Hoosick Township Historical Society
Seth Parsons 1785-1845
Mr. Seth Parsons
moved to Hoosick Falls in 1807 from East Hampton, Long Island. For the next thirty-six years he was “the
leader in every movement for the betterment of the village and its people.”[1]
Before arriving
in Hoosick Falls, he had apprenticed and had become a master of several
trades. These included cabinet maker,
carpenter and millwright. He was
knowledgeable of practical and theoretical mechanics. He was extremely interested in improving machinery and was
naturally inventive.
He purchased
three acres from John Potter on the west side of Main Street, on which he built
his home. For the next five or six
years he worked in his field of expertise.
In 1811, he attempted to form a
manufacturing company. He tried to make
this a stock company but could not raise the interest of investors and fell
short of the capital needed.
In 1812, he married Sally Ball of Wilmington,
Vermont. They had eight children, five
daughters and three sons. The last
child was born in 1835. Their first
child, Marcia married Levi Chandler Ball in 1833. Chandler Ball later became a very important individual in the
growth of Hoosick Falls. Another daughter Betsy married Walter A. Wood.
During the War of
1812, the embargo and non-intercourse act, prevented the import of
woolen goods. The need for domestic
manufacturing of these products became clear.
In 1814, Seth Parsons and his brother Hial purchased the shop and water
power on the north side of the river,
formally the wagon shop of John Manchester. Before buying the new site, Seth Parsons worked on improving the
cloth shearing machine. He secured a
patent for this type of machine and
began manufacturing them. The design of
his machine was so good that it remained in use for more than 75 years and
became known as one of the best machine
on the market.
This business was
important not only as a profitable enterprise but also because it brought to
the community a superior class of machinists and inventors. These
people created the prosperous
conditions in Hoosick Falls during the later part of the 1800s. Since men learned their trade at that time
primarily by apprenticing, the Parsons plant attracted talented young men who
wanted to apprentice. Many men moved
from the area after apprenticing at the Parsons Manufacturing plant to become
successful in other parts of the country.
Mr. Parsons was highly respected by these men and “gratefully
acknowledged the advantage derived from his instruction, and fatherly care.”[2]
In 1814, Mr. Parsons
was appointed as justice of the peace and commissioner of deeds by the
Governor. He performed these duties
for more than ten years in a manner that gave him the respect of the people in
the community.