Introduction

After living in the Carolinas for most of his adult life, Joseph Garrett Parsons Sr. in 1817-19 journeyed with his youngest son John “Jack” and his wife, Mary “Poly” Cox Parsons to West Jefferson County, Alabama. Alcey, Joseph’s wife, had died about 20 years before and now having raised 10 children and many grandchildren he decided to make Alabama his new home.

Alabama had just become a state in 1819 and many residents of surrounding states had what historians called “Alabama Fever” with a desire to move to the fertile land of Alabama. The Western part of the county, which would later be called “the Garden Spot” of the county, was experiencing the influx of families from Tennessee, Georgia and the Carolinas. Joseph’s arrival came when he was about 76 years old and John about 32. They chose land that was on lower 5 mile creek between the present day 5 mile creek bridge and a mill that one of the McAdory’s had built on Valley Creek. His property was near one of the main roads during that time period called Bear Meat Cabin Road and later the Old Huntsville Road. Old Alabama maps show a spring called “Parsons” that feeds 5 mile creek and identifies the general location of the original homestead. This area was called Jonesboro named after the first settler, John Jones, who settled the area with his brother-in-law, Caleb Friley in 1813. Here they built a timber stockade called “Fort Jonesboro” to protect against the possibility of Indian attack. Some attribute the founding of Jones Valley to Jeremiah Jones who purchased land in Blount County (present day portion of Jefferson County, AL) in 1814 and was there in 1816 census with his wife and 3 daughters.

In the following years, many of Joseph’s children and grandchildren would also make the journey to the “garden spot” of Jefferson County settling in the areas that are now known as Adger, Johns, Mud Creek, Oak Grove and Hueytown. This land they found was described in Teeple and Smith’s book…”the land was productive and required little labor to produce the necessities of life. The woods on both sides of the valley were the hunter’s paradise abounding in deer and turkey, with some bear and panther…cattle and horses were raised in the woods and afforded all the butter, beef and milk that were needed. Cotton was hauled to the falls of Black Warrior, as Tuscaloosa was called then, and exchanged for coffee, salt, sugar and calico… The beautiful streams were clear as crystal in which you could see fish in ten feet of water.” Alabama’s most gifted poet of the era was A.B. Meek. Surrounded by the beauty of the area he wrote, “the fisherman in his canoe, dugout of a poplar tree, with his gig in his hand and his rifle lying beside him, ready for a deer if he should venture in sight, with the muscadine vines hanging is festoons from the tops of tall trees that overhung the water with their cluster of black, delicious fruit, and the beautiful red- horse fish sporting beneath his canoe, with their silver sides and red fins and tails, in the most desirable and healthful climate in the United States, the thirty-third degree of north latitude, almost entirely free from cyclones and northers…."

Joseph’s descendants purchased from the government and were granted (because of military service) thousands of acres. The following was written about the area during the period 1815-1861 by Teeple and Smith in their “History of Jefferson County” published in 1887. “down on big creek in the northwest part of the county, the county belonged to almost three or four families, viz: the Waldrops, Parsons, Vines and Smiths, three of which families could raise a captains company and did come very near doing so in the late Unpleasantness”. The reference to “Big Creek” refers to Valley Creek that was one of the many pristine creeks that was so important to the early settlers. Also, an article In a newspaper item from Livingston Journal, Sumter County, May 18, 1877 (His birthday) “Dr. Sam Parsons of Jefferson County is 83 years old, was a soldier of 1812, has 12 children, 45 grandchildren, and 34 great grandchildren.” “Dr. Sam” was a grandson of Joseph and moved to the county around 1838. In my discussion with one of the area historians, he said the area should have been called “Parsons” because of the extremely large number of Parsons who settled the area.

Almost all of the Parsons and so many other families in the Western Jefferson County area can claim Joseph Garrett Parsons Sr. as their distant Grandfather. Joseph died in 1823 and is buried in an unknown site near 5 Mile Creek. T. M. Parsons, in his brief history of the Parsons family, wrote; "Joseph Parsons, an old man who had served in the Revolutionary War, came to this county in the Fall of 1817 with his son, John "Jack" settled near lower 5 mild creek and died there."

During the remainder of the 1800’s the Parsons became Farmers, Gin Owners, Justice of the Peace, Jefferson County Commissioners, Store Owners, Postmaster, Blacksmiths, Church Planters, School Teachers, School Originators, and much more. Harold Parsons Jr. Birmingham, Al.