From "John Barton" <jax760@...>
(jax760 at yahoo.com)

Henry G. Parkhurst
"The Unbeliever"
(1895 – 1954)

Henry Giffen Parkhurst was born March 13, 1895
in Marion, Iowa. He is considered to be A.A.
#2 in the New York contingent of Alcoholics
Anonymous and was Bill's first "sponsee." Henry
(Hank) was from Teaneck, New Jersey and could
be considered to be the fifth* member of A.A.

New Jersey A.A can trace its roots to Hank.

Hank had once been the Assistant General Sales
Manager for Standard Oil of New Jersey and had
been fired for his drinking. Bill found him
in September of 1935 in Towns Hospital and
offered him the solution that had worked for
him, Doctor Bob and Bill Dotson. Hank, who had
been treated numerous times previously at
Towns and was an avowed atheist, reluctantly
accepted the "spiritual" solution. His story,
"The Unbeliever" was published in the 1st
edition of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.

Hank is first mentioned in "The Doctor's
Opinion" on page xxix of the Big Book. Dr.
Silkworth describes his case in detail:

"He has lost everything worthwhile in life and
was only living, one might say, to drink. He
frankly admitted and believed that for him
there was no hope. Following the elimination
of alcohol, there was found to be no permanent
brain injury. He accepted the plan outlined in
this book. One year later he called to see me,
and I experienced a very strange sensation. I
knew the man by name, and partly recognized
his features, but there all resemblance ended.
From a trembling, despairing, nervous wreck,
had emerged a man brimming over with self-
reliance and contentment. I talked with him
for some time, but was notable to bring myself
to feel that I had known him before. To me he
was a stranger, and so he left me. A long time
has passed with no return to alcohol."

Hank is again mentioned in the chapter "A
Vision for You" on page 163 as the ". . .
A.A. member living in a large community." This
refers to Hank's home on N. Fullerton Street
in Upper Montclair where he was living in 1939
when the big book was first published.

Hank has been described as a red haired, tall,
broad-shouldered former athlete with a
salesman's drive and enthusiasm. Hank was a
hard-driving promoter who was once described
as "having an idea a minute." He and his wife
Kathleen had two sons, Henry and Robert (Hank
Jr., and Bob.)

Hank and his wife Kathleen began attending the
meetings on Tuesday nights that Bill and Lois
held at their Brooklyn home at 182 Clinton
Street. These meetings which began in the fall
of 1935 would continue until April of 1939.
Hank also attended Oxford Group meetings with
Bill and another New York recruit named John
Fitzhugh Mayo.

One A.A. story has Hank in early recovery one
night with Bill and Fitz driving down Park
Avenue in Hank's convertible. Hank suddenly
stood straight up, grasping the steering wheel
in both hands, with the wind beating against
him, yelling, "God! God almighty, booze was
never this good."

Hank had an office at 9-11 Hill Street in
Newark, which later moved to 17 William
Street. The office was "the headquarters for
a rapidly failing business," according to
Bill.  The business was Honor Dealers, which
Hank had conceived, according to one source,
as a way of getting back at Standard Oil; the
company that had fired him for his drinking.
His business plan was to provide selected
gasoline stations with the opportunity to buy
gasoline, oil, and automobile parts on a
cooperative basis. Bill Wilson was hired to
be a salesman for the company and was later
joined by Jimmy Burwell; another pioneer of A.A.

Ruth Hock was hired as the secretary of Honor
Dealers and would later become the A.A.
Foundation's first national secretary.  Ruth
remembered very little gasoline business being
conducted there. A lot of people dropped in to
discuss their drinking problems, and on more
than one occasion she observed Bill and Hank
kneeling in prayer by the side of Hank's desk
with one of these visitors, an Oxford Group
custom when seeking God's guidance. It was
here in the offices of Honor Dealers that the
book Alcoholics Anonymous was to be written.

In 1937, on February 13th the "Alcoholic
Squadron" of the New York Oxford Group held
a meeting in New Jersey at Hank Parkhurst's
Teaneck home on Wyndham Road. It was the first
time the group of drunks met in New Jersey to
conduct an "alcoholic style" Oxford Group
meeting. The purpose of this meeting was to
introduce William Ruddell (A Business Man's
Recovery) of Hackettstown to the fledgling
fellowship.

