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Francis