| Dr. John F. Parsons is a son of John and Mary Ann (Long) Parsons, and was born in Decatur County, Tenn., in 1852, and is the only living one of their five children. The father is of English ancestry, and was born in Randolph County, N. C., in November 1805. He was married to Sarah Ingram, and his four children by her are all dead. After her death he married, February 28, 1844, Miss Long, and about 1850 came to Decatur County, Tenn., where he resided until 1866, then removed to Henderson County, and there spent the remainder of his life. He was a prominent physician and surgeon for upward of fifty years. He served as surgeon one year in the Confederate Army, and died in 1880. His widow is still residing in Henderson County. Our subject was educated at Lexington, Tenn., and when about twenty-two began the study of medicine. In 1875 he entered the medical department of the University of Louisville, Ky., and graduated in March, 1877. He practiced five years in Henderson County, but has since been engaged in the drug business, his goods being valued at $1,500. He has a fine home in a pleasant part of the town, and on January 2, 1879, married Bettie, daughter of Wm. H. and Eliza Raines. Of their three children, two are living; Daisy C. and William Arthur. Mrs. Parsons was born in Madison County in 1856. In 1879-81 the Doctor was postmaster at Crucifer, Tenn., and is assistant postmaster at Gadsden. He is a Democrat, and a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity and the A.O.U.W. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and his wife to the Christian Church. |
