Parsons/Jerome Cousins

When Marion Parsons and her sisters, Grace and Martha, were growing up on their father's fruit farm on the Genesee Turnpike, their closest friends were their cousins. The Parsons family was large, as many were in those days, and so there were plenty of cousins to play with in the orchards and go to school with at the little Terry Road Schoolhouse.

To give you a little bit of background on this extended family who populated much of what is called Westvale today, let's take another quick look at Edwin and Julia Parsons. (You can see a picture of their house and learn more about them in an earlier post on this blog.) Edwin and Julia came to the Syracuse area from Northampton, Mass. in the early to mid 1800s. They had six children. One of those children was Willis Parsons, and he was Marion Parsons' father. Another of Edwin and Julia's children was Francis, and another, Mary Amelia.

The Parsons girls, Marion, Grace, and Martha, were particularly close with their cousins Laura, Bess, and Charles F., (yes, they all called him Charles F.) and remained close to all of them until the end of their lives. In their later years, they played bridge, enjoyed summer picnics, and visited each other regularly. Laura, Bess, and Charles F.'s parents were Francis Parsons and Sarah Jerome Parsons.

They were also close, all of their lives, with Ned, Harry, and Julia Jerome, whose parents were Mary Amelia Parsons and James Schuyler Jerome. As the Parsons/Jerome cousins grew up, most of them stayed close to home. Marion founded Cherry Road School. Laura and Bess were both respected professionals in the Syracuse area. Ned and Harry Jerome founded the Jerome Dairy, the only farm to last across many generations of this family.

Though many of the Parsons farms are long gone and where there were once orchards, fields, and farm roads, now there are houses and streets. But Cherry Road School thrives and so does the Jerome Dairy.

The Parsons and Jerome cousins' friendship and love for one another endured their entire lives. I believe it was that same loyalty to family and community that helped lay a strong foundation for the school and the dairy, two of the flagship organizations of the Westvale community.

Pictures above are:

Left: Harry Jerome (One of the founders of the Jerome Diary)
Right: Laura and Bess Parsons