Bat & Ball Boys
The addition of ‘U.S., Baseball Questionnaires, 1945 2005’ to the Ancestry record sets recently provides us with some fascinating information about P*RR*TTs who played professional baseball during this period.
One of the earliest questionnaires is for Raymond Addison PARROTT who says that he had the nickname ‘Polly’ and worked as a metal polisher and plater in the off season. His ancestry was stated to be English and French.
Perhaps the most interesting statement made on this questionnaire is that Raymond claimed he had organised baseball games between Japanese prisoners of war and American players at Okinawa during the Second World War. Can anyone perhaps one of our American members tell us more about this story?
Further research indicates that Raymond was born on 24th February 1920 in Redmond, Oregon. His baseball career was short lived and the last record of his participation in minor league games is in 1946.
Raymond died on 31st August 1966 by suicide through carbon monoxide poisoning in his car. He was working as a collection agent at the time of his death and was divorced from his wife, though she was the informant of his death. He was the son of Roy Anthony PARROTT (1888-1966) and Violet Vivian THYNE (1897-1976). This family has been traced back to Luke PARROTT and Mary Elizabeth NEWBILL.
Willie Parrish PARROTT (1934 2006) also had the nickname ‘Polly’ but was also referred to as ‘Billy’ and ‘Kat’. His ambition was “to be a Major League pitcher ( a good one )”. Willie was born in Oxford, North Carolina, and describes his ancestry as American. He was the son of Willie Parrish PARROTT (1906-1972) and Grace Gaynelle OAKLEY (1912-1969). Some trees on Ancestry have identified him as a descendant of Frederick PARROTT who came to the US from Alsace Lorraine (or Switzerland/Germany) in the early eighteenth century.