William Ferguson Parshall was born on February 18, 1818, in Lebanon, Ohio, to Nathaniel Parshall and Ruth Smith. His father was a carpenter who owned $200 of personal property by 1860. Parshall grew up in Lebanon, and he married Henrietta Dey on August 30, 1841. They had at least three children: Laura, born around 1842; William, born around 1845; and John, born around 1846. Parshall worked as a merchant and banker, and by 1850, he owned $6,000 of real estate. A decade later, he owned $10,000 of real estate and $25,000 of personal property. The family moved to Walker, West Virginia, sometime in the 1860s, and in 1870, he reported owning $4,000 of personal property. They returned to Ohio soon afterward, and Henrietta died there on November 4, 1872. By 1880, Parshall was living in Delhi, Ohio, in his daughter Laura’s household. He died on December 17, 1893.

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