Birth: ca 1765?
Father: Layfield, William (Billie) (*1765 +1831)
Mother: Layfield, Unknown ()
Married Parsons, Will Peter (*1762 +1795)
Children:
1. Parsons, George Layfield (*1799)
2. Parsons, Nancy ()
3. Parsons, Maria ()
4. Parsons, Sally Brittingham ()
5. Parsons, William Hafford (*1794 +1871 Parsonsburg, MD?)
6. Parsons, Richie ()
7. Parsons, Handy ()
Birth: 01 JUN 1819, Farm between Pittsville and Parsonsburg.
Death: 17 JUN 1899
Burial: Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery
Father: Parsons, William Hafford (*1794 +1871 Parsonsburg, MD?)
Mother: Briddel, Mary (*1797 +1884 Parsonsburg, MD?)
Married(1) Truitt, Katherine (*1809 +1871 Parsonsburg (then Johnsons Forks))
1840
Children:
1. Parsons, George W. (*1842 Parsonsburg, MD? +1923 Parsonsburg, MD?)
2. Parsons, Daniel J. (*1843 Parsonsburg, MD? +1917 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)
3. Parsons, Samuel Peter (*1845 +1915 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)
4. Parsons, Elizabeth Mary Hester (*1847 +1941 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)
5. Parsons, Rebecca Catherine (*1850 +1927)
6. Parsons, Isaac Washington (*1856 +1940)
Married(2) Collins, Laura Ann (*1839 +1916 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)
30 September 1872
Children:
1. Parsons, Gertrude May (*1873 Parsonsburg, MD +1953 Salisbury, Md.)
Notes:
Patented `Parsons Luck' in 1846 for 52.5 acres, Worcester Co., Maryland.
Patented `Addition to Readen' in 1853 for 7 acres, (now) Wicomico Co., MD.
Patented `Palestine' in 1867 for 2 acres, 3 perches, 9 rods, Worcester
Co., Maryland.
In the 1850 census, Isaac is listed with his family living in Household
\# 133 in the 4th district of Worcester Co., Maryland.
1850 Worcester County Census Transcription by Ruth Dryden.
From the Program of the 6th Annual Convention of the Wicomico
County Volunteer Firemen's Association, Parsonsburg, MD, June 23,
1931 and letters from Mary Hester Parsons and Etha Parsons Yohe.
Where personal pronouns are used, Mary Hester speaks.
Isaac was the eldest son of the eight children of Hafford and
Mary Bridell Parsons, who raised him at their home between
Pittsville, known as Derrickson's Crossroads and Parsonsburg. When
Isaac was a boy he learned the blacksmith trade with one Isaac
Dale, at that time the best blacksmith anywhere around, but he
would get too much toddy, being plenty of it obtainable. Isaac said
that when Mr. Dale would get groggy he couldn't work and would give
the shop over entirely to him, so by having a chance to do things
himself, he soon knew enough about blacksmith work to go to work
for himself. He was especially expert in making farm implements.
In 1840 he married Catherine Truitt, who had a private school
nearby, and settled near Pittsville on a part of the Truitt farm
which had belonged to her father where he built a shop. Here Mary
Hester Parsons and her three older brothers were born. Mary Hester
was only a baby by the time they left the old Truitt farm.
Mary Hester writes that her first recollection of life was on
a farm a few miles from Nelson's known as the Smith farm. There
her sister Beck was born in 1850. They lived there until 1854.
Isaac worked the farm and doing blacksmith work when not busy on
the farm, but he got tired of renting and decided to buy land and
make a farm of his own. In 1854 Isaac H. Parsons purchased of
George Kendall Perdue 60 acres of land on the north side of the
fork known as Johnson's Forks, where he built a home. Not much
else was near at the time. He erected a blacksmith shop at the
Fork where the Post Office later stood. Here he made all the tools
for grubbing and clearing the farm. His old anvil now resides in
Rebecca Wootten Phippin's collection.
