After the death of Emily, he was remarried to her sister Julia and they moved to Iowa.
[Obituary]
Died at his home in Bear Grove township, Guthrie county, Iowa. Thursday, June 21, 1888, John C. Parsons, in the 67th year of his age.
John C. Parsons was born in Connecticut Sept. 10, 1821. His parents died in his early boyhood, his mother when he was but five, and his father when he was but nine years of age. Thus in his later boyhood years he was without a permanent home. He married when he was 25 years of age. The same year he moved from Conn. into Mass., and came west settling in Benton county this state in 1857, and came to Guthrie county, settling on his beautiful, sightly, home site in 1869. Left a widower, he married Miss Julia E. Fenton, the sister of his deceased wife in 1852; four children were born to them.
Mr. Parsons and family were widely known and respected in their surroundings. Settling on the summit divide in Bear Grove township, when that broad area of prairie, hill and vale, was but little flecked with human dwelling places, he began the making of one of the most inviting and fertile farm homes in Guthrie county. The large grove and orchard that he planted has long been widely seen over Guthrie Co. The little twigs he planted but nineteen years ago, have grown up to furnish pleasing shade and refreshing fruitage. The pines are tall grand trees; the maples large and dense, give graceful beauty to the home, made beautiful by his enterprise and toil. While mindful of the temporal, he was also attentive to the spiritual graces. Through active manhood life, he held membership in the Methodist Communion. As a citizen he was respected. He delighted in peaceful, prosperous and religious surroundings, and a valued christian citizen and loving companion and parent is lost to society by his death.
“A thousand ways has providence, to bring believers home.”