John Edward Parsons

John Edward Parsons (October 24, 1829 – January 16, 1915) was an American lawyer in New York City. He was president of the New York City Bar Association from 1900 to 1901 and the president of the Cooper Union from 1905 to 1915.

Early life Parsons was born in New York City in 1829 to Edward Lamb and Matilda Parsons. His father was English and his mother was descended from a prominent Wallingford, Connecticut family.

He was educated at New York University, where he earned a B.A. in 1848 and an M.A. in 1851. He also received an honorary M.A. from Yale Law School. and was admitted to the bar in 1851 or 1852.

Career Parsons began his legal career as the New York County Assistant District Attorney, where he managed many of the city's prosecutions. This would be the only public position he would hold in his career. In 1900, Parsons – who had said about trusts "I believe in trusts. They are economic necessities calculated to benefit the public"

Parsons was also a member of a number of gentlemen's clubs, including the University Club of New York, the Century Club, the Players Club and the Metropolitan Club, among others.

Edith Parsons (1865–1942), who married David Percy Morgan, the treasurer of American Sugar Refining Company. Herbert Parsons (1869–1925), a New York politician who married Elsie Worthington Clews (1875–1941), a daughter of financier and author Henry Clews. Florence, the widow of David Wolfe Bishop, was the daughter of Benjamin Hazard Field, a merchant philanthropist, and the mother of David Wolfe Bishop Jr. and Cortlandt F. Bishop, the pioneer aviator.

Parsons had a summer estate called "Stoneover" in Lenox, Massachusetts,