Revised and updated 25 November 2021. Genealogy can change rapidly, as new information is found, forcing reevaluations of previous information. Check back for updates before using any of this information. If you cite any of this work, please include the date of last revision.

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The work presented here is primarily the work of the late Dr. Mavis Parrott Kelsey, assisted by Janice McAlpine, as published below and as re-interpreted based on the DNA evidence and access to better transcriptions. Any text in quotations is taken directly from Dr. Kelsey's writings, unless indicated otherwise.

✦ Kelsey, Mavis Parrott. An addendum: Notes on the Proposed Ancestry of Abner Parrott (1760±5-1797) of Rockingham County, North Carolina, Father of Benjamin Parrott (c 1795-1839) of Overton County, Tennessee. Self Published, Houston, TX.

Benjamin Parrott Sr:
Benjamin (ca 1730 - bef 1809) is the earliest known ancestor of a group of Parrotts that traces back to the part of Guilford county that became Rockingham county, North Carolina, in 1785. Based on DNA, this group is part of a larger family that originated from a Lawrence Perrott in Kingston parish, Gloucester (now Mathews) county in Virginia. How they are connected remains unknown.

Benjamin first appears in record on 18 Aug 1778, when he applied for a land grant. The next day, he was appointed an assessor for three districts in the area. Prior to that, Mavis Parrott Kelsey writes "I found Benjamin Sr. and Abner in Amelia County, VA where Benjamin sold out in 1774 before moving to Guilford/Rockingham County, NC." [Webmaster's note: have not managed to find or verity this record].

On 16 Dec 1778 he received his first land grant, which was for "500 acres on both sides of Wolf Island Creek, the water of Dan River, 'Beginning at the mouth of Gum Branch,' adjoining Jesse Hammons, W. Hills N.W. corner, Farlows and Fenlies. This grant is part of the land in the estate of Abner Parrott, which Benjamin Parrott, Sr. sold to Abner 9 May 1789 in an area which became Rockingham County in 1785." On 22 Oct 1782, Benjamin received his second land grant, for 640 acres 'On both sides of Burchfield fork of Wolf Island Creek'.

"On 13 November 1779 he purchased a three-and-a-half acre tract from Jacob Stillwell on Wolf Island Creek. He bought twenty acres on Wolf Island Creek from Ambrose Nichols on 29 December 1783."

His son, Abner, applied for a land grant on 18 Nov 1778, for which he received 640 acres on 22 Oct 1782 in Guilford County 'On both sides of Duncans Branch'. Therefore, Abner was of age late in 1778, meaning 1757, in turn meaning that Bejnamin was born ca Benjamin was likely in his mid forties at the time, which places his birth ca 1730.

A 1783 reference to Parrott's Mill Creek south of the Dan River means that Benjamin must have run a mill like his Northumberland kinfolk did. The "mill of Capt. Benjamin Parrott" is mentioned in a 7 February 1820 petition to change the route of a road, showing that Benjamin's son continued the mill tradition once he moved to Georgia.

Despite the attempts to reconstruct the family, there are indications that some of the early family members are still unaccounted for, particularly since several other children could have been born in the 10 years between Abner and Benjamin. Case in point, Benjamin's grandson, William, moved to Lunenburg Co., Virginia, where he lived a few years before moving to Leake county, Mississippi. While in Lunenburg, he had a close relationship with an older William Parrott. Given his age, this William was most likely an uncle. This uncle also mentions his neice, Susanna C. Beasley, in his will.

Another grandchild had the unfortunate (for a female) name of Michael or Michal, and was married to John Powers. The name may have been unfortunate, but it is easy to follow in the records. John and Michael moved to Greene and then Monroe Co., Georgia. Court records in Greene county show John Powers had interactions with a Henry Blanton Parrott. Henry is now known have been born out of wedlock to Thomas Flippen and Nancy Parrott, both of Kingston Parish in Gloucester Co., where the Benjamin line also originated.

There is a Parrott family in north Georgia whose earliest known ancestor is also from Rockingham county, NC, but there is no paper trail that links them to Benjamin. Indirect evidence is provided by an autosomal DNA match between a descendant of this family and a descendant of the James Ishmael Parrott family of Mississippi, which in turn is related to Benjamin Parrott's descendants. But, autosomal matches are not definitive. Unless additional documentation is found, a Y-DNA test is the only way to confirm this relationship. For more information on the atDNA match, see:

Finally, to complicate the picture, an unrelated Parrott family from the Richard Parrott of Middlesex group settled nearby in Greene county.

"Benjamin disappears from the North Carolina record after selling his land to [his son] Abner on 29 May 1789." As Benjamin Jr. witnessed both of these sales, he must have been of age at the time. Benjamin father and son joined the migration to Georgia: "Many of the North Carolinians came from Rowan and Mecklenburg and settled on Shoulderbone creek in Hancock." At the time Washington county had just been carved out of Creek territory and represented the leading edge of the western frontier. The Benjamins settled along Shoulderbone Creek, which "was one boundary of the fabulous tobacco land of Cracker's Neck in Greene, Putnam, and Hancock counties." Cotton rapidly supplanted tobacco as the main crop.

On April 25, 1809, the Georgia Argus published a list of list of unclaimed letters remaining in the Sparta, Hancock Co. Post office, on the first day of April 1809. Benjamin Parrott is listed. Then, on 9 Jan 1810, the Georgia Argus published the list of defaulters in Hancock county for 1809. Captain Sledge's district included the Widdow Parrott, who may have been Benjamin Sr's widow, and whose name remains unknown. If so, it indicates that Benjamin was no longer alive by then. Alternatively and perhaps more likely, the Widdow Parrott was his daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Parrott, widow of Abner Parrott Sr., who had moved to Tennessee.

Benjamin had two documented sons, Abner who settled in Tennessee, and whose descendants have spread westward from there, and Benjamin, who settled in Georgia, and whose line eventually daughtered out. He also has an inferred son, William, who lived in Lunenburg County, Virginia. Their stories are below: