William Parsons (8)

William Parsons (6 May 1701–17 December 1757) was a surveyor and public official, and an original member of the American Philosophical Society. He was born in England, but his family immigrated to Philadelphia when he was an infant. He taught himself mathematics and surveying while earning his living as a shoemaker’s apprentice, tavern-owner, scrivener, and merchant. Thereafter, he became active in public life. He was a member of the Junto, a founder of the Union Fire Company, and a founder, director, and librarian of the Library Company. In 1741 he was elected a member of the Philadelphia Common Council and appointed Surveyor General of Pennsylvania. In the latter capacity, he produced a new map of Pennsylvania, assisted in surveying a portion of the Pennsylvania-Maryland border in 1750-51, and laid out the new town of Easton, Pennsylvania, where he then settled. In 1753 he was elected a representative to the Pennsylvania Assembly. He also served as justice of the peace, prothonotary, and a recorder of the courts in both Lancaster County and Easton. When war broke out on the frontier in 1755, Parsons organized settler defenses against French and Native American forces and protected indigenous allies from settler violence. He appealed to Philadelphia for aid and criticized the colony’s government for its slow response. Upon the arrival of Benjamin Franklin, Parsons was appointed a major in the first battalion of the Pennsylvania regiment. His nephew Stephen Woolley and his grandson Thomas Horsfield were APS members. (PI)