Before continuing Isaac's story, we sketch the history of the
town of Parsonsburg. Back in the nineteenth century, a decade or
more before the outbreak of the Civil War, a stranger named Johnson
had appeared in those parts one day.
No one seemed to know who he was, where he came from, or what
he came for, evidently he was favorably impressed with the
location, fertility of the soil, and general surroundings, and
after looking about, purchased land at the cross roads and named
the place Johnsons Forks. He lived about a mile away on the south
side of the present road. He had a sea chest, brass bound, with a
hollow end where he supposedly kept his money. He also had a desk
with secret drawers. He divided his large farm into sections--one
was called Old Savannah, one Old Russia. There was a lot of swamp
land and the ex-slaves used to go in wading waist deep to gather
high bush huckleberries, almost as tall as young trees. The house
was large with exposed rafters, a large deep cellar, and each end
of the house was brick with large fireplaces.
Gradually he became more communicative and related to his
newly found friends, as they sat on the spacious plantation
verandas, interesting stories of his travels in many countries,
freely admitting in conversation that he was something of a nomad,
a statement recalled and confirmed a short time later when he
suddenly disappeared. All that was left was Johnson's Forks and
curiosity. He has never been heard from since.
Quite a period elapsed after their nomadic visitor departed,
before an attempt was made to establish business and build homes at
Johnsons Forks. Isaac Parsons purchase of his farm in 1854 began
a new period of building.
The land that he bought was covered in forest trees, there
being none of the land cleared except a small lot of about three
acres about half mile from the Forks that had a single story house
on it of one large room, that was entirely surrounded by woods.
When he came to look the land over he could not find a high place
to move the house on but he decided to move the house and build the
ground to it. He cut down a place big enough for the house and
stables and neighbors helped him move the house to the spot he
wanted it on. There it still stands on the identical spot where
it was placed behind tall maples he planted like sentinels. It
certainly took courage to start a home and raise a family in such
a wilderness, but the family was happy. ``Being five children of
us we did not have much room,'' Mary Hester continues, ``so my
father built a lean-to for a kitchen and we made out fine. Then
the Tug of War began. Clearing of land for a farm, the lot where
the house was moved from was big enough for a garden and trucks so
we made out pretty good. We had one horse, yoke of oxen and two
cows. Having no pasture, we rented pasture for cattle where Claten
Jackson now lives and on the old White farm now belonging to
Charlie Wilkins. Those cattle had to be driven to pasture each
morning and gone after at night, which we small children had to do.
Beck, my sister, was too small to leave or to take. Usually I
stayed with her and mother went if the boys were not at home.''
There were a number of free negroes in this section and Mr.
Parsons hired them to grub the 60 acres, paying one dollar for
every 3600 square feet, supplying the man with his own make of
grubbing tools.
At that time there were few homes and these were widely
separated.
Isaac built a large square two story store opposite from where
Ennis Brothers store later stood. Here he sold everything from
needles to wagons, and here in 1867 a part of the store became the
first Post Office.
Mr. Parsons continued his building operations after
establishing the general store by putting in operation a saw mill
and grist mill. These activities which were a great credit to the
enterprise of Mr. Parsons were forming a nucleus around which would
be built homes and places of business, a real town in fact, no
doubt already visioned by this far sighted business man when he
invested his money at Johnsons Forks. Produce, mostly corn, was
hauled over this route to Salisbury, the farmers agreeing on a
certain day for the trip, some coming from as far as Berlin,
sometimes as many as twenty five wagons traveling in the caravan.
If any of them had repair work to be done on their farming
implements they left them at the shop, expecting them to be
repaired and ready for them on their return from Salisbury the
following day, and very rarely were they disappointed, Mr. Parsons
often working in the shop with his helpers all night in order to
finish the job.
Of course, the farmers always made a considerable stop at the
Forks to feed up, and many a loose coin was passed over the counter
of the Parsons store for various kinds of merchandise, all of which
showed a keen perceptiveness for business possessed by a man who
was at the threshold of a new town in the making, a town soon
destined to lose and forget the name Johnsons Forks, and adopt the
name of the promoter with a burg at the end of it.
