Author: Joe Warne
Joseph Parkison-Civil Service Justice of the Pease at Parkisons’ Ferrie, Supply agent for Col George Morgan Western PA. B 1739, Carisle, Cumberland, PA D. 28 April 1834 Monongahela, Washington, PA, M Margaret Weaver abt 1764
History of Washington County, Pennsylvania*
Since the first settlement of this portion of the Monongahela Valley by the English-speaking whites, the name of Parkison has ever been prominent, for, by reason of a member of a family of this name having been the first permanent resident here, the founder of the town and of other business interests, the term has become inseparably connected with the history of this vicinity, whether known as "Parkison Ferry," "Williamsport," or Monongahela City. It is of Joseph Parkison, then, the founder of this town, that we would first speak; but here, as elsewhere, difficulties are met with at the outset, for though the pioneers of this region lived at a time when much history was being made, when events of sufficient importance to startle the civilized world were of daily occurrence, and when, while witnessing the birth of a great nation, a grapple to the death with the treacherous savages of the Northwest was to be expected at any moment, they left but few written records behind them, and those, in many changes brought about during the lapse of years, disappeared long ago. True, representatives of pioneer families and ambiguous traditions remain, yet to arrive at the least degree of accuracy the searcher for historical facts must rely chiefly upon such meager fragments as can be gathered from the county and State archives and incomplete early newspapers.
During the year 1770, however, Joseph Parkison came from some point east of the Allegheny range, and settled on the tract before mentioned as "Southwark," and ultimately laid claim to it and other lands adjoining to the amount over three hundred acres. It has been stated that the Parkisons came from Bedford County, but Bedford County did not then exist. This region formed part of Cumberland County until March 9, 1771, of Bedford from the latter date until the formation of Westmoreland, Feb. 26, 1778, and of the latter county from the date last mentioned until the erection of Washington County, March 28, 1781 and from the fact that the Parkisons seem to have espoused the cause of Virginia as against Pennsylvania in the claim for territory situated hereabouts, it is probable that they came here from Virginia or Maryland.1
[1 Since the foregoing was written we have learned from the venerable Capt. Ira R. Butler (who obtained his information from Joseph Parkison himself) that the Parkisons before removing to this county had been members of the Conococheague settlement. As our readers will learn by scanning maps and historical works, the "Conococheague settlement" was a very early one, and the English, Scotch, and German emigrants who first located there supported that their settlement lay wholly within the domains of Lord Baltimore. However, by a subsequent arrangement between the proprietors of the two provinces (an arrangement not at all satisfactory to a majority of those who were thus transferred from the rule of Lord Baltimore's officers to those of the Penns'), the present line between the states of Pennsylvania and Maryland was finally established considerably to the southward of the line called for in Lord Baltimore's grant, and thus the original Conococheague settlement is embraced by what is now known as Washington County, Md., formed from Frederick in 1776, and Franklin County, Pa., formed from Cumberland in 1784.
The Parkisons were of English or Scotch descent. Joseph Parkison's wife was a true representative of the stock known as the "Pennsylvania Dutch," and her reputation as a most excellent landlady was widely extended.]