HISTORICAL COMMENTS BY GEORGE CHEVALLIER 3-12-16

Parsons Cemetery

A brief history

The history of Parsons Cemetery has many twists that may never be unraveled. The burial of a horse (it took 4 lots) and the identity of several plots are just two of the mysteries. A pamphlet about the history of the cemetery exists and is an excellent source of many of the facts about the cemetery to this point in time.

While the majority of the land at Parsons was originally bequeathed to St. Peter’s Church by Benjamin Parsons, there was apparently a cemetery there prior to the Civil War. When he died in 1873 without any children, his will stipulated that his home and 53 acre farm were to go to St. Peter’s Episcopal Church as a cemetery. His farm abutted the already existing city cemetery. St. Peter’s moved the graves of their Church members from the small plot next to the Church to the newly acquired land. One of the graves contained the bones of a very large man. It is thought that they belonged to “Big Ben” Allen. He was a Tory during the Revolutionary War and caused great distress to the local population that was faithful to the cause of the Revolution. It is said that he had a hiding place that was a cave near where the East prong of the Wicomico River now runs under the railroad tracks. The burial of several Union Army veterans quickly made Parsons Cemetery a popular final resting place in Salisbury. St. Peter’s opened the cemetery to all denominations at that point in time and today is considered a non-denominational cemetery.

Another large influx of burials came about because of the new Rt. 50 going directly through two existing cemeteries known as Potters Field and Houston Cemetery on Ward St. The removal of the graves for the right-of-way began in 1955. Some of the old graves are still there.

The genealogy of the Parsons family was graciously provided by Pat Taylor of the Nabb Center. It begins with a George Parsons who was born in 1708. He had two sons, William and George. William had a son he named William and it was this latter William’s son, Benjamin, who was the benefactor of the cemetery. George Parsons’ other son, also named George, had a son he named Jehu. Jehu had a son named Alison, who named his son Jehu. This Jehu was the mayor of Salisbury from 1898-1900. He named his son Alison after his father and this Alison is the donor of the funds for the design and construction of the brick wall along N. Division St. and the iron gates to the cemetery. A noted Williamsburg architect designed the wall, and the iron gates were hand-fabricated by a noted craftsman in Norfolk. These were added in 1967.

In 1999, columbaria were added along the west side in a beautiful setting overlooking Johnson’s Lake.

In 2000, George W. Parsons of Pittville passed away bequeathing a generous amount in his estate for the perpetuation of Parsons Cemetery.

In 2006, the former cemetery office on London Ave. was sold and this new administration/maintenance building was erected on the south side of the cemetery grounds.

Only in 2007 did we become aware that we have another distinguished person interred here. This came about because the Federal Government sent a plaque to the cemetery to be placed on the grave of a Medal of Honor recipient. He is John Purnell Chatham, who was born in Worcester County, MD on July 2, 1872, and died on October 3, 1914. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his meritorious service as a Gunner’s Mate Second Class assigned to the USS NEWARK during the China Relief Expedition during the period of June 13,20,21 and 22, 1900. The award states that he was awarded the Medal of Honor by distinguishing himself by his conduct in the presence of the enemy.

The next project in the works is to computerize the cemetery’s operations, to include creating a digitized map of the cemetery grounds, using Ramaker software, which will facilitate finding anyone interred there.