Thomas Parkison and Margaret Latimer

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Husband Thomas Parkison ^{1 2 3}

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            AKA: Thomas Parkinson 4
           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 30 Sep 1807 - Brooke Co, WV 5
         Buried: 

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         Father: William Parkinson (      -      ) 3 4
         Mother: 

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       Marriage: Abt 1783

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• Family History: Joseph F. McFarland, 20th Century History of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1910).
To read a brief sketch of the Parkinson family, click here.

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Wife Margaret Latimer ^{3 4}

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

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         Father: [Father] Latimer (      -      )
         Mother: 

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Children

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1 M Dr. Joseph Parkinson ⁴

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            AKA: Dr. Joseph Parkison 6
           Born: Abt Feb 1807 4
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Elizabeth Pogue (      -      ) 5

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General Notes: Husband - Thomas Parkison

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Between the years 1768 and 1770 five Parkison brothers-Joseph, Benjamin, Thomas, James and William-came from Virginia to the Monongahela Valley in Washington County, Pennsylvania.

... we have learned from the venerable Capt. Ira H. Butler (who obtained his information from Joseph Parkison himself) that the Parkisons before removing to this [Washington] county had been members of the Conococheague settlement. As our readers will learn by scanning maps and historical works, the "Conococheague settlement" was a very early one, and the English, Scotch, and German emigrants who first located there supposed that their settlement lay wholly within the domains of Lord Baltimore. However, by a subsequent arrangement between the proprietors of the two provinces (an arrangement though not at all satisfactory to a majority of those who were thus transferred from the rule of Lord Baltimore's officers to those of the Penns'), the present line between the States of Pennsylvania and Maryland was finally established considerably to the southward of the line called for in Lord Baltimore's grant, and thus the original Conococheague settlement is embraced by what is now known as Washington County, Maryland, formed from Frederick in 1776, and Franklin County, Pennsylvania, formed from Cumberland in 1784. The Parkisons were of English or Scotch descent. [HWC 1882, 566]

It is tradition as well as a well authenticated fact that the Parkinsons came from the old Conococheague Settlement, a very early one, composed of the English, Scotch and German emigrants who first located there supposing their settlement lay wholly within the domains of Lord Baltimore. However, by a subsequent arrangement between the proprietors of the two provinces, the territory in which the Parkinsons found themselves was within the boundaries belonging to the Penns.
(They) removed from their home in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, near Carlisle, about 1769 or 1770, to the mouth of Pigeon Creek, on the west bank of the Monongahela River, where Monongahela City is now located. The five brothers took up some 5,000 acres of lands among them in Washington County along the waters of Pigeon and Mingo Creeks from 1769 to 1791. [TCHWWC, 530]

He was a large owner of mills. He sold out and removed to near Ligionier, in what was later Westmoreland County, in 1791, and about the year 1804, sold his farms and mills in that place and moved his family to Brooke County, Virginia (later West Virginia).

He settled in what became known as Dunbar township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, where he erected a grist-mill. In 1801 but one other individual in that township was assessed for more property. A year or two later he removed to Somerset township, in Washington County, where he built a mill known afterwards as the McFarland Mill. He finally removed to Brooke County, Virginia, in 1807, and died there the same year. [HWC 1882, 566]

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He and his brother, Joseph, were engaged in the mercantile business at "Parkinson's Ferry," (later Monongahela City) in Washington County, Pennsylvania. He was enterprising and energetic, taking an active part in all the efforts of the time in the material development of the county. He was strictly temperate in his habits, and opposed to the "Whiskey Insurrection," in which his brother Benjamin was one of the leaders. In 1777, Thomas Parkinson bought a farm of three hundred acres from John Decker, on Pigeon Creek, near Parkinson's Ferry. Subsequently he built at this place the first mill on Pigeon Creek, where he carried on the business of milling and farming for a number of years. In 1792 he sold this property to James McFarlane [McFarland], and the next year he moved to Fayette County, in the immediate vicinity of Connellsville, where he owned a mill and farm. He also owned five hundred acres of land in Huntington township, Westmoreland County. In 1804 he sold his farm and mill in Fayette County, and bought a farm in Brooke County, Virginia, adjoining the farm on which the college and village of Bethany were afterwards built, and to which he removed with his family in 1805 or 1806. [HWC 1882, 834]

He and his wife had eleven children; all were deceased before 1882 except Dr. Joseph.

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General Notes: Wife - Margaret Latimer

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Her parents lived in the Ligonier valley, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, not far distant from Hannastown, then the seat of justice for the county. The Latimers were English and came from Philadelphia. Mr. Latimer and his wife and their infant child (afterwards Mrs. Parkinson) were taken captives by the Indians, and subjected to a five days' march across the Ohio River into the wilderness. The parents, with their child, finally managed to escape, and after undergoing many hardships reached their home. From this story and capture is based the story of Meg Latimer in Dr. McCooks tale of the Whiskey Insurrection, "The Latimers."
Mr. Latimer was also badly wounded by the Indians while carrying a message from one fort to another in the Ligonier valley.

In her girlhood she, with her only sister, Martha, would follow the reapers in the harvest-field, carrying loaded rifles for their use in case they should be attacked by the Indians.

1 Boyd Crumrine, History of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 566.

2 —, Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893), Pg 1355.

3 Joseph F. McFarland, 20th Century History of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1910), Pg 530.

4 Boyd Crumrine, History of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 834.

5 Boyd Crumrine, History of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 835.

6 Boyd Crumrine, History of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 828.