John parsons graduated from the University of Virginia in 1839 and began the study of the law. Not finding the profession to his taste, however, he made a tour of Indiana in the spring of 1840, with the intention of visiting a cousin, who had gone there three years before, and of purchasing land and settling there if he found conditions to his liking in the Wabash country. He was 23 years old at the time, handsome, intelligent, a keen observer and possessed of a charming personality.