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Mallie (Fawcett) Parkhurst Merhie was born in 1873 in Kingwood, Preston County, WV, the daughter of Charles Wesley and Margaret Elizabeth (Herndon) Fawcett. Her first husband served as private secretary to West Virginia Governor William Mercer Owens Dawson and is profiled in the 1911 book, History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia, authored by W.S. Laidley.

At the age of 21, Mallie married 25-year-old William Brewster Parkhurst (1869-1908), the son of Judge Jonathan Gilbert and Emma (Dodge) Parkhurst of Michigan. The wedding was held on Nov. 28, 1894, at the Kingwood Methodist Episcopal Church, officiated by Rev. S.P. Crummett. 

William was a ninth generation descendant of William Brewster of the Mayflower and Plimouth Plantation in Massachusetts. His cousin, Charles Henry Parkhurst (1842-1933) -- seen here -- was a well known clergyman and social reformer whose attacks helped bring down the corrupt Tammany Hall political machine in New York City.

The Parkhursts had two children, Rachel B. Parkhurst, born in West Virginia in 1896, and Reginald Brewster Parkhurst, born in Michigan in 1897. 

William's father was a county judge in Michigan, and his mother was lecturer on temperance. William received his education in New York City "and was admitted to the bar but never engaged in the practice of law," said the History of Charleston (seen here). "He was a Republican in politics, and was a member of the Elks, the Eagles and the Knights of Pythias, in all these organizations having devoted personal as well as fraternal friends." Continued the History:

He came to Preston county, W.Va., to become an official reporter for the five courts presided over by Judge Joseph T. Hoke, and continued until the retirement of Judge Hoke in 1897, when he came to Charleston to become private secretary to Governor Dawson. He was a man of talent and served also as circuit, criminal and Federal court stenographer. From too close application he fell ill and never regained his health, his death occurring in 1907, while still a young man.

Seen here is the state capitol building in Charleston -- the seat of government in West Virginia -- as William would have known it. The building was destroyed by fire in 1921, and after a second building burned, a buff limestone structure was built with a prominent landmark dome which stands today.

Tragedy struck the family when William, age 37, passed away in Charleston at the age of 37, of "dropsy" (internal buildup of fluids) on Feb. 6, 1908 (or 1907). His final resting place is not yet known. Son Reginald would have been age 13 at the time.

After several years as a widow, Mallie married moving picture company agent Nedgar E. "Ned" Merhie (1880- ? ) on June 28, 1911. Some seven years younger than his bride, Nedgar was a resident of Charleston and "a member of the West Virginia Film Exchange," said the History of Charleston. He died sometime before 1920, leaving Mallie widowed twice by the age of about 40.

Taking back the surname "Parkhurst," Mallie made her home as a widow at Washington Street and at 415 Greenbrier Street in Charleston, Kanawha County, WV. When the federal census was taken in 1920, Mallie was employed as a manager of a theatre in Charleston, while 23-year-old son Reginald, living at home, was a chemist. Their address was 2309 Washington Street. 

The census of 1930 shows Mallie living alone, but with a servant cook in the household. By that time, she apparently had purchased the "Lyric Theatre" and was shown as its "owner."  In the late 1930s and 1940, Mallie resided at 415 Greenbrier Street in Charleston. The Lyric, at 305 Washington Street West in Charleston, may still be in existence.

Mallie died unexpectedly of a heart attack ... at her home," said the Charleston Daily Mail, just one day before her 61st birthday, on Nov. 29, 1940. Her remains were interred at Sunset Memorial Park in South Charleston. 

~ Son Reginald Brewster Parkhurst ~

Son Reginald Brewster Parkhurst (1897- ? ) obtained his bachelor's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A November 1922 article in the institute's alumni magazine, The Technology Review, said that he had attended the alumni dinner. 

In our happy group was R.B. Parkhurst, X-A, 99 Laighton Street, Lynn, Mass. With a cap on Reg's noble brow it topped a large evening, but it might have been much larger. With the General Electric Company in Lynn (in their laboratory), Reg applies the ka's to a T. But then Lynn is not far from the three-mile limit.

Reginald married Miriam F. (?) (1901- ? ), a native of the District of Columbia. The wedding took place in about 1923. They had one known daughter, Sylvia Ella Parkhurst, born in 1925. In 1922, Reginald and William Thompson Smith co-authored a paper on "The Solubility of Sulfur Dioxide in Suspensions of Calcium and Magnesium Hydroxides" that later was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The family lived in a hotel in Houston, Harris County, TX as shown in the 1930 census. Reginald was employed that year as a chemist for an oil refinery. By the early 1930s, Charleston (WV) Daily Mail articles mentioning Reginald or Sylvia show that they were living in Charleston. 

At the age of 30, daughter Sylvia Ella Parkhurst (1925- ? ) married 50-year-old divorcee William Gay Cottrell (1905- ? ) on May 3, 1955, in Charleston.