Silas Parsons

Silas Parsons (c. 1800 – September 17, 1860) was a justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama from 1849 to 1851.

Early life, education, and career Born in Kentucky, Parsons was a brother of General Enoch Parsons, a lawyer in Claiborne, Alabama, who was the Whig candidate for governor in 1835, and of General Peter Parsons, for many years a prominent lawyer and politician in East Tennessee. He was elected the first chancellor of the northern division in 1838 by the legislature, but declined the office.

In 1849, Parsons was appointed by Governor Chapman, and later elected by the legislature, to fill the vacancy on the supreme court bench caused by the resignation of chief justice Henry W. Collier and elevation of associate justice Edmund Strother Dargan. Parsons remained on the bench for two years, then was reportedly forced by failing health to resign. He thereafter moved to Texas and resided on a plantation about ten miles from Austin, Texas.

Personal life and death Parsons married a Miss Reed, a daughter of Colonel John Reed of Madison, Alabama. They had no children.

While on a visit to Huntsville in 1860, he died, and was buried at that place.