Charles H. Parrett
It is a well known fact that public opinion instead of our legislatures really rules this country. It was the insistent cry of the public, voiced in the newspapers of the land, which forced through the last two amendments to the Constitution of the United States, and it was this same influence which led President Wilson to insist upon a reduction in the tariff and the passage of a new monetary bill. Public opinion, however, would be absolutely useless, without, it had the opportunity of expression, and there is no way by which public opinion can find its full usefulness except through the medium of the newspapers. For this reason it is not too much to say that the newspapers of our country are really its rulers; that they have more power in the shaping of the destinies of our nation than Congress itself. Congress can do no more than voice the will of the people as revealed in the newspapers. According to the returns made in the 1910 census, the state of Ohio had eleven hundred and eighty-one papers of all kinds, one hundred and eighty-four of which were daily papers and six hundred and ninety-nine being published weekly. Fayette county boasts of several excellent papers, and among them are the Washington Daily Herald and the Weekly Ohio State Register, established in 1885 and 1836 respectively. These papers are published by the Herald Publishing Company, of which Charles H. Parrett has been the secretary and treasurer for the past four years.
Charles H. Parrett, the son of Cyrus R. and Sarah Elizabeth Parrett. was born on September 8, 1872, in the city where he has spent his whole career. His parents were both natives of this county, and were the parents of a family of seven children, five of whom lived to maturity. Cyrus R. Parrett was reared as a bound-out boy and received only a limited education. At the opening of the Civil War he enlisted in Company F, Eleventh Indiana Volunteer Cavalry, and served three years as a private. After the close of the war he returned to Fayette county, and for several years conducted a restaurant and boarding house in Washington C. H. Later he followed the carpenter trade and did considerable contracting in the county. His parents were Pleasant Parrett and wife, pioneer settlers of this county, and they had a family of three children, Charles H., Harmon E., and Cyrus R., the father of Charles H. Parrett, with whom this narrative deals. Pleasant Parrett died several years before his wife and she married again, having two children by her second marriage.
Charles H. Parrett has lived all of his life in this city. He received a good education and, after leaving school, assisted his father in carpentering. However, he wished to become a printer and entered one of the newspaper olfices of Washington C. H. and learned the trade of a printer. By the time he was twenty years of age he was a practical printer and for the past twenty-two years has been actively identified with the printing business in this city. On August 6, 1910, he was made the secretary-treasurer of the company in recognition of his ability and integrity. This company publishes two papers, the Daily Herald, which is independent in politics, and the Weekly Ohio State Register, which is Democratic. In addition to the publication of these two newspapers, the company does a large amount of job printing and derives no small part of its annual income from this source.
Mr. Parrett was married August 28, 1894, to Daisy Lininger, the adopted daughter of John and Catherine (Popejoy) Lininger, and to this union have been born three children, Ruth Margaret, Bessie Pearl and Alice Enid. Mrs. Parrett was born near Danville, Indiana, and when a small girl was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Lininger, who gave her all the care and attention possible and educated her so that she is a fitting helpmate for her husband. Mr. and Mrs. Parrett are both members of the Methodist Episcopal church, as are their daughters.
From History of Fayette County Ohio - Her People, Industries and Institutions by Frank M. Allen (1914, R. F. Bowen & Company, Inc.)