Samuel Holden Parsons
| Samuel Holden Parsons | |
|---|---|
| Born |
May 14, 1747 Lyme, Connecticut |
| Died | November 17, 1789 (aged 42) Beaver River (Pennsylvania) |
| Allegiance |
 United States of America
|
| Service/branch |
 Continental Army
|
| Rank |
 Major General (Continental Army) |
| Other work | pioneer to the Ohio Country |
Samuel Holden Parsons (May 14, 1737 – November 17, 1789) was an American lawyer, jurist, general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and a pioneer to the Ohio Country. Parsons was described as "Soldier, scholar, judge, one of the strongest arms on which Washington leaned, who first suggested the Continental Congress, from the story of whose life could almost be written the history of the Northern War" by Senator George F. Hoar of Massachusetts
Parsons was born in Lyme, Connecticut, the son of Jonathan Parsons and Phoebe (Griswold) Parsons. At the age of nine, his family moved to Newburyport, Massachusetts, where his father, an ardent supporter of the First Great Awakening, took charge of the town's new Presbyterian congregation.
Parsons graduated from Harvard College in 1756 and returned to Lyme to study law in the office of his uncle, Connecticut governor Matthew Griswold (governor). He was admitted to the bar in 1759, and started his law practice in Lyme. In 1761, he married Mehitabel Mather (1743–1802), a great-great-great-granddaughter of Rev. Richard Mather. Well-connected politically, he was elected to the General Assembly in 1762, where he remained a representative until his removal to New London.
Actively involved in the resistance against British forces on the eve of the Revolution, he was a member of New London's Committee of Correspondence. In March 1772, he wrote to Massachusetts leader Samuel Adams, suggesting a congress of the colonies: "I take the liberty to propose for your consideration", he wrote, "whether it would not be advisable in the present critical situation to revive an institution which formerly had a very salutary effect – I mean an annual meeting of commissioners from the colonies to consult on their general welfare."
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