Parsons, J. M.

PARSONS, WHITEHEAD

Posted By: Roseanna Zehner
Date: 7/25/2006 at 11:08:40

PARSONS, J.M.

J.M. Parsons, a prominent attorney of Rock Rapids, was born October 16, 1858, at Jones, Iowa, where he spent his earlier years attending school, living at home until old enough to enter the state school at Ames, where he was a student for one year, finishing his school days at Cornell College.

In 1879 he began reading law with Shean & McCarn, at Anamosa, Iowa, and was admitted to the bar in 1880, after which he located in Rock Rapids. His settlement in Lyon county was in April, 1881. He gradually increased his legal practice until now he is considered one of the leading members of the bar in Lyon county. In all the leading cases tried in the county courts he has almost always appeared on one side or the other. He was on the celebrated bonded indebtedness case of Lyon county, a case that was carried up to the Supreme Court on several important and complicated points. It was full of fraud, in the attempt to beat the people, and Mr. Parson fought it in every court. In another part of this work will be found a true account of these bond cases, which, coming as it does from the pen of Mr. Parsons, will be found very interesting reading for the citizens of Lyon county.

Mr. Parsons was united in marriage, in 1883, with Miss Lutie M., daughter of D.C. Whitehead, one of the earlier settlers in Iowa. Her father was born in New Jersey, and admitted to the bar in that state. To Mr. and Mrs. Parsons came five children to bless their union: Harry O., Robert O. and George A., now students at Cornell College, and Alabel C. and Louise Hortense, at home.

In 1884 Mr. Parsons became editor and proprietor of the Review, a Democratic publication of Rock Rapids. During the heated political excitement that lasted from 1884 until 1889, the Review was always in evidence as an exceedingly well conducted and deeply interesting sheet. In 1889 Mr. Parsons retired from the paper that he might devote his undivided attention to his law practice, then assuming large proportions.

He has always taken a deep interest in politics, and in 1891 he was elected Mayor of Rock Rapids, being twice re-elected. Since 1894 he has been on the school board, and is at the present time serving the city in that capacity. At every Democratic state convention since 1884 he has appeared as a delegate, that year being temporary chairman of that body. He also served as permanent chairman of that body several times. He was a delegate to the National Democratic convention at Kansas City in 1900, and a delegate at large to the St. Louis convention in 1904, serving on the committee on credentials. He was nominated for Attorney General in 1898, and in 1903 was a candidate for Congress.

Mr. Parsons owns several hundred acres of land which he rents. In Masonic circles he has risen very high, affiliating with Blue Lodge, No. 406, Lyon Chapter, No. 111. Commandery Petros, No. 54, and is a thirty-second degree Mason, Des Moines Consistory, and has taken the Shrine KCCH degree of the thirty-third degree, at Washington, D.C. He belongs to the order of Elks at Sioux City, and has been railroad attorney for the Illinois Central since 1886, and for the B.C.R. & N.R.R. since 1901. He has participated in several murder trials in Lyon and other counties and is regarded as one of the leading attorneys in Northwest Iowa.

Mr. and Mrs. Parsons attend the Congregational church, of which she is an honored and active member. His father, Silas Parsons, came to Iowa in 1836. He was born on the Roanoke river, in Virginia.

We take pleasure in presenting a portrait of Mr. Parsons on another page of this volume.

Source: Compendium of History Reminiscence and Biography of Lyon County, Iowa. Published under the Auspices of the Pioneer Association of Lyon County. Geo. Monlun, Pres.; Hon. E. C. Roach Sec’y; and Col. F. M. Thompson, Historian. Geo. A. Ogle & CO., Published, Engravers and Book Manufacturers. Chicago, 1904-1905

Transcribed by Roseanna Zehner, Darlene Jacoby and Diane Johnson