Damask Rose Parish

 

J.C. Judson wrote about Damask Rose Parish in his history of the First Congregational Church of Sandusky, which he titled Agony and Attainment. According to Mr. Judson, Damask Rose was born in the fall of 1845, and was baptized on August 27, 1846. Her parents were Francis Drake Parish and Mary L. Parish. F.D. Parish was a well known lawyer in Sandusky, and an active participant in the Underground Railroad. They named their child after the late wife of Congregationalist minister Rev. I. A. Hart. Born Damask Rose Frisbie, Mrs. Hart died in 1840, at about 30 years old.

F.D. Parish in his later years

Mr. Judson wrote that Damask Rose Parish was “an unusual, lovely and beautiful child.”

According to records at Oakland Cemetery, Damask Rose Parish died on October 6, 1855, at the age of ten. Her tombstone, which has a rose inscribed under her name, is in Lot 4 of Block 28.  Mr. Parish was greatly saddened when his daughter died, but he was noted for his stoic dedication to his work and community service. 

Hewson Peeke’s book, Stories of Sandusky contains an almost certainly fictional story about Damask Rose Parish. The story tells how Mr. Parish was a friend to fugitive slaves, and suggests that Damask Rose herself took part in helping provide food and water to the fugitives. But J.C. Judson noted that she could not have been old enough to have helped the slaves that were aided by her father in 1845, since she was born that same year.

You can find the grave of Damask Rose Parish at Oakland Cemetery today. Stories of Sandusky and Agony and Attainment can both be found in the Archives Research Center of Sandusky Library. While the Peeke story about Damask Rose may indeed be fiction, there is no question that F. D. Parish was a friend of fugitive slaves. An account of the Underground Railroad of the Firelands is given in the July 1888 issue of the Firelands Pioneer. Rush Sloane, who knew F. D. Parish personally, gives specific dates and places associated with the activities of the Underground Railroad.