Marietta, Ohio—a settlement of some fifty houses—in May 1788. Parsons was one of the early pioneers to the Northwest Territory. Lacking a clergyman, Parsons filled in as leader of sabbath services. During the following months, Parsons busied himself with surveying the Ohio Company's lands and purchasing choice parcels for himself and his family. On November 1, 1789, Parsons wrote to his wife in Connecticut from Pittsburgh, stating that he was about to "set out for Lake Erie to survey the Connecticut lands (Connecticut Western Reserve)." A letter written by Richard Butler, dated November 25, 1789, relates the circumstances of Parsons' death: I am sorry to inform you that I have every reason to fear that our old friend, General Parsons, is no more. He left this place [Pittsburgh] in company with Captain Heart, (who is sent to explore the communication by way of the Beaver to Cuyahoga and the Lake), on the 5th instant, he had sent a man with his horses from the place where he had encamped the night before, and directed him to tell Lieut. McDowell, who commanded the Block House below the falls of Beaver, that he (General Parsons) would be there to dinner. A snow had fallen in the night which had retarded the progress of the man with the horses. At one place on the Beaver shore he saw where a canoe had landed, and a person got out to warm his feet by walking about, as he saw he had kicked against the trees and his tracks to the canoe again. The man did not get down till evening, but about noon the canoe, broken in pieces, came by the Block House, and some articles known to belong to General Parsons were taken up and others seen to pass. Lieut. McDowell has diligent search made for the body of the General, but made no discovery. Parsons' body was found the following May and was buried with the expectation that it would be more suitably interred. Because of the series of mishaps, the location of his burial was lost. The General now lies in an unknown/unmarked grave on the banks of the Beaver River near the vicinity of New Brighton, Pennsylvania and Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania in Pennsylvania. He has a cenotaph memorial in Middletown Connecticut. After his death, due to the depreciation of currency values, after Letters of Administration were sent in 1789 to