693-1782) of Northampton, Mass; Suffield, Conn.; Sandisfield, Mass. and Dorset, Vermont,  Baltimore: Gateway Press, Inc. 1984, 398 pages.

Parsons, Henry, Parsons Family; descendants of Cornet Joseph Parsons, Springfield, 1636 – Northampton, 1655; volume 1: New York: F. Allaben Genealogical Society, 1912, 531 pages; volume 2: New Haven, Connecticut: Tuttle, Morehouse and Taylor, 1920, 692 pages.

Parsons, John A., Eli Parsons of Enfield, Connecticut and Columbia Township, Bradford County Pennsylvania and his brother Thomas Parsons of Enfield, Connecticut and Town of Franklin, Delaware County New York, privately printed, 1924.

Genealogy of the Family of Lewis B. Parsons, (second.) Parsons-Hoar. Parsons – Springfield, Mass., 1636. Hoar – Gloucester, England, 1632.  St. Louis: Press of Perrin & Smith Printing Co., 1900, 109 pages.

Burt, Henry M., Cornet Joseph Parsons, One of the Founders of Springfield and Northampton, Massachusetts, Springfield, 1636, Northampton, 1655, an historical sketch from original sources, viz, town, county, court, and private records with supplementary chapters...by Albert Ross Parsons.  Long Island, New York: Albert Ross Parsons, 1898, 187 pages.

Theodore Bliss, Publisher and Bookseller: A Study of Character and Life in the Middle Period of the XIX Century; edited and arranged for publication, from dictation, notes, and remembered conversations by Arthur Ames Bliss; printed for the Northampton Historical Society, 1941.

Trumbull, James Russell, History of Northampton, Massachusetts, volumes I & II, Northampton, MA: Press of Gazette Printing Company, 1898 and 1902.
Volumes I & II can be purchased as a reprint from the Higginson Book Company.  A third volume, a genealogy, is in the local history collection of the Forbes Library, 20 West Street, Northampton, Massachusetts.

The Parsons House

Report on Building Archeology at the Nathaniel Parsons House, Northampton, Massachusetts for Historic Northampton and the Institute For Museum Services prepared by Gregory Clancey, Architectural Conservator, Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities and John Leeke, Preservation Consultant in Private Practice, 1992, 147 pages.

The Parsons House of the Northampton Historical Society being two conflicting accounts entitled: The House of Cornet Joseph Parsons by Anna Catherine Bliss & Parsons Houses in Northampton, reminiscent notes of Chauncey Lyman Parsons, Rosemary Press Northampton in New England, 1972, 35 pages.

“Poking Into The Past,” text and photos by John Leeke with drawings by Robert Leanna in Old-House Journal, July – August 1994, pages 44–49.

Genealogical Charts

Radial Chart, Cornet Joseph Parsons – Thomas5 Parsons line (Rev. Joseph4, Rev. Joseph3, Joseph2, Joseph1).
Radial Chart, Cornet Joseph Parsons – David5 Parsons line (Rev. David4, Rev. David3, Joseph2, Joseph1).

Other Parsons Family Resources

Information Files of newspaper articles and unpublished research.  There are five files under the subject heading of Families – Parsons.

Bliss Family Papers (1854-1940)

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