The Woodside Gazette was published in 1858. It was created and edited by siblings James Bowne Parsons (1845-1861) and Mary Bowne Parsons (1843-1910). The January and May issues of the "Woodside Gazette" were also published in Flushing, N.Y. but subsequent issues were published in Litchfield, Litchfield county, Conn. after their family moved there in June of 1858. The paper included poems, anecdotes, short stories, correspondence from their arctic correspondent, and articles about nature, disease, technology, and Litchfield and its surroundings. This newspaper is illustrated in black ink by James Bowne Parsons.
The Parsons family was a merchant family of Flushing, Queens County, N.Y. They joined with the Bowne Family when Samuel Parsons (1774-1841) married Mary Bowne (1784-1839) in 1806. Parsons was a Quaker minister and farmer, with a deep interest in horticulture. Both Samuel and Mary were active abolitionists. Samuel and Mary had 12 children, two unidentified children that died the same year of their birth in 1808 and 1811, Mary J. (1812-1812), Mary Bowne (1813- ), John Bowne (1815-1830), Robert Bowne (1817-1898), Anna (1817-1818), Samuel Bowne (1819-1906), William Bowne (1823-1856), Anna (1824-1825), Jane (1826-1862), and James Bowne Parsons Sr. Samuel passed his horticultural and abolitionist interests to his children, especially Samuel Bowne, Robert Bowne, and William Bowne. Together they established the Parsons Nursery between 1838 and 1840 and were actively involved in the New York Underground Railroad from 1842 to 1850. James Bowne Parsons Sr. married Eliza Ferris (Cock) and they had 8 children, Elizabeth Ferris (1832-1911), Emily Louisa (1836-1861), Catherine Bowne (1838-1844), Robert William (1848-1934), Edward Willis (1850-1925), James Bowne, Mary P., and John Bowne. James Bowne was born in 1845, likely in Flushing, N.Y. He was 15 years old when he died in 1861 and was buried at Flushing Cemetery. Mary Bowne, was born in 1843, likely in Flushing, N.Y. as well, and died in 1910. John Bowne was born in 1834 and died in 1845 at the age of 10.