NORWOOD HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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BIOGRAPHIES

S. H. Parvin

"PARVIN, SYLVESTER H., Advertising Agent, was born at Bridgeton, New Jersey, June 23nd, 1815, and is the son of Holmes Parvin (a Methodist minister) and Elizabeth Dare. In 1837 he came to Cincinnati, and finished his education at Old Woodward. On March 27th, 1851, he established an advertising agency in Cincinnati. It was the first agency of the kind ever undertaken west of the Alleghenies. Advertising was then in its infancy, and it was only by uniting with it other sources of support that he could at first maintain himself. The largest mechants then rarely exceeded an expenditure for advertising of over $200 or $300; now $30,000 and $40,000 are paid by some establishments, the business having attained large proportions. Mr. Parvin still continues in this business, assisted by his son, George S. Parvin, at 168 Vine street, Cincinnati. He is one of the three founders, and the largest proprietor, of Norwood, one of the suburbs of Cincinnati, on the line of the Marietta and Cincinnati railroad, a place that is destined to become noted from the extraordinary beauty of its location. It is on a high elevation, and on the summit is a curiosity, a large Indian mound, with a noble outlook upon a picturesque country."

Source: "The Biographical Encyclopędia of Ohio of The Nineteenth Century,"
1876 by Galaxy Publishing Company

This article was written seven years after the Norwood Heights subdivision was platted and twelve years before Norwood was incorporated as a village.

The following information is from Williams' Cincinnati Directories:
  • 1862 - Parvin, S.H. Advertising & Collecting Agent, 63 W. 4th, h. Brooklyn Heights
  • 1875 - Pioneer Advertising Agency
  • 1876 - General Advertising Agency
  • 1877 - Parvin S. H. & Sons, Pioneer Advertising Agency, 168 Vine, h. Hamilton Pike
  • 1878 - same as 1877
  • 1879 - Parvin S. H. & Sons, 152 Walnut


Around 1869, S. H. Parvin, P. P. Lane and L. Bolles purchased the 81.06 acres Wm. B. Ferguson farm and platted it as the "Norwood Heights" subdivision. The undivided property was initially owned 1/2 by Parvin, 1/3 by Bolles and 1/6 by Lane.
Hamilton County Deed Book 363, pages 469-474


According to the May 1871 sale of lot 14 of Norwood Heights to Lemuel Bolles, Sylvester H. Parvin's wife was Frances Parvin.



"PARVIN - Suddenly, on Monday, 23d inst., at 8
o'clock A. M., S. H. Parvin in his 64th year.
Due notice of funeral will be given.
[Philadelphia, Bridgeton (N.J.) and Indianpolis pa-
pers please copy.]"

The Cincinnati Commerical , December 24, 1878, Tuesday; page 5 column 4



Sylvester Hutcheson Parvin was born June 20, 1815, in Bridgeton, New Jersey, and died December 23, 1878, of paralysis, while on a railroad train.

Spring Grove Cemetery record #31994



Sylvester Hill (sic) Parvin was born about 1815 and died about 1878. His parents were Holmes Parvin (Senior) and Elizabeth Rose Dare. He married Francis Golden Smith on October 10, 1849. Their children were George, Anna Frances, Charles Agustus (sic), Jennie Olivia, Edward Holmes, Anna Blanche and Eva May. His half-brother was Holmes Parvin, Jr., M.D., who's daughter Melissa B. Parvin married James M. McCullough, of seed business fame, and had a son, Albert.

http://www.parvinfamily.com/genealogy/general/d163.htm#P2194

NOTE: A story written by J. U. Lloyd and published in 1907 credited the naming of Norwood to J. M. McCullough—according to son Albert McCullough.

BIOGRAPHIES

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