The roads were bad, as this was a large corn belt stretching
to Berlin and there was a lot of hauling by heavy wagons. There
were not any bridges, so trees were dropped in the river so the
wagons could cross.
One night returning from Salisbury, a driver who had been
drinking heavily fell off of his wagon and was accidentally run
over near where now stands the headquarters of the Parsonsburg Fire
company. The sharp new tires of the loaded wagon severed his head
from the body. The wagon came on in without him, but it was said
that he came back on dark nights to look for his head.
Superstition was rife in those days, especially among the negro
slaves, some of them declaring after the fatal accident that they
had seen a headless man walking about the cross roads in the dim
moonlight. It is not surprising that Johnsons Forks was left to
its solitude and ghostly perambulators after nightfall for a long
time after that.
Mary Hester tells us her memories of this story. ``At the
time the Parsons family moved to the Forks it was said that there
were Ghosts to be seen and heard all around here, a man having been
killed by falling from his wagon and it running over him and
killing him while drunk. It happened on the road right in front of
where the Fire Engine house now stands. Everybody almost at that
time was superstitious and many of them believed there really were
Ghosts to be seen. I could not believe there was unless I was
alone, I some time had shivers. On one occasion mother had to go
with my brother Pete for the cows, he being too small to go alone,
it was late and the cows were pastured in an old field just this
side of Morris Leonard's. It was a hot summer afternoon. Beck and
I were undressed all but one little garment and put to bed and told
to go to sleep. When they left no sleep for us! We thought Ghosts
were all around us. Scared to death, we lay there and trembled.
A limb or something struck the house--might have been the house
readjusting itself after having been moved--anyway the noise
sounded to us like a gun. We hopped out of bed with but little on
and started to where mother and Pete had gone for the cows. There
were woods on each side of the road--it was all woods where Mr.
Owen lives. We ran and called mother until we got where Owen's
house stands. We heard the cow bells jingling and we began calling
the cows by their names. We called Goo Pink, Goo Julia, Goo Pink,
Goo Julia. Mother heard us and thought something had happened and
she tried to run but was so scared she could not. She told Pete to
run to us. It was all over, we thought, when mother got to us.
But it was NOT. We were in nice condition to be spanked and we
needed it. These things, although trifling as they were, were real
to us and soon as clear to me as things that took place long
since.''
``I never saw or heard any more Ghost. I think that cured me
but often when teams were going by I've heard them tell of things
they had seen at the Forks.''
George W. Parsons daughter, Etha, recalls her grandmother.
``Grandmother graded the wool from the sheep, carded it and used a
foot spinning wheel to spin the yarn. The fine wool was to knit
their winter stockings, the next grade to weave counterpanes and
the coarse to weave carpets. Grandmother packed the wool in
saddlebags and rode horseback to an old woman who made her living
weaving. They used leaves from trees and bark for dyes. Red oak,
apple bark, bay leaves mad yellow. They would get limp indigo and
mix it in a large vat away from the house, mix it with urine, every
day add more until they had the color they wanted. They used
something to set the color--probably coperus. Then the article was
rinsed through many waters until all odor was removed, then aired.
They would take a lath and wind the yarns around and around making
stripes in colors they wished to make their carpets and take the
chart to the weavers. Grandmother had beautiful counterpanes made
for each of her children.'' (Rebecca Phippin has two of these--
blue and white and red and white--in her collection).
Mary Hester tells us of school life in early Parsonsburg:
``After we adjusted a little I and the boys started to school in
the house now occupied by Anne Spence. The room next to the Church
is the same room. (Etha Yohe tells us it measured 18 by 20 feet).
In Winter sometimes from twenty five to forty children were
enrolled for school but they did not attend regularly in those
days.
