FEATURES

THE ARCHIVES: PART I

NOTE: Also visit The Archives: Part II and our newer features.

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Genealogy

Early families in Europe, the first generations in Connecticut in the 1630s and Pennsylvania in the 1840s.

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Obituaries

At 108, retired air traffic controller James Ernst Parmley James Ernst Parmley is the oldest known member of the family. ... An index of obituaries beginning in 1995.

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Olde England

Visits to the ancestral family homes in Lewes south of London and in Middleton-in-Teesdale in County Durham.

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New England

Guilford, Conn., is the Long Island Sound town that the family helped settle in 1639.

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Your Twig?

Find out where you fit in the greater family tree.

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Coats of Arms

So far we've uncovered six!



The Great War's Centennial

A century ago, more than 40 nations and their colonies were pulled into World War I, which killed more than 9 million soldiers, sailors and airmen, and 5 million civilians. More than 80 members of the family around the globe served in uniform, as well as nurses and ambulance drivers. Help us add photos to this page. Even an old dog tag, right, belonging to one member of the family turned up a few years ago.

Did your American ancestor register for the World War I draft? I have 688 cards filed under our name. The data on them also provide a nice snapshot of the family in 1917-18, when the U.S. joined the fight.




The Battle of New Orleans

When Andrew Jackson ordered every able-bodied man in the city to enroll as the British approached, Oliver Parmlee [1785-1814; Oliver, Ezra, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, John, John] was one of 68 merchants and lawyers who stepped forward. Oliver was killed the day before the Treaty of Ghent ending the War of 1812 was signed.


The Coffee Crusader

Software engineer Matt Parmelee's Redstart Roasters uses beans grown by farms holding certifications from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, assuring consumers the roast they're buying isn't linked to deforestation. The product of his sideline gig -- named after the American Redstart warbler -- is in Pittsburgh stores.



Sir Andrew

Although his days as the ceremonial Lord Mayor of the City of London and appearances with the royal family have ended, on some Sundays you just might find Sir Andrew Parmley on the organ bench of St. James Garlickhythe, where he led one drive to restore the 1718 Knoppel organ and another to cast eight bells for the church's empty tower.



