Sunday's Obituary: Viola (Hayes) Parsons

Mrs. L. D. Parsons, 50, Former Women's Dean At ETSTC, Succumbs

     COMMERCE, Texas, Sept. 22---Mrs. L. D. Parsons, 50, of this city died in a Dallas hospital Monday. Funeral services will be held on Wednesday at the First Methodist Church here with the Rev. T. L. Huffstutler, Electra, and the Rev. Joseph M. Connally, Commerce, officiating.

     Mrs. Parsons was the wife of L. D. Parsons, who last week became head of the chemistry department of East Texas Teachers College, where he has taught since 1929.

     Mrs. Parsons at one time taught at ETSTC and was dean of women for several years. She was a charter member of the Woman's Missionary Society of the Methodist Church here and has served as president of the society several terms. She also was a member of the Psychology Club.

     Besides her husband, survivors are two daughters, Mrs. T. L. Huffstutler Jr., Winston-Salem, N.C., and Miss Zinita Parsons, teacher at Mineola; one son, Binnion Parsons of Commerce; two half brothers, Arthur Hays and Walker Hays; and one half sister, Mrs. Bess Whittaker, all of Indianapolis, Ind., and one grandchild.

Viola was the niece of my paternal great grandfather, Oliver Morton Wallen. She was the daughter of his sister Mary J. (Wallen) Hayes. She had a sister Ora, who I believe to have been her twin, that died at about 3 and 1/2 years of age. When Viola's mother died just two years after her sister's death, Viola or "Ola" as she was called then, went to live with her mother's family. Viola made the trek from Kentucky to Texas with her uncle Oliver and his family, her uncle Jesse Wallen, and her great grandmother, Louisa (Tyree) Wallen. Louisa and Viola lived part of the time with another of Viola's uncles, Daniel Thomas Wallen near Gainesville, Texas where Viola started teaching school.

I know that Viola's children, Reba Maurine (Mickey) Huffstutler, Zinita Viola Fowler, and Binnion Deloss Parsons have all passed away in recent years, but I would love to hear from any of their families.

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Surname Saturday: BLOOMER

England to America

Descendant Chart: Robert Bloomer 1634 to Lisa Wallen 1952

A brief description of each generation from my 9th great grandfather, Robert Bloomer, to my 4th great grandmother, Elizabeth Bloomer Wallen, where the Bloomer line daughters out. 

1) Robert Bloomer b. ca. 1634 in Birmingham, England - Early (mid 1800s) family histories coincide on certain details: Robert was a foundling, adopted in infancy by the Bloomerings. He was kidnapped from the streets of England as a teenager and sold in America into four years of indentured service. Married Rachel ca. 1670. Lived in New York.

2) Robert Bloomer b. bet. 1671-1673 - Miller. Married Elizabeth Sutton (The Sutton lineage is where my father is twice descended from my mother's ancestor, Vincent Rongnion/Runyan). Lived in Rye, Westchester Co., New York. Filed a will on 12 March 1738/39.

3) John Bloomer b. bet. 1705-1710 - Mentioned in Rye, Westchester Co., New York from 1735 to 1740 and was justice of the peace in 1746. He married Berthia Fowler, daughter of John and Mary (Tatum) Fowler.

4) Nehemiah Bloomer b. ca. 1754 - Taylor. Left New York just before the Revolution and is found in Pennsylvania by 1777 and appears in tax records (Pennsylvania Archives, 3rd series p. 53) for Hampton Township in Cumberland Co., NY in 1778. By 1790 Nehemiah was in Wilkes Co., North Carolina. He married Elizabeth Ketcham, of Welsh descent, in New Jersey in 1773.

5) Daniel Bloomer b. ca. 1778 - Married Lucinda. Her maiden name is recorded by some as Defoe and by others as Looney. Neither name has been verified. In May of 1821 Daniel made an entry for 86 1/2 acres on the North Fork of the Clinch River in Hawkins Co., Tennessee. On 30 Nov 1836 Daniel bought 432 acres of land laying on both sides of the North Fork of the Clinch river near Wallen's Bend in the same county. His children are listed in his will.

6) Elizabeth Bloomer b. 12 June 1801 - d. April 1860. Married William Wallen/Walling, Jr. ca. 1820 in Tennessee. Family migrated to Rockcastle Co., Kentucky around 1851. Elizabeth gave birth to 10 children, two boys died as teenagers. This is where the Bloomer line daughters out and becomes Wallen all the way down to me. (click on descendant chart above to enlarge.)

For much more information on the descendants of Robert Bloomer I highly recommend the following book:

Bloomer, Robert John. The Bloomer Family in America, 1655-1988: a History and Genealogical Record of the Bloomer Family. Fountain Valley, CA: R.J. Bloomer, 1988. Print.

Sorry Michael, another "damned Anglish" pedigree in your bloodlines...but at least it's tempered with a wee bit o' Welsh!

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