Parnell Marion White
ID # 6032, (1823-)
| Birth | Parnell Marion White was born in 1823. |
| Marriage | She married George Butler. |
| Note | At first glance, an examination of the George and Parnell Butler family as shown in the 1851 census in Woodhouse Township would seem to suggest that Parnell might be George's second wife, for she is shown as age 24 and her two eldest daughters Susanna and Samantha are shown as 12 and 10. (George is shown as 38.) With them also and born at a space of years later are Ellen and Lydia, 4 and 2. The answer to this may be an economy with the truth when it came to Parnell telling her age, for the 1861 census shows Parnell as 38. How accurate this latter age may be we cannot tell, for by 1871 Parnell is not present with the family and George is shown as a widower. Certainly, when Susanna married Wm. Henry Stringer in 1858, she gave her parents' names as George and Parnell. Likewise Samantha when she married Peter Stringer (William Henry's brother) in 1862 did she also name George and Parnell as her parents. The one inconsistency here is that Samantha shows her mother's maiden name as Simmons (handwriting difficult on this one). Some younger siblings in later years show their mother's maiden name as White. Two Parnells? Possible, but...not likely. With this, cemetery information is no help. The Norfolk County branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society transcribed Windham Centre Cemetery in 1997 with some updating in 2007. The transcription tells that parts of Parnel's stone were unreadable in 2007 and that the bottom of George's stone was in cement in 2007 (some sort of restoration?) The stones must have been in poor shape in 1997, however, for the transcription tells of Parnel Marion Butler's birth in March of 1867 and of her death in 1911, neither year of which is remotely reasonable. George Butler's death is shown as May 3, 1866. Since he was still living as of the 1881 census then neither is this date reasonable. A Norfolk County newspaper obituary will probably tell the tale. The town of Simcoe had several newspapers that are listed in the collection of microfilms for the Archives of Ontario. The difficulty here is having some notion of the time frame wherein to look. As to the name Parnel, or Parnell: Robert Mutrie in his work The Long Point Settlers, 1992, 2016, makes mention of Parnel Mead, the wife of Richard Mead. Richard was a Loyalist and had served his king in the New Jersey Volunteers. They family is said to have gone to Nova Scotia and then come to Upper Canada. Parnel is mentioned as having signed off on dower rights in a land transaction. She and Richard are said to have had a daughter Parnel Mead. (Long Point is a part of present day Norfolk County.) We have no certainty, but it is possible that Parnel's name goes back to the Mead family. This is rather strengthened when we find that the land in question was in Woodhouse Township wherein we find the Butler family as of the 1851 census. Add to this, the next household on the census page is that of William and Margaret Mattice. Apparently Margaret was a Mead (according to Mutrie) and so it does appear that there was a connection. Mutrie's book is in both hard cover and PDF format and is a useful addition to a genealogical library relating to Norfolk County in general and by no means limited to Long Point in particular. |
Children of Parnell Marion White and George Butler |
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| Last Edited | 15 Dec 2017 |