In the heart of the quaint town of Mt. Vernon, Kentucky, a family legacy unfolded through the diligent hands of my great-grandfather, B.H., and my grandfather, Stewart. Together, they steered the helm of Parsons Equipment Company, a beacon of agricultural solutions, from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. Little did I know, this hidden chapter of family history would become a captivating journey of rediscovery.
My connection to this is personal – I never got to know my great-grandfather B.H. as he passed away in 1969. I did, however, know my grandfather Stewart through my middle teens. It wasn’t until I was in my twenties that I stumbled upon the existence of Parsons Equipment Company. I further discovered that Parsons Equipment Company ran ads in the local newspaper, the Mount Vernon Signal throughout the years of its operation.
A local newspaper, which I had access to scanned copies of, through an online archive.
Since that discovery, I have collected as many of the ads as I could find, regardless of how intricate or mundane they were, I’ve collected them from scans of the old newspapers. Each ad, a time capsule of a bygone era, spoke volumes about the entrepreneurial spirit that ran through the veins of B.H. and Stewart. Through meticulous scans of those weathered newspapers, I unearthed a wealth of material that forms the basis of this intriguing project.
This project is a retelling or re-sharing of those original printed newspaper ads. As I share the chronology of these ads, I also intend to use this as a means of study. Not only will I be sharing the original ads as they were scanned and archived, but I will attempt to re-create the ads, giving them a fresh, sharp appearance.
This project is a personal love letter to the grandfather I knew, to the great-grandfather that I never got to meet, and to a business that carried my last name for over a decade. Every one of these ads has at least a thread of connection to one, if not to both men. Whether they submitted the ad, they called in the ad, or they simply paid for the ad. Whether they penned the ad, called it in, or simply funded it, these advertisements are the threads that bind us to their world during that era.
So, fasten your seatbelts and embark on this expedition with me. Let’s travel back in time through the ads of Parsons Equipment Company, appreciating the resilience, innovation, and sheer hard work that defined an era gone by.
You can follow along and check out each advertisement over on the Parsons Equipment Project page here on the site, or check out and follow the Parsons Equipment Project Instagram