``My first teacher was Greensbury Freeny and his father
assisted with the younger children. Mr. Joshua Freeny the father
of Greensbury (later Doctor) was an awful cross and strict man I
thought, and I was a timid child and was so afraid of him I cried
half of the time. He had a long black gum switch and kept it by
him all the time. When he thought it time to scare us he would
strike on the floor with his old gum switch and almost make us jump
off our seats when he hollered out ``mind your books''. He asked
my father why I cried so much. Pa said I was afraid of him and I
would never learn anything while I was afraid so the old man
changed to putting his arm around me when I went up to recite and
that scared me almost as bad as the gum switch.
``Our chance for an education was very limited, there was no
system about books when I first started to school. A child could
take almost any kind of book and get what they could out of it.
There were no classes. Each scholar recited or read his own.
Often the teacher would be looking over some of the bigger boys
arithmetic and never heard a word we had read. When we started to
our seats he would say get your lesson over. And by the way what
kind of accommodation do you think we had for comfort? Well, we
had a large fireplace in the end of the room, three seats made of
pine slabs with the flat side up. They had holes in the under or
round side with large pegs inserted in the holes for legs. These
were placed against the wall and those who were fortunate enough to
get a seat against the wall had a place to lean and rest his back
a little, the other seat were placed facing the fireplace with
nothing to lean on to rest. Only our elbows on our knees and the
teacher did not want us to stoop over but not having had any better
arrangements we made out pretty good. When ``ignorance is bliss it
is folly to be wise'', you know, so we had that blessing.
``Every child had to furnish his own book besides the parents
had to pay the teachers salary out of their own pockets. So I
think we did right well even to learn to read and write. Many
barely did that much.
``The old Gomly's spelling book was in most families and when
the children learned all that was in them they could usually read,
write and knew the multiplication table and could do simple
addition.
``Later the McGuffy's readers were used in the school, still
later we had history, grammar, Geography, but none of the girls
took up grammar unless they chose to do so, as the teachers did not
insist. I chose to do so though did not get far.''
Mary Hester continues, ``I think it is about time I get back
to our lives on the farm. My father began clearing land. Labor
was cheap and those who owned slaves would hire them out for a
certain amount for a month, or year, and my father worked at his
trade blacksmithing and made quite a good thing by working at his
trade and hiring cheaper labor. By keeping at clearing land it was
new and produced fine. He soon had a nice little farm. He built
a new addition to the first house, moved up to the Forks and we had
as comfortable a house as any of our neighbors.
By that time the boys were grown up and able to farm or do
blacksmithing or almost any kind of work that the majority of the
Parsons are able to do. Then the War Cry broke out. ''
The dispute between the north and south over the slavery
question was at this time agitating the minds of the people here on
the Eastern Shore and in our community, as it was in every part of
our beloved land, and discerning minds could see that it was only
a question of time when the people of the two sections would be in
deadly conflict. When the war finally began, Thomas White, Daniel,
Joseph and Samuel Hayman, three brothers, were called; also James
Workman, John J. Perdue, Leven D. Davis and Beauchamp Hobbs.
Etha Yohe described the religious life of early Parsonsburg.
``Before a church was built in Parsonsburg, people went to Melsons
where a church had been built in 1780 and where camp meetings were
held. The families formed a circle with their wagons and made a
large covered construction in the center for services. It was a
plain, rough structure, boards on small logs for seats. They slept
in their wagons. They used the large iron pots used for butchering
for cooking. Each family put in a chicken for pot pie that was
served on long outside tables. Bread and cakes had been brought
from home.
``They were very emotional people, sometimes shouting and
singing all night. The mourners bench would be full of sinners
praying for forgiveness. The family and friends stayed beside them
shouting and praying.
``In 1839 the first church was built in Parsonsburg. It was
started on a Christmas morning by a Mr. Kendal who suddenly got
tired just praying to God to show him how to get a church in
Parsonsburg. He just started cutting down trees and when people
came to investigate, they too started chopping. By March the
mission chapel was built. It was not finished inside but had only
benches with a three inch board for a back. It had a gallery where
the slaves were permitted to come. One time at a big meeting with
lots of shouting and singing a slave woman fell over the railing
down on the people below, but no one was hurt.
``Later George Parsons who did beautiful cabinet work built a
Bible table and very good pews. He was the first Sunday School
Superintendent, a post he held for sixty years.
