Minerd.com Biography of Charles Wallace and Mary Elizabeth (Younkin) Parshall

Mary Elizabeth "Mate" (Younkin) Parshall was born on May 8 or 9, 1843 (or 1844) in Milford Township, Somerset County, PA, the daughter of Dr. Jonas and Martha (Pringey) Younkin.

In about 1865, when she was about 22 years of age, Mate wedded 24-year-old Charles Wallace Parshall (June 4, 1841-1930), a native of New York State.

They went on to have four offspring -- Lulu Parshall, Emma Parshall, Allan W. Parshall and Lottie Parshall. Over the years, this wandering family lived in Tennessee, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Colorado.

The Parshalls made their home in Tennessee in 1867 and Iowa in 1869. By 1880, they had relocated to St. Louis, MO, where Charles worked as an express messenger, and Mary Elizabeth's aged mother in law lived under their roof.

Oberlin, Kansas, where Charles served as postmaster circa 1900

By 1900, the family migrated again into Kansas, where Charles secured an appointment as assistant U.S. postmaster in Oberlin, Decatur County. They are shown in Oberlin in the 1900 federal census.

Continuing to be mobile, the Parshalls moved into Oklahoma during the 1900-1910 timeframe, settling in Lawton, Comanche County. Their home in 1910 was on Sheraden Avenue in Lawton, with Charles earning a living as a clerk in a plumbing shop. The couple aged during the 1910s and went to live with their unmarried son Allan in Precinct 4 of Kit Carson County, CO, and then during the 1920s moved back to Overland, MO, near St. Louis, into the home of their married daughter Emma Smith.

Charles contracted a deadly lesion on his heart. At the age of 89, he passed away on Aug. 15, 1930 in St. Louis County, MO. Burial was in Fee Fee Cemetery in Bridgeton, St. Louis County, MO.

Mary lived for another year as a widow, at the address of 9221 Midland Avenue in Overland. Suffering from bronchial pneumonia at age 87, she died on Feb. 11, 1931. Her remains rest in repose in Fee Fee Cemetery. [Find-a-Grave]

The couple is recorded in notes of Otto Roosevelt "Pete" Younkin, president of the Younkin National Home-coming Reunions of southwestern Pennsylvania in the 1930s and early '40s.

~ Daughter Lulu Parshall ~

Daughter Lulu Parshall (1867- ? ) was born in about 1867 in Tennessee. Her life story is not known.

~ Daughter Emma C. (Parshall) Smith ~

Daughter Emma C. Parshall (1869- ? ) was born in about 1869 in Iowa.

At the age of 29, in about 1898, she was joined in marriage with 30-year-old Illinois native Rev. Orlen L. Smith (1869- ? ). The couple did not reproduce.

In 1930, the Smiths dwelled in Overland, St. Louis County, MO, with Orlen earning income as assistant secretary of religious education. That year, Emma's elderly parents and unmarried brother Allan lived under their roof.

~ Son Allan W. Parshall ~

Son Allan W. Parshall (1877- ? ) was born on Oct. 22, 1878 in Kansas City, Jackson County, MO.

At the age of 23, unmarried, he lived at home with his parents in 1900 in Oberlin, Decatur County, KS. There, he earned a living as a painter of carriages.

By 1920, at age 42, he had relocated to a grain farm in Precinct 4 of Kit Carson County, CO, and brought his parents and young adopted sister into his household as of 1920. Then sometime before or in 1930, having no occupation, he moved into the home of his sister and brother in law, Emma and Orlen Smith, in Overland near St. Louis, MO.

He resumed painting work in the Overland area.

Having contracted peritonial tuberculosis, Allan died at age 51 on June 2, 1930 in Willow Springs, St. Louis County. Burial was in Fee Fee Cemetery in Bridgeton, St. Louis County. His brother in law O.L. Smith signed the death certificate.

~ Daughter Lottie Parshall ~

Daughter Lottie Parshall (1897- ? ) was born in about 1897 in Kansas.

She was adopted by the Parshalls and grew up in Lawton, Comanche County, OK and then in Kit Carson County, CO.