Joseph Parsons

Joseph Parsons, from Rick Parsons' archives.

Joseph Parsons (18 February 1881 (or 1887 according to his tombstone) - 17 October 1947) died onboard the George C. Whalen tug when it sank at the entrance of the "McKellar River" (the small central segment of the Kaministikwa River between the McKellar and Mission Islands)

Confusingly, there is another boat, formerly called the "Edward C. Whalen", now called ADANAC (Canada spelled backwards): http://www.boatnerd.com/pictures/fleet/AdanacIII.htm. It's not clear if this is the same boat. Its history listed on that site does not discuss the 17 October 1947 sinking, but strangely it does discuss another sinking, on 8 June 1954. This site http://www.boatnerd.com/swayze/shipwreck/w.htm does explicitly say it was the same boat.

best site with full history: http://www.nemoha.org/2900096/data

Early life

Joseph Parsons was born in Parsons Hermitage Bay, Newfoundland on 18 February 1881, the youngest son of Anna Parsons and Richard Parsons. One of his five sisters was Anne Snook. According to the news article reporting his death, he came to Port Arthur in 1912 and "held various positions in his capacity as a stationary engineer".

At the time of his death he was a fireman with a dredging firm's tugboat, the Edward C. Whalen.

Family

He married Hannah Parker (1900 - 1930) on 20 April 1922 (according to the newspaper, or on 29 April 1920 according to the "family record" written for his funeral in 1947). According to his 1947 obituary, he had four daughters and one son:

• Mrs. George Bishop
• Mrs. George Laye
• Mrs. Ray Cousineau
• Miss Jessie Parsons, 173 Bruce Street
• Richard Parsons, 172 Bruce Street

His wife died in 1930.

Death

Joseph died when his tug-boat sunk in Port Arthur, on 17 October 1947.

He was living on 414 Van Norman Street.

Sisters:

• B. Hey
• Hanna McGregor
• Belle Bourke

http://greatlakes.bgsu.edu/vessel/view/007575

Sources

Ancestry