March 14, 2025
The first Parshall Terry was born in 1737 on Long Island. He was the eldest child of Jonathan Terry and his wife Jemima Parshall. It’s easy to see why his parents chose young Parshall’s name. They didn’t know it, but their unusual name choice would echo through the Terry Family for the next three hundred years.
That first Parshall Terry was my fifth great grandfather. Nearly all his descendants over the generations named a son Parshall. As I have researched these descendants, I’ve found that the use of the name Parshall is a clue as to whether a specific Terry Family belongs to “my” Terry line.
The second Parshall Terry, my fourth great grandfather, was a Loyalist during the Revolutionary War. He moved to Canada after the War and fathered a large family. A few years ago, I decided to follow the traces of this Canadian branch of the Terry family. Most of them were relatively easy to track, but one son, William, disappeared. An old family letter suggested that William had deserted his family in Canada and had come to the United States. The letter furthered stated that William died there sometime before 1850.
Unfortunately, William Terry is not an uncommon name. There were several William Terry’s in the U.S. before 1850. Records were sparse, and figuring out which William Terry might be the “right” William seemed impossible. Eventually, I ran across a burial record in a small cemetery in Illinois for a Parshall Terry. The record was for a young child, and his father’s name was William.
I immediately felt certain that I’d found the William Terry I’d been looking for. The name Parshall was only used in families who descended from the original Parshall Terry. I’ve never seen it in other Terry families.
Further research uncovered a will for a man named William Terry. He died in the town where the child Parshall was buried. Among William’s heirs were listed the names of his children in Canada. Little Parshall’s burial record had led me to the “right” William Terry.
Uncommon names can sometimes be a problem for researchers since they’re often misspelled and incorrectly indexed when records are digitized. Sometimes, though, an uncommon name can be the clue that ties a scattered family together. If you have uncommon names in your family tree, they’re worth checking. You never know which ones may hold the key to opening a long-locked door in your family research.
Carol Stetser
Researcher
Larimer County Genealogical Society