Arthur Parrow

Arthur Parrow

1887-1953

Arthur Noe Parrow was born at Wild Rice, Dakota Territory on Nov.23, 1887, the 8th child of Edward and Odile Parrow.  Baptismal records at St. Benedict's Church in Wild Rice show his name as Noe Arthur Parrow.  In 1892 when Art was 5, his parents sold the farmstead at Wild Rice and moved their family by wagon to Marlow, SD.  Arthur grew to manhood there.  He was a catcher for a Marlow baseball team and was an avid baseball fan for the rest of his life.

On November 24, 1909, Art married Anna Decker, the daughter of Math and Mary (KINN) Decker.  Shortly after their marriage Anna's sister, Katie Unise died, leaving 3 young sons.  Art and Annie took the youngest boy, Larry, to raise and he lived with them until he was about 12.  They farmed west of Marlow and the 1st three of their eight children were born there, Mary on Oct. 1, 1910, Michael on Nov.2, 1912 and Matt in 1915.

In 1917, Art and Annie and the children moved to Havana, ND, where they bought the livery stable, but with the coming of the automobile this was a short venture.  Art was then employed by the Great Northern Railroad for a couple of years.  They then moved to the J.D. Powers farm north of Havana and a couple years later moved to the farm west of Havana.  In 1924 they took over the operation of the Johnson farm northeast of town.  From there they moved back into Havana where Art was employed by the Charles Christensen Enterprises, which included farming, custom harvesting and a livestock buying operation.  During the drought and depression of the 30's this operation was terminated.  During these hard times the family was sustained by Art's employment on the Work Progress Administration.  During these years in and around Havana, five more children were born to them, Ernest in 1918, Arthur in 1922, Donovan in 1923, Eileen in 1929 and Elaine in 1933.

After the depression, Art was employed as a janitor at the Havana school for a number of years and then was again employed by the Powers farm operation.  He also served as city marshall of Havana.  He and Chris Weber once chased robbers of the Havana bank, but did not catch them!

Arthur Parrow died at work in the field on June 12, 1953.  He was 65.  His widow Anna remarried in 1962 to Harley McLaughlin and he also preceded her in death.  She spent the last years of her life in the manors at Edgeley and Forman, ND and died on June 10,1983 at the age of 94.

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