Other Old Features
  • Our kind of town: Chicago renames a street to honor Franklin Parmelee as Continental Airport Express, successor to Parmelee Transfer, celebrated its 150th anniversary.
  • Reunion: Long Beach, Calif., aboard the Queen Mary in 2000.
  • Gone with the wind: The 1913 Omaha Easter Sunday tornado. ... the 1878 Wallingford, Conn., tornado.
  • Catching a comet: NASA ordered its comet-hunting Stardust probe to shut down the spacecraft after a 12-year career. Relatives had their names encoded in microchips that were placed aboard the spacecraft, which encountered a comet in 2004 and brought back samples to Earth in January, 2006.
  • Photo album mystery: We think we've got photos of Robert Parmley and some of his 24 kids!
  • Cloudscapes: Former flight attendant Abbie Parmele, left, has created a series of cloudscapes which were displayed at an Indiana bank and another series of hay bales, which is on view in Rensselaer, N.Y.
  • Author! Author! A chance meeting leads to Mary Alice Parmley's first book.
  • Our man in Havana: Michael Eleazur Parmly served as the top U.S. diplomat to Cuba during the second Bush administration.
  • Got a match? This promotional matchbook cover comes from an old family shop in Sea Bright, N.J. Does anyone know anything about it?
  • A brush with teaching: UC Davis art major Alex Palmerlee teaches in the ArtsBridge program.
  • The old homestead: Camp Atterbury was once an Indiana family home.
  • University donors: William Douglas and Luann Parmelee have created two funds for faculty excellence at the University of North Carolina in their wills.
  • The suffragette: Annette, left, was known as the "Suffragette Hornet" as she sweet-talked and bullied the Vermont Legislature to support women's right to vote.
  • Court case: Allan Wesley Parmelee, the Washington arsonist who's called "The Inmate Who Won't Shut Up."
  • 'Farm in the Dell': Hikes through the Horace and Eunice Maria (Parmelee) Parmelee Farm in Killingworth, Conn.
  • School days: Charlotte (Cooper) Parmley, who worked in the bursar's office at State University of New York, Genesco, recalls growing up in the Great Depression and attending a one-room schoolhouse.
  • The family silver: Among the family items that have recently surfaced are the baptism bowl of Deacon Nathaniel (1771/72 - 1717/18) and son Ezra's (1714-1800) children, and a pair of candlesticks Ezra gave to daughter Jemima when she married Josiah Griswold in 1774.
  • Home, sweet home: Recognize this old homestead in Virginia? Why was it called the Parmelee House?
  • Tug race: The captain of the Parmelee, which plied the waters off Charlevoix, Mich., for years, learns that a head start doesn't guarantee victory.
  • Cream of the crop: The days of the milkman may be over, but Barbara and George R. Parmelee are part of a Bethlehem, Conn., dairy institution that began in 1922.
  • Barn-raising: Joel and Trish Parmelee of Randolph Center, Vt., rebuild after a fire.
  • Lacrosse: Carson Parmelee is the man behind the mask at the University of Arizona.
  • Old barn: An 1886 barn outside Guilford, Conn., that's been in the family for generations will get a face-lift thanks to a grant.
  • Flying high: James Madison University student Dan Parmelee is on his way to earning a commercial pilot's license.
  • Family on a budget: What happens when parenting years overlap with retirement? Charles and Jan Parmalee of Albany, N.Y., are finding out.
  • Escaping the tsunami: The James Aaron Parmelee family of Bangkok, Thailand, was visiting the United States when 2004 disaster hit.
  • Home tour: Ron and Sherri Parmely open their house in Wyoming.
  • Rock hound: Horatio "Harvey" Plum Parmelee collected rocks from all over the world.
  • Sister act: This 1857 group portrait, "The Parmly Sisters," hangs in a gallery in Washington, D.C. They're the daughters of dentist Eleazer Parmly.
  • Snakes alive!: Jeff Parmele of Simpson College is on a mission to save the timber rattlesnakes in Iowa.
  • Teacher honored: Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough pays tribute to Elizabeth Mallory Parmelee in a commencement address at Wheaton College shortly before her death.
  • Tae kwon do champ: James Parmelee of Hernando (Fla.) High School, has qualified for National AAU Tae Kwon Do Championships and the Junior Olympics.
  • An MS story: Donna Karan manager Marlo Donato Parmelee is glamorous, smart ... and suffering from multiple sclerosis. When Marlo, 37, of London, failed to find a narrative that conveyed what she was going through, she decided to write it herself. The result is "Awkward Bitch: My Life With MS" (AuthorHouse).
  • A novel idea: Author Stephen Lewis takes the 1895 Michigan murder case of Julia Curtis, a servant girl buried in a shallow grave. Levi Woodruff Parmelee was convicted, then pardoned of the killing.
  • What's cookin'?: Pat Parmele, a former caterer and food service director, cooks Monday dinner for son Gerik, photo editor at the Columbia Daily Tribune, and his family. She's taken to blogging many of her recipes at Dancing in the Kitchen.
  • Parmele-Dohrmann: You still can find their items at online auction sites. But a century ago, the best in tabletop finery was sold at this housewares store in Los Angeles.
  • WWI dog tags: Kenneth Parmelee of Santa Fe, N.M., doesn't know how his father's World War I dog tags ended up at a woman's Texas home, but he is glad to have the items back. The tags were found while Jim Woods was cleaning out the Big Spring, Texas, estate of his maiden aunt. And the connection was made through our website!

Search the site -- but remember,
"Parmelee" can be spelled dozens of ways.
If you aren't sure, use * as a wildcard:

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The Home Page

Updated March 29, 2021

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