Frank Nesmith Parsons

Frank Nesmith Parsons (September 3, 1854 in Dover, New Hampshire – 1934 in Franklin, New Hampshire) was a lawyer, politician, and Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court from 1902 to 1924. Some sources spell his middle name "Naismith".

Parsons was the son of Rev. Benjamin F. Parsons, a prominent New Hampshire Congregational minister.[1] Parsons was educated at Pinkerton Academy in Derry, New Hampshire and at Dartmouth College, graduating in the class of 1874. After teaching for several years, Parsons studied law and passed the bar in 1879. He became the law partner of Austin F. Pike, a successful lawyer and politician; their partnership continued until Pike's death in 1886. Parsons married Pike's daughter Helen on October 26, 1880. Parsons was appointed the State Law Reporter in 1891. From 1893 to 1894 he served on the New Hampshire Executive Council. In 1895 Parsons was elected as the first mayor of Franklin, and in the same year he was appointed an Associate Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court. In 1902 he became Chief Justice, and continued in this post until 1924.[2] From 1925-1928 he served as a state representative. In 1889[3] and 1930 he represented Franklin at state constitutional conventions, serving as president of the convention in 1930.[4]

Parsons was also actively involved in community affairs, serving on the Franklin school board and board of water commissioners, as president or director of several local banks, as president of the board of trustees at Pinkerton Academy, president of Franklin Hospital, and president of the New Hampshire Historical Society.[5]

References
  1. Memoirs of the Judiciary and the Bar of New England for the Nineteenth Century, vol. 1, Conrad Reno, Boston: Century Memorial Publishing Co., 1901, p. 17
  2. http://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/publications/justices/parsons.html
  3. Manual of the Constitutional convention of 1918, published by the State of New Hampshire, p. 199
  4. The American Political Science Review, Nov. 1930, p. 1022
  5. One Thousand New Hampshire Notables, Henry Harrison Metcalf and Frances M. Abbott, Concord, 1919, p. 329


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