PETER PARSONS.
Peter Parsons, of Atchison, Kan., is a Kentuckian by birth and has the distinction of being the pioneer thresher man of northeast Kansas and western Missouri. He was born in Breathitt county, Kentucky, December 10, 1868, a son of J. W. Parsons, a descendant of an old Virginia family. Peter Parsons’ maternal grandfather, Hatfield, was a soldier in the Revolution and fought under General Washington. The Parsons and the Hatfield families were among the earliest pioneers of the State of Kentucky. When Peter was four years of age the Parsons family removed to Buchanan county. Missouri, and there settled on a farm. Peter was reared to young manhood on the Missouri farm and attended the district schools. When but a boy he developed an aptitude for machinery and showed a knack of handling farming implements possessed by few boys of his age. In 1887 he entered the employ of the A. J. Harwi Hardware Company and worked in the farm machinery department of the store. Desiring to gain a more intimate knowledge of threshing machinery, especially, he went to Battle Creek, Mich., where the machines were manufactured and learned the business of building and assembling threshing machines from the ground up. This was a good business venture on his part, as he soon engaged in threshing on his own account and operated threshing outfits for over nineteen years, and was actively engaged in northeast Kansas and northwest Missouri in this business successfully. He operated several machines and crews and had almost a virtual monopoly of the threshing business in his territory. At the present time Mr. Parsons operates two threshing outfits which he owns, but for some years has retired from active labor in the fields. The wide range of his activities naturally gave him an extensive and favorable acquaintance among the farmers of this section of the country and he acquired a reputation for thorough workmanship and square dealing which has never been surpassed by men engaged in the same industry. He is probably the oldest threshing machine operator at the present time in eastern Kansas or western Missouri in years of experience, and understands the mechanical part of the industry better than any other man in this neighborhood. Mr. Parsons has a right to be proud of his record in the agricultural history of Atchison county and Kansas. From 1903 to 1909 Mr. Parsons was a member of the Atchison police force and made a record in the department for efficiency and faithful performance of his duties which is remembered. He is a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles and is well liked by all who know him. He is broad-minded in his views and kindly disposed toward his fellow men.