March of 1938 marked the beginning of the
writing of the Big Book at Hank's office. The
project needed funding so Hank wrote up a
prospectus for "The 100 Men Corporation." They
offered 600 shares for sale at $25 par value.
Hank went down to a stationary store, bought
blank stock certificates, typed in his full
name, followed by the title "President." The
name of the publishing company was "Works
Publishing Co.," but the corporation was not
registered until several years later. Hank and
Bill were each to keep 200 shares for their
work on the book, the balance of the 200 shares
would be sold for $25 per share. This would
raise the $5,000 needed to publish the book.

Although Bill was the primary author of the
book, Hank is credited with "writing" Chapter
10, To Employers. Without Hank and his hard
driving, raising money, promoting and keeping
Bill on task, the book may never have been
written.

On April 26, 1939 Bill and Lois were evicted
from their home at 182 Clinton Street in
Brooklyn. They moved in with Hank and Kathleen
Parkhurst who were now living in Upper
Montclair, New Jersey.

On May 14, 1939, a Sunday afternoon, the very
first meeting of what was to become the New
Jersey Group of Alcoholics Anonymous took place
in the home of Hank and Kathleen in Montclair.

Meetings that had been formerly held in
Brooklyn were held in New Jersey for the
next 5 or 6 weeks. The meetings began at
4:00 PM and went most of the night. They
rotated speakers for the first portion
according to Jim Burwell who was also living
at Hank and Kathleen's home as well at that
time.

In the early summer of 1939 there was a falling
out between Bill and Hank. Hank wanted to leave
his wife and marry Ruth Hock, the secretary
from Honor Dealers. She refused his proposal
and Hank felt that Bill had interfered. In
late June Hank and Kathleen would split up.
Hank moved to East Orange, Bill and Lois left
to stay at the Bungalow owned by Horace
Chrystal (a New York member) in Green Pond,
New Jersey.

In early September, Hank Parkhurst had returned
to drinking. Bill's first sponsee, the great
promoter of the Big Book and the founder of
A.A. in New Jersey would never again enjoy
long term sobriety. Hank would nurse resentment
against Bill for the rest of his life and cause
great division within the A.A. ranks in the
months to come.

In March of 1940 Bill and Ruth moved the
office of the Alcoholic Foundation to Vesey
Street in Manhattan. Not long after, Hank
showed up dirty, drunk and in a bad way. He
complained that the furniture in the office
was still his and Bill offered him $200 for
the furniture provided he signed over his 200
shares of Works Publishing Co. to the
Alcoholic Foundation. Hank in desperation
complied.

Hank had periods of sobriety over the next 14
years despite periodic episodes of drinking.
At one point he married the sister of Clarence
Snyder's wife Dorothy and had Clarence working
for him as a salesman for a company called
Henry Giffen, Fine Porcelains.

Hank's third marriage was to a Houston oil
heiress. She reportedly was the love of his
life. She died leaving Hank an inheritance
which he later used to remarry Kathleen and
purchase a chicken farm in Pennington, New
Jersey.

The chicken coup caught fire and was destroyed
in January 1954. The story was reported in the
Pennington Post, which also carried Hank's
obituary on the very same day.

Hank died January 18, 1954, at Mercer Hospital
in Pennington, New Jersey. Lois Wilson said
his death was due to drinking. Others claimed
it was pills. Some thought it was both. His
obituary says only that he died after a lengthy
illness.

Despite Hank's difficulties, A.A. owes Henry G.
Parkhurst its thanks and gratitude. Without
Hank, the Big Book and A.A.'s early history
might be remarkably different from what we
have today. A.A. in New Jersey and its history
are the direct result of Hank Parkhurst's
involvement in A.A. during its "flying blind"
period.

John B.
The Big Book Study Group of
South Orange, New Jersey

- - - -

*Hank being the "fifth" member, in Hank's 1st
edition story he says: "Told him it sounded
like self hypnotism to me and he said what of
it . . .  didn't care if it was yogi-ism,
self-hypnotism, or anything else . . . four
of them were well."

["Four of them well" likely refers to
Bill, Dr. Bob, Eddie Reilly, and Bill
Dotson. Eddie did not remain sober or stay
a member for long, but he did achieve
sobriety in 1949.]

- - - -

The following sources are gratefully
acknowledged:

Biographies separately published by both
Mike O and Nancy O

A History of The Big Book - Alcoholics
Anonymous, Written by Donald B.

Postings of AA History Lovers, yahoo.com

A Narrative Timeline of AA History 2007
– Arthur S.

Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age – AAWS

Alcoholics Anonymous 1st ed.

Alcoholics Anonymous 3rd ed.

Pass it On – AAWS

Not God - Kurtz