Author: Parris, Samuel Bartlett
Biography:
PARRIS, Samuel Bartlett (1806-27: Remains)
Most of the information about him is contained in the adulatory memoir by a close friend, J. D. of Attleboro MA, who edited his posthumous collection of writings. He was the third son of Julia (Drew) Parris and her husband, the Rev. Martin Parris, and was born in Kingston MA. After learning the letters of the alphabet, he taught himself to read. At six, he started learning other languages. His father was also a schoolmaster; he presented his gifted child for examination at Brown University when he was ten, and the university admitted him but recommended deferring entry for two years. When he graduated in 1821, he delivered the Greek Oration. He then proceeded to study medicine in Kingston and in Boston, earning an MD in 1825. He joined an established medical practice in Attleboro MA but fell ill himself and died of "malignant typhus fever" at the age of 21. Some of his poems were picked up quickly by Samuel Kettell for his Specimens of American Poetry (3 vols 1829). (Remains; ancestry.com 11 June 2020) HJ