``In 1855 a camp meeting was held on the grounds where the
Community House now stands. There were about 50 tents, a boarding
tent, a refreshment stand, a horse pound and in the center a large
tabernacle. It was just a roof and elevated end for the choir and
preacher's table. The first bench near the pulpit was the
mourner's bench but was used for seats only in the evangelistic
services. On every corner of the campground was a large post. A
box about four feet square was braced to the post. It was filled
with sand and at night they put a little straw on the box and
tossed on large knots of light wood and the fire would leap in the
air and the air would be filled with the aroma of rosin.
``Then a large bell was installed over the camp tabernacle.
This rang every morning for a short prayer service. Many took
their meals in the boarding tent which had a large kitchen in the
back with two cook stoves. Out back were iron pots, one for hot
water, one for beef or vegetable stews. There was a staff of negro
mammys and negro waiters. Our families had kitchens in back of our
tents and a maid.''
In 1866 after the close of the war there was much agitation in
this and other sections for a railroad, and the project was finally
accomplished during the following year, in 1867, when the Wicomico
and Pocomoke railroad pushed east through Walston's Switch toward
Berlin. Rail service on these tracks continued until 1973. The
same year Johnsons Forks was consigned to obscurity when Uncle Sam
established a Post Office making the official name Parsonsburg.
Isaac H. Parsons was honored by receiving the appointment as Post
Master. The same year George W. Parsons built a home, a saw mill
and a basket factory.
Mr. Parsons had four sons and two daughters: George W.
Parsons, Samuel Peter Parsons, Daniel J. Parsons, Isaac W. Parsons,
Rebecca Parsons, and Mary Hester Parsons. Each of his sons learned
the blacksmith trade, married and settled near the father, the
daughters also married and settled in the vicinity, each of his
children reared large families who in turn settled in the growing
little community. His second wife was Laura Ann Collins Layfield,
and together they had another daughter, Gertrude May Parsons.
Laura Ann had three daughters, Ida, Jane and Annie (`Aunt Annie')
Layfield, by her first marriage.
SOURCE: Letter Etha Y.
Birth: __ ___ 1842, Parsonsburg, MD?
Death: __ ___ 1923, Parsonsburg, MD?
Burial: Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery
Father: Parsons, Isaac Henry (*1819 Farm between Pittsville and Parsonsburg. +1899 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)
Mother: Truitt, Katherine (*1809 +1871 Parsonsburg (then Johnsons Forks))
Married(1) Melson, Henrietta M. (*1844 +1878 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)
Children:
1. Parsons, Charles W. ()
2. Parsons, Arthur K. ()
3. Parsons, Etta ()
4. Parsons, Harold G. ()
5. Parsons, Katie ()
Married(2) Parsons, Mary Elizabeth (Lizzie) (*1859 +1917 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)
Notes:
SOURCE: Tomb
Birth: 01 SEP 1843, Parsonsburg, MD?
