Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 251 - 252 

DAVID PARKINSON. There is no class of biographies which is more interesting to read than that of the industrious and enterprising farmer's boy who has risen unaided from a state of comparative poverty to a position of affluence and comfort. Prominent among the men of Sedgwick County who have thus laboriously toiled onward and upward, is the individual of whom this sketch is written. He is now a well-to-do farmer and stock-raiser of Attica Township, residing upon section 1, and is a native of Jefferson County, Ohio. Sept. 28, 1848, is the date of his birth, and he is the son of Thomas and Margaret (Wheeler) Parkinson.

      Thomas Parkinson, the father of our subject, is a resident of Park Township, this county, and was born in Lancastershire, England, March 29, 1806. His parents, John and Susie (Merrill) Parkinson, were natives of the same county, and the father was a weaver by trade. The latter came to the United States in 1862, but after a year's residence returned to his native land and there ended his days. Thomas Parkinson was bred up a weaver, and came to the United States in 1828 and followed his trade in Philadelphia until 1832, when, after a residence in the interior of the State of Pennsylvania, he returned to Jefferson County, Pa. In 1853 he removed to Fulton County, Ill., where he engaged in farming, and made his home there until 1880, when he removed to Kansas. He was married in Columbiana County, Ohio, to Margaret, the daughter of Joseph and Isabella McKee, who was born in January, 1819, in Pennsylvania. They have lived in harmony together for many years, having celebrated their golden wedding in 1884.

      David Parkinson, of whom this biography is written, is the sixth of a family of thirteen children born to his parents, of whom ten are still living. He passed his boyhood days on the farm in Illinois, and received a fair education in the district schools of that State. As he grew toward man's estate, he gave his time to his father, rendering assistance in carrying on the homestead, and for two years after he had attained his majority worked for his parents for monthly wages. For the following three years he was engaged in agricultural pursuits upon rented land, and by economy and industry had accumulated enough of this world's goods to warrant him, as he thought, in getting married. Accordingly, March 16, 1874, he united his fortunes with Miss Melinda Morgan, a native of Fulton County, Ill., born Dec. 21, 1848, and daughter of James and Mary (Orwig) Morton. Her parents were natives of Ohio, and are now residents of Fulton County, Ill., being upward of eighty years of age. In October, 1875, Mr. Parkinson and his bride came to Kansas and settled upon a tract of land in Sedgwick County, belonging to his father-in-law, eighty acres of which Mr. Morgan had given Mrs. Parkinson a deed for.

      Since coming to this county, although he has seen pretty hard times, still the efforts of the subject of this sketch toward making a home have borne fruition. He purchased 160 acres of land, but has since sold eighty acres of it, and invested the proceeds in town lots in the city of Wichita, that marvelous wonder of the Arkansas Valley. His industry, energy and good management have raised him to a high position among the well-to-do agriculturists of this section of the county. He has 160 acres of land worth over $50 an acre, all of which is under a high state of tillage and is well stocked with fine horses, high-grade cattle and hogs. The buildings upon the place are handsome and substantial, his granaries and cribs are well filled, and a good orchard of young and thrifty trees adds materially to the value of the property.

      Around the family fireside of Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson there is gathered their little family of four children, whose names and natal days are as follows: Snowdon, who was born July 16, 1875; Travis, Oct. 31, 1878; Tressa, March 18, 1881, and Redding, Jan. 17, 1885. In his political affiliations, the subject of this history is a strict adherent to the principles of the Democratic party, and cast his first Presidential ballot for Horace Greeley. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which society Mr. Parkinson is Trustee. This organization built a new church in 1887, to which our subject donated $100 in money and $25 in labor. Enjoying the esteem, confidence and respect of the whole community, Mr. Parkinson may be well classed among the prominent citizens of Attica Township.

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