In April 2016, Town Historian Dan Cruson had just completed transcribing the first of three diaries (see "Diaries Reveal Details Of One Of Newtown's More Colorful And Elusive Characters - Birdsey Parsons In The Early 20th Century," The Newtown Bee, April 29, 2016) that had come to him via a dumpster diving former Sandy Hook resident, Dan Long.The Newtown Bee. "Here's a guy who was living life the way he wanted to," he said.The Rooster's Crow articles, the newsletter of Newtown Historical Society, Mr Cruson revealed more insights into Louis Birdsey Parson gleaned from the final two diaries; that of musician, conservationist, farmer, businessman, real estate speculator, husband, and father - a man not yet the one that in May 1918 would cause three Newtown Selectmen, according to Mr Cruson, to file a petition with Probate Court claiming "that L. Birdsey Parson by reason of mental derangement has become and is incapable of managing his affairs." That process, never clear on why it came about, ended in a reconsideration of the petition in 1924, and the restoration of Mr Parson's control of his affairs. Coupled with the subsequent move of the rest of his family from Sandy Hook to a better living situation and then the death of his wife in 1942, Mr Cruson supposes that the mental health of Mr Parsons may have then began a "transformation."The Newtown Bee his thoughts on his father-in-law. Despite the man having been an absentee father to his wife, and a vagabond type, Mr Davidson said, "You can be totally different and still not be a detriment to society. Just by being Birdsey, he contributed to the Sandy Hook community. To the community, he was an unconventional character, not the irresponsible family man he was when the children were growing up. He was a citizen of the town and recognized by townspeople who respected his individuality... He left a legacy to say, 'We're not all going to live the same kind of life.'"For more about Birdsey Parsons, see "Birdsey Parsons: A Legend Rooted In Reality," The Newtown Bee, October 15, 2010).Interested members of the public may view the transcripts of the diaries at the office of the town historian, in Edmond Town Hall, by appointment and during the historian's office hours, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Mr Cruson hopes at some future date to display the diaries at C.H. Booth Library.

The diaries were those of Birdsey Parsons, a resident of Sandy Hook from his birth in 1884 to his death in 1979. Rescued from his neighbor's dumpster after Mr Parsons' home was cleaned out following his death, Mr Long held onto the diaries and sheet music that had been tossed. Realizing their historic value, the current Florida resident decided to return the items into the care of Newtown's historian in March 2016.

At the time he first perused the trio of journals, Mr Cruson was just beginning to discover the quirks of Birdsey Parsons' personality - a personality that had, over the years, earned the Sandy Hook citizen a reputation as an eccentric. Dated from 1905 to October of 1908; February 1909 to October 1909; and the third journal from October 1909 to 1915, Mr Cruson sees the value in the well-written diaries. The penciled entries, he said, are a valuable addition to learning about life in the early part of the 20th Century.

"Eccentrics are fascinating, simply put," said Mr Cruson in a September 2017 interview with

While through misguided efforts to get people off the streets we seem to see fewer "characters" in towns today, Mr Cruson said that even Newtown continues to have its share of people who live a lifestyle deemed not in keeping with the norm. A town's characters tend to not necessarily contribute to society in the usual or financial ways, "but definitely add color to the town," Mr Cruson noted, and asked, "But then, what do most of us give to the town?"

Typically, people have compassion and a feeling of protectiveness toward their own town's characters, Mr Cruson observed.

"Most [characters] are harmless, though they can be frightening to others as they can be very emotional," he pointed out.

In a series of late winter and early spring 2017

The three diaries are an unusual opportunity to view an eccentric "from the inside," Mr Cruson said; although, it is not obvious from Mr Parsons' own reflections in these diaries from his early years that he will have deep-seated issues going forward. That he came from a family that valued education is clear in the scholarly and legible journal entries, Mr Cruson said.

"A diary like this is rare. It is from an individual who is a 'character' within the town who reveals himself in a diary," said Mr Cruson. Diaries themselves are not uncommon, and most give a glimpse into the way the writer is thinking.

"But [Birdsey Parsons' diaries] are not your everyday diary," he emphasized. "Once you start reading about this guy, you feel for him."

