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FEATURES |
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REUNION: Long Beach, 2000
This is the brave
crew who turned out on a rainy, blustery day at Long Beach Harbor
for a Southern California gathering of Parmelees of all spellings
and ancestors. Since this was the first time I'd ever attempted
any kind of gathering like this--and the fact that we were almost
all total strangers--we kept it simple but a little classy with a
Sunday brunch aboard the Queen Mary. After a scrumptious meal and
some good conversation, we gatherer out on a covered gang plank
for a few pictures amid the rain.
The 21 of us toasted family patriarch John Parmelee St. (1584-1659) who boarded a much smaller ship, the St. John, in London Harbor to set sail for the colony of Connecticut in 1639. Of John's 10 grandchildren, descendants from at least four--Nathaniel, John, Joshua and Isaac--were represented.
Meet Vivian Bass, left, Sean Bass and Frances Reed of Chula Vista, Calif. They are descended from a Joseph Parmelee (ca1775-1837) who we haven't fit into the family tree just yet. Joseph was born in Connecticut but moved to Mississippi Territory in 1804, living in Jefferson, Madison and Carroll Counties. |
This is the Paul Parmelee Jr. family of La Verne, Calif. In the center is Lulu Parmelee, whose father, Bert B. Parmelee (1877-1966; Clifford, Aaron Baldwin, Bela, Reuben, John, John, John, John), from Rochester, N.Y., served in the Philippines with the occupational forces after the Spanish-American War and decided to stay. Many of Bert's descendants live in Hawaii, the San Francisco Bay Area, greater Los Angeles and the Philippines. |
Dan and Betty Connelly of Santa Ana, Calif. His mother, --- Snyder was the daughter of Mary Charlotte Elizabeth Parmelee (1858-1949; Jared, James, James, Phinease, Isaac, John, John). |
Eleanor R., left, and Olive Julia Parmelee of Canoga Park, Calif., are daughters of Theodore Davis Parmelee (1912-1964; Cullen Warner, Lauren Sylvester, Dan Steele, Daniel Everett, Asaph, Jonathan, Joshua, John, John). |
Kym (Dryer) and Andrew Doucette, with son David, are from Newport Coast, Calif. She is the daughter of Janet Jean Parmley (Glenn Richard Salvinas, Perry Franklin, Richard Franklin, Dennis A., Lemuel, Jeremiah, Lemuel, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, John, John). Kym is our magazine's proofreader. |
Elgin and Claudia Morris hail from Apache Junction, Ariz. She is the daughter of Howard Ellsworth Parmelee (1910-1989; Manning Ellsworth, Ellsworth, Sylvanus, John, Jeremiah, Lemuel, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, John, John). |
Dennis Evans and --- Wirth of Santa Monica, Calif. Dennis is the son of Clara Parmelee (1901-1980; Charles O., James, Robert, John, Giles, Hiel, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, John, John). Many of Hiel's descendants today live in Kentucky and Tennessee while others migrated to Texas and Missouri. |
Two bridges across the harbor separate Marion Morgan of San Pedro, Calif., and your host, Jim Walters of Long Beach, Calif. Marion is the daughter of Lyman Malcolm Parmelee (1889-1927; Francis "Frank" A., Ashley, Asaph, Gilbert, Jeremiah, Lemuel, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, John, John). Jim is the grandson of Frances "Fanny" Pearl Parmelee (1905-1982; Frank H., Luther Hart, Elisha, Theodore, Abraham, Abraham, Isaac, John, John) Note: Marion died in 2004. |