Death: 20 DEC 1917
Burial: Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery
Father: Parsons, Isaac Henry (*1819 Farm between Pittsville and Parsonsburg. +1899 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)
Mother: Truitt, Katherine (*1809 +1871 Parsonsburg (then Johnsons Forks))
Married(1) Layfield, Maria E. (*1848 +1880 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)
5 December 1867
Children:
1. Parsons, William Wilson ()
2. Parsons, Rosa M. ()
3. Parsons, Alfarata (*1875)
Married(2) Layfield, Janie M. ()
Children:
1. Parsons, Edna ()
Notes:
SOURCE: Tomb
Birth: 14 AUG 1845
Death: 09 OCT 1915
Burial: Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery
Father: Parsons, Isaac Henry (*1819 Farm between Pittsville and Parsonsburg. +1899 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)
Mother: Truitt, Katherine (*1809 +1871 Parsonsburg (then Johnsons Forks))
Married(1) Burbbage, Emma (*1850 +1872 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)
Children:
1. Parsons, Hubert Alvin ()
Married(2) Bond, Elizabeth ()
Children:
1. Parsons, Mazie ()
2. Parsons, Frank T. ()
3. Parsons, Alice ()
Notes:
SOURCE: Tomb
Birth: 28 NOV 1847
Death: 16 JAN 1941
Burial: Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery
Father: Parsons, Isaac Henry (*1819 Farm between Pittsville and Parsonsburg. +1899 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)
Mother: Truitt, Katherine (*1809 +1871 Parsonsburg (then Johnsons Forks))
Married Hayman, Benjamin Franklin (*1844 +1908)
25 November 1869
Children:
1. Hayman, Fred E. (*1870)
2. Hayman, Mary Catherine (Mollie) (*1881)
3. Hayman, Elizabeth E. (Lizzie) (*1878)
4. Hayman, Anna E. (Annie) (*1873)
5. Hayman, Harry Graham (*1875 +1938)
6. Hayman, Lillian (Lillie) (*1872)
7. Hayman, Carl (*1879 +1879)
Notes:
SOURCE: Tomb
Birth: 1850
Death: 1927
Father: Parsons, Isaac Henry (*1819 Farm between Pittsville and Parsonsburg. +1899 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)
Mother: Truitt, Katherine (*1809 +1871 Parsonsburg (then Johnsons Forks))
Married Hayman, Joseph James (*1844 +1891)
Children:
1. Hayman, Edwin Henry Dr. ()
2. Hayman, Joseph Kerwin ()
3. Hayman, Willard ()
4. Hayman, Jessie ()
5. Hayman, Ella ()
Notes:
SOURCE: Parsons Gen.
Birth: 9 May 1856
Death: 17 August 1940
Father: Parsons, Isaac Henry (*1819 Farm between Pittsville and Parsonsburg. +1899 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)
Mother: Truitt, Katherine (*1809 +1871 Parsonsburg (then Johnsons Forks))
Married Parsons, Mary Kate (*1858 +1919)
Children:
1. Parsons, Etha (*1875 Parsonsburg, Maryland)
2. Parsons, Corliss G. (*1881 +1944)
3. Parsons, Fred ()
Birth: 20 JAN 1839
Death: 17 JUN 1916
Burial: Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery
Father: Collins, Joseph R. (*1811)
Mother: Parker, Jane ()
Married(1) Layfield, George Wilson (*1836 +1867)
Children:
1. Layfield, Janie (*1861)
2. Layfield, Ida (*1863)
3. Layfield, `Aunt' Annie (*1865 +1937 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)
Married(2) Parsons, Isaac Henry (*1819 Farm between Pittsville and Parsonsburg. +1899 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)
30 September 1872
Children:
1. Parsons, Gertrude May (*1873 Parsonsburg, MD +1953 Salisbury, Md.)
Notes:
SOURCE: Tomb
Birth: 01 AUG 1873, Parsonsburg, MD
Death: 12 OCT 1953, Salisbury, Md.
Burial: Salisbury, Md.
Father: Parsons, Isaac Henry (*1819 Farm between Pittsville and Parsonsburg. +1899 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)
Mother: Collins, Laura Ann (*1839 +1916 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)
Married Wootten, Alphonso (*1875 Dorchester County, MD. +1937 Salisbury, MD)
18 June 1902, Jerusalem United Methodist Church, Parsonsburg, Maryland
Children:
1. Wootten, Victor Lynn (*Parsonsburg, MD +Salisbury, MD)
2. Wootten, Nathaniel R. (+Salisbury, MD)
3. Wootten, Rebecca Anne (*Salisbury, MD)
4. Wootten, Alwyn Henry (*Salisbury, MD +Salisbury, MD)
Birth: 03 MAY 1848
Death: 20 FEB 1880
Burial: Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery
Father: Layfield, William Wilson (*1813 +1888)
Mother: Brittingham, Maria (*1814)
Married Parsons, Daniel J. (*1843 Parsonsburg, MD? +1917 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)
5 December 1867
Children:
1. Parsons, William Wilson ()
2. Parsons, Rosa M. ()
3. Parsons, Alfarata (*1875)
Notes:
SOURCE: Tomb
Birth: circa 1811
Married Parker, Jane ()
Dec 16, 1836, Worcester Co., Maryland
Children:
1. Collins, John B. (*1837 Worcester Co., Maryland)
2. Collins, Laura Ann (*1839 +1916 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)
3. Collins, Samuel Z. (*1841 Worcester Co., Maryland)
4. Collins, Joseph M. (*1842 Worcester Co., MD)
Notes:
R. W. Phippin believes related to Peter. Says Dr. Charles Truitt's
wife descends from this line. 1840 MD Census gives 2 Peter Collins, both in
Somerset Co: 243 middle D and 205 upper D. 1850 MD Census lists one, in
Somerset Co.: 431 Princess.
