C. D. Parkinson
C.D. Parkinson, merchant, Millersburgh, is a native of Holmes County, born in Hardy Township, in 1846. His paternal grandfather, Robert Parkinson, Sr., was with Commodore Perry at the battle of Lake Erie, and there contracted the cold from which he ultimately died in Pennsylvania, probably at Carlisle. On the maternal side Mr. Parkinson descends from German ancestry, named Uhl.
Robert Parkinson, Jr., father of our subject, was born in Carlisle, Cumberland Co., Penn., and is a son of Robert, Sr., and Marie (Henderson) Parkinson, also natives of Pennsylvania, of Scotch-Irish extraction. When Robert, Jr., was six years old, his parents both died, leaving three children, Robert being the second. He learned wagon making, at which he served a three years' apprenticeship with his uncle, Robert Scott, with whom he found a home, and remained until reaching his majority. This trade he has followed all his life, and still carries on in Millersburgh, where he and his faithful wife are yet living. Coming to Holmes County in 1827, he was here married in 1828, to Harriet, daughter of George Uhl, and a native of Maryland, but who, when six months old, was brought by her parents to Holmes County. She became the mother of eleven children, nine of whom are yet living, seven in this county. Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson are members of the Lutheran Church of Millersburgh.
C.D. Parkinson, whose name heads this biography, was reared in his native county, receiving a good common-school education, and learning the trade of carriage painter, at which he worked several years with his father. From early manhood he had to rely on his own individual efforts, leaving home at the age of seventeen to do for himself, and his sucess in life may be said to be entirely his own making. Embarking at that early age in mercantile business in Millersburgh, his stock in trade consisting of groceries, queensware, etc. Mr. Parkinson has since met with well-merited success, and is now numbered among the prominent business men of the place. He is a representative citizen of the town, and is one of the first to indorse any enterprise that looks to the upbuilding of the material prosperity of either town or county. He was married in 1869, to Mary E. daughter of Capt. Joseph Work (who was killed at the battle of the Wilderness, during the War of the Rebellion), and they have two children, Robert (aged sixteen) and Carrie (aged thirteen). Mr. Parkinson is a member of the Masonic fraternity. He affiliates with the Democratic party, and is a member of the Millersburgh school board.
From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Wayne and Holmes, Ohio, J. H. Beers & Co., Chicago, 1889