Longtime residents of Newtown and Sandy Hook may remember Birdsey Parsons as a character who preferred traveling about town by wagon (pulled by his donkey, Betty), and in later years, riding a small tractor to and from Edmond Town Hall. What they may not know, is that in his younger days, Birdsey Parsons was the owner of one of Newtown's first automobiles. According to one of the recovered diaries, he was the proud owner of a Cadillac - Predominant color brown, style - runabout, maker's number-21,548, maker's model number - 549160, horsepower - 10, maker's advertised horsepower - 7-10, number of cylinders - 4, bore - 5 in. - which thrilled and vexed him in its unreliability. It was following the sale of "Newtown's first unofficial taxi," in 1911, Mr Cruson writes in the November-December 2016 Rooster's Crow, that Mr Parsons turned to actual horse-powered transportation. He dabbled again in car ownership in 1914, but it is unclear as to how long he traveled by motor vehicle before relying again on animal driven transportation.

It is one of the small details that fill out the curious history of the young man who had so much and lost so much.

The diaries of young Birdsey Parsons show his varied interests in real estate and businesses as he strived to remove himself from farm life, although he begins an early diary entry noting his chickens, eggs, and dairy interests.

"The primary purchase of Parsons' Sandy Hook business career was the Betts store," Mr Cruson writes, a business sold in 1914 to Martin A. Corbett and Arthur Crowe. This building still stands at 113 Church Hill Road.

A man eager to engage in real estate, and as a mill owner; a man who fancied himself an inventor; who published original music later exploited by the publishers - the diaries also show a man unable to follow through on these dreams. Underneath the words on the surface, in these diaries, Mr Cruson said, "you find he is fooling himself."

How people spent downtime in this era is exposed in several of Mr Parsons' diary entries. Reading, music, and church occupy free time, as do dances. But 24 entries throughout the three diaries also refer, Mr Cruson found, to another pastime interest: playing pool, the competitive nature of which his entries indicate he enjoyed.

While not adverse to fishing and trapping, Mr Parsons' relationship with the outdoors turns in later years to one of early conservationist. These recorded words, though, express more of his walks in the woods and the traplines he maintained.

The final two diaries continue to unspool one young man's simple life in a more rural era of Newtown. Mr Cruson was impressed by the "naive frankness" of Mr Parsons as he chronicles his health information and his disappointments in love, prior to his marriage in 1909 to Vivian Wetmore. He expresses ambivalence at the birth of his first child in 1910, saying only that his wife "laid a baby."

By 1914, he and his wife have separated, though he "expects to have breakfast and dinner" at the family homestead on what is now Dayton Street in Sandy Hook. Additionally, his diary expresses that he will allow her to not only get meals, but "do my washing, and sleep with her." The breakdown of the relationship is clear by the end of the third diary, with Mr Parsons recording his wife's threats of suicide and her desire to leave.

Mr Cruson notes that as Birdsey Parsons' contributions to family life deteriorate, Mrs Parsons and children moved to Stepney, where she housekeeps for a member of the Philo Curtis family, until her death in 1942. Despite the hardships of life with - or without - Birdsey Parsons, neither Mrs Parsons nor the children ever felt a need to criticize the absent husband/father.

In 2010, Howard Davidson, who married Sylvia, a daughter of Mr Parsons, shared in an interview with

Mr Cruson spent nearly another year since reading the first fading entries, consuming information about Mr Parsons' early life, and confirming Mr Davidson's observation that "we're not all going to live the same kind of life," as he transcribed the three volumes. (Mr Davidson passed away in 2012; Birdsey Parsons' daughter, Sylvia, followed him in death in 2013.)

While certainly an unconventional citizen of the town, the diaries are a well-expressed history of Newtown's early social and farming life, Mr Cruson said.

As the diaries come to a close, Mr Cruson noted, "Although he would add a few other land holdings, at this time he was at the peak of his prosperity and was considered a man of property and minor prominence... in South Center he owned two houses, a barn, and sundry outbuildings worth $1,900, 45 acres of land worth $600, and a store valued at $1,200. Within ten short years, most of this estate would be lost."

The diaries depict a man who is learned, talented in various areas, and willing to take on challenges.

"It is difficult to capture [from reading the diaries] his real level of competence," said Mr Cruson. What drives Birdsey Parsons to his latter days in which he has abandoned family and adopted a hobolike lifestyle, living in a shack on Washington Avenue and later on Jeremiah Road, may never be clear.