Becky says "I remember a Quint Collins--Uncle, or whatever?--I think
they were from Norfolk.
Dr. Charles Truitt's wife must have been a Collins as two daughters were
our cousins. Eileen Truitt m. Burke Wright moved South, and Mildred
Truitt, remained single, moved also after retirement from Benjamin's.
They used to live on Church St. in a big house long gone.
HAW examined microfilms of the 1840 census at the Virginia State Archives
in October 1993. Joseph R. Collins is listed in the Western District of
Worcester County by census taker James Hooper, along with one boy and one
girl, both under the age of five, and two females aged 20-30, one of
which is presumably his wife. The other may be the Charlotte Purnell listed
in the 1850 census below.
In the 1850 census, Joseph R. Collins is listed in household \#370 4th
district with four children, along with Charlotte Purnell, aged 35.
Married Collins, Joseph R. (*1811)
Dec 16, 1836, Worcester Co., Maryland
Children:
1. Collins, John B. (*1837 Worcester Co., Maryland)
2. Collins, Laura Ann (*1839 +1916 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)
3. Collins, Samuel Z. (*1841 Worcester Co., Maryland)
4. Collins, Joseph M. (*1842 Worcester Co., MD)
Notes:
Not listed living with J. R. Collins in 1850 census.
Birth: circa 1837, Worcester Co., Maryland Father: Collins, Joseph R. (*1811) Mother: Parker, Jane ()Notes: One of Laura Ann's brothers sent Nattie and Lynn the billy goat from Norfolk, according to Rebecca Wootten.
Birth: circa 1841, Worcester Co., Maryland Father: Collins, Joseph R. (*1811) Mother: Parker, Jane ()
Birth: circa 1842, Worcester Co., MD Father: Collins, Joseph R. (*1811) Mother: Parker, Jane ()
Birth: 2 January 1836
Death: 12 May 1867
Father: Layfield, William Wilson (*1813 +1888)
Mother: Brittingham, Maria (*1814)
Married Collins, Laura Ann (*1839 +1916 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)
Children:
1. Layfield, Janie (*1861)
2. Layfield, Ida (*1863)
3. Layfield, `Aunt' Annie (*1865 +1937 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)
Notes:
SOURCE: Hayman book
Birth: 1861 Father: Layfield, George Wilson (*1836 +1867) Mother: Collins, Laura Ann (*1839 +1916 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery) Married Layfield, Daniel J. ()
Birth: __ ___ 1863 Death: young Father: Layfield, George Wilson (*1836 +1867) Mother: Collins, Laura Ann (*1839 +1916 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)Notes: SOURCE: Aunt Becky
Birth: 30 MAR 1865 Death: 05 MAY 1937 Burial: Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery Father: Layfield, George Wilson (*1836 +1867) Mother: Collins, Laura Ann (*1839 +1916 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)Notes: SOURCE: Tomb
Birth: c. 1765
Death: 4 April 1831
Father: Layfield, (*1740 +1791)
Married(1) Layfield, Unknown ()
Children:
1. Layfield, Jane (Jenny) (*1790)
2. Layfield, Sally (*1765)
3. Layfield, Elizabeth (Betsy) ()
4. Layfield, George ()
Married(2) Parsons, Elizabeth ()
Children:
1. Layfield, William Wilson (*1813 +1888)
Married Layfield, William (Billie) (*1765 +1831)
Children:
1. Layfield, Jane (Jenny) (*1790)
2. Layfield, Sally (*1765)
3. Layfield, Elizabeth (Betsy) ()
4. Layfield, George ()
Birth: c. 1790
Father: Layfield, William (Billie) (*1765 +1831)
Mother: Layfield, Unknown ()
Married Layfield, Robert (*1790 +1871)
29 December 1810
Birth: Father: Layfield, William (Billie) (*1765 +1831) Mother: Layfield, Unknown ()
Father: Layfield, William (Billie) (*1765 +1831) Mother: Layfield, Unknown ()
Married Layfield, William (Billie) (*1765 +1831)
Children:
1. Layfield, William Wilson (*1813 +1888)
Notes:
Third wife.
