Parrill notes and memoirs

   While On the Parrill quest as most of you have been you will no doubt run across some obstacles.

Mostly during the late 1700's to mid 1800's John and Joseph was the favorite names. And with very few wills, marriage and death records, and census. It makes it quite difficult to place an individual with a Parrill family. When the possibly is he may fit with several families. That is where you have to compare other factors in to solve the mystery if possible.

The other is that war and natural destruction have destroyed a lot of the records. And in fact some things were just not recorded.

Here are some things read on.

 Memoirs

   As all who have came across or have the surname of Parrill know, it is quite unique.  From Heritage arts and other sources you can find info on the names of Parry and others from the Europe area. Seems in the early years the name Parrill was brought into existence. The earliest Parrill who most of us can claim as our ancestor is Hugh Parrill of Frederick County Virginia. There are various documents and information in libraries and courthouses that place him in VA, and his wills are there also. The name is spelled Parrell and Parrill in Hugh’s documents.

   The Bruce families tell us, from their family bibles that Hugh’s eldest daughter Sarah married their kin John Bruce. From these sources we gather they came from Scotland. This predates current America, and is the only thing to show Hugh’s whereabouts prior to coming to then Colonial America.

   In Hugh’s will he mentions his loving kinsman John Bruce, who was married to Sarah Parrill

   Hugh Parrill married Ann Calvert, and settled in Frederick County Va. Hugh was granted 433 acres of land. This land being Red Bud area in Frederick County Va.

Hugh and Ann had 5 children.

Sarah married John Bruce

Edward never married

John married Elizabeth

Joseph married Sarah Turner

Christian married William McMahon

    Hugh was on the first Grand Jury of Winchester. Hugh also is listed as appraising various properties as well. George Washington had visited Winchester in this time period, and they may have met. Although from what is told in George Washington’s letters, he did not like the folk of Winchester much when he first visited; they seemed a bit barbaric to him. But his letters say that later he learned to like them. Hopefully, Hugh was one of them that he learned to like. It seems that the area of Winchester Frederick County was still a bit untamed country still in the 1700’s. Hugh’s son Joseph Parrill put up a group of Delaware Indians, until the coast was clear, as the story was told.

 Now we come into the Revolutionary War. And the Parrill name comes up. John and Joseph are listed as active in the war.  As well as donations made. There is also mentioned of them in The Papers of George Washington

  Now we come unto the War of 1812, and John Parrill served in the war, as well as Joseph. Enoch is mentioned also, with other Parrills.

Isabella, wife of Joseph filed a form for pension.

Now we come upon the civil in which some brave Parrills served

We have found that the Parrills migrated for various reasons, this some of what is known told to me by Kenneth Parrill of Ohio. He said that the Parrills came into Ohio in three different paths, the high path being close to the Michigan line. The middle path, and the lower path. The reasons are not clear, but we know that they took difference routes through Ohio from Virginia. Mostly for opportunities we assume, homesteading land and bravely venturing into the unknown country.

Sarah discovered in her research that Land in Ohio was giving to those who served in the revolutionary war.  Also there were several “gold rushes” and also a few “diamond rushes” This was a perfect time of lots of new opportunities so a lot of families migrated. Lots of families lost their roots, since they stopped communicating.

The Parrills were Justices, doctors, teachers, letter carriers, farmers, politicians, mill operators, and laborers, and many different professions.

Any event in the early History of the U.S. there is a Parrill involved.

Revolutionary War

War of 1812

The Underground Railroad ( according to Virginia Parrill Dodriff )

Civil War

World War I

World War II

Vietnam War 

  There is a musical heritage of the Parrills, as it has been passed down for many generations. The banjo was the instrument of choice.

Our Great Grandfather Edward Ashby Parrill would play; he learned from his father Jacob Dillon Parrill. Our grandfather Jacob, or “Jake” played also, and well as our father Ernest and he taught his son, our brother David as well.

Seems that Joseph Franklin Parrill also passed down the musical heritage, since Bruce Parrill tells of Samuel Franklin Parrill playing the violin. We also have an Eric Parrill who is a banjo player, a great grandson of William Hardin Parrill. So playing music was a popular pastime of many early Parrills.

Interesting notes of Parrill Places

We have Parrill Hollow Rd. Located in Mineral County. It is just off of Rt. 50, and the sign now is a metal sign. Kenneth Parrill of Winchester Va. States that it was a wooden signs years ago. Hugh Parrill and Lucy Cundiff Parrill lived there. Later their son Harry Parrill lived there also.

We also have the town or Post Office of Rill. It being taken of William Hardens wife Mary Angel. They took the last four letters of Parrill and made it “Rill” An interesting tale. Told by our Parrill kin still living out west.

Interesting times of the early Parrills

   An interesting thing happened to the U.S. in 1816.  A major volcano erupted spewing huge volumes of dust and debris into the sky, blocking the sun. There was no summer!! The frost and snow came through June, July and August. The summer never came in 1816, some families nearly starved. Somehow our Parrill ancestors made it through, as we are here today to talk about it.

Also in 1833 the worst meteor (falling Star) storm in history had people believing that sunrise would be the start of Doomsday, at night, the heavens appeared to be on fire!! They also witnessed Haley’s comet on its bright viewing in 1835 and 1910.

   It would be great to have photos of our earlier ancestors, Hugh, Ann, John, Joseph, and Isabella. John was a justice or JUDGE in Hampshire County. When visiting the Hampshire County Courthouse on many occasions. I asked to see the pictures of the past Judges. Sadly when you look at the walls, you see that we will never see the oil painting of our John Parrill, due to the fact that the Courthouse was burned to the ground during the Civil War. All the Judges paintings and pictures that are there on the wall are from after the Courthouse was rebuilt after the war. I’m sure that this is the case for many families as the great destruction that was done during the wars.  Since Joseph Parrill passed before 1840, there is a no chance of finding his photo, only a painting would be possible. The invention of the camera was announced in Europe in 1839,  Although some photos were taken after 1850's, photography was not widely introduced in the U.S. until after the 1890's. 

 More to come