Generation No. 1
Ezeb Paro was born around Dec. 20, 1820 - reportedly in Bath, Ontario, Canada. He died on July 7, 1895. He married three times. First to ______Stevens, Second to Cordilla Spicer on July 7, 1846 and third to Julia Harrison on August 12, 1865.
The origin of Ezeb is clouded as represented by the following narrative from an elder of the Paro family.
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The history & tale of Ezeb Paro, as passed down thru the generations addresses the coming of "Ezeb Parrant, Sr." (later known as Paro) across the Atlantic from Europe on a sailing ship. In those days, it was common practice to smuggle babies from France & England to the New World. Placing the babies in trunks and such, they were hidden in the holds of ships - brought to the New World and sold. Allegedly for 5 or 6 dollars per child.
According to the people who got Ezeb Parrant (later to be Paro), a ship had come down the St. Lawrence to a place called Gananoquie, Canada. The smugglers had 3 babies left. The authorities were pursuing them so, they sold the 3 babies for a dollar each and fled. The Canadians who had bought them, then sold the babies to American farmers across the St. Lawrence River. One family took one child and another took the remaining two children. The family who bought Ezeb were told he was about three months old and gave his birthdate as 12/20/1820. This family gave him the name of Ezeb Parrant. He had been with them for just a few months and the woman died. Ezeb was given to another farmer down the road and his name was changed to Ezeb Paro (English version of Parrant). He lived with this family in the Clayton, N.Y. area for about 14 yrs and then, ran away. He traveled to Canton, N.Y. and hired out to a farmer on the Brick Chapel Road. There was no apparent search for him, so he stayed in the Canton (Brick Chapel Road) area.
Ezeb was a Woodsman (Axeman). He would cut trees and used only an axe. The only saw he ever used was a bucksaw for limbing.
In the wintery month of February, the 17th day, in the year 1895, Ezeb was killed by a falling tree. There was a heavy snowstorm that day and they found him 2 or 3 days later under several feet of snow.
** When Ezeb was around 20 yrs old, he returned to find the people that had taken him and the other boy. Ezeb said this was his brother. He could find no trace of them. He knew nothing of his parents or how he came to be smuggled across the sea. He was told that "they" used to pack little ones into a trunk, place them in the holds of boats and pack other cargo around them. This, reportedly was a very profitable business those days.
In summation (based upon this story), Ezeb was not Born in Canada and his date of birth is uncertain.
