Parsons, Charles (1821 - November 9, 1910)

Charles Parsons (1821 - November 9, 1910) was an American artist and lithographer active in New York. Parsons was born in Hampshire, England in 1821. He emigrated to the united States at 9, apprenticing as a lithographer under George Endicott from 1833. Parsons produced numerous views and lithographs for Endicott and Company, but also engraved or Nathaniel Currier, later Currier and Ives. In 1863 he became the art director for Harper’s Publishing, a position he held until 1889, when he retired. Parson's was influential in the development of American illustration and lithography. His son, Charles R. Parsons, was also an artist based first in Manhattan, then Brooklyn.