Birth: c. 1813
Death: 23 October 1888
Father: Layfield, William (Billie) (*1765 +1831)
Mother: Parsons, Elizabeth ()
Married(1) Brittingham, Maria (*1814)
24 April 1835
Children:
1. Layfield, George Wilson (*1836 +1867)
2. Layfield, Maria E. (*1848 +1880 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)
Married(2) Perdue, Mary E. (*1838)
27 March 1873
Birth: c. 1740
Death: before 1791
Father: Layfield, Thomas (*1714 +1791)
Mother: Smullen, Sarah ()
Married
c. 1760
Children:
1. Layfield, William (Billie) (*1765 +1831)
Birth: c. 1714
Death: August 1791
Father: Layfield, Robert (*1680 +1717)
Mother: Carney, Anne ()
Married Smullen, Sarah ()
1743
Children:
1. Layfield, (*1740 +1791)
2. Layfield, John (*1742)
3. Layfield, Sarah (*1744)
4. Layfield, Elizabeth (*1746)
5. Layfield, Mary (*1748)
Father: Smullen, R. ()
Married Layfield, Thomas (*1714 +1791)
1743
Children:
1. Layfield, (*1740 +1791)
2. Layfield, John (*1742)
3. Layfield, Sarah (*1744)
4. Layfield, Elizabeth (*1746)
5. Layfield, Mary (*1748)
Birth: c. 1742 Father: Layfield, Thomas (*1714 +1791) Mother: Smullen, Sarah ()
Birth: c. 1744 Father: Layfield, Thomas (*1714 +1791) Mother: Smullen, Sarah ()
Birth: c. 1746 Father: Layfield, Thomas (*1714 +1791) Mother: Smullen, Sarah ()
Birth: c 1748 Father: Layfield, Thomas (*1714 +1791) Mother: Smullen, Sarah ()
Married
Children:
1. Smullen, Sarah ()
Birth: c. 1680
Death: c. 1717
Married Carney, Anne ()
Children:
1. Layfield, Robert (*1710)
2. Layfield, William (*1712)
3. Layfield, Thomas (*1714 +1791)
4. Layfield, David (*1718)
Married Layfield, Robert (*1680 +1717)
Children:
1. Layfield, Robert (*1710)
2. Layfield, William (*1712)
3. Layfield, Thomas (*1714 +1791)
4. Layfield, David (*1718)
Birth: c. 1710/11 Father: Layfield, Robert (*1680 +1717) Mother: Carney, Anne ()
Birth: c. 1712 Father: Layfield, Robert (*1680 +1717) Mother: Carney, Anne ()
Birth: c. 1718
Father: Layfield, Robert (*1680 +1717)
Mother: Carney, Anne ()
Married
Children:
1. Layfield, Robert ()
Birth: c. 1814
Married Layfield, William Wilson (*1813 +1888)
24 April 1835
Children:
1. Layfield, George Wilson (*1836 +1867)
2. Layfield, Maria E. (*1848 +1880 Parsonsburg Methodist Church Cemetery)
Birth: 19 February 1838
Married Layfield, William Wilson (*1813 +1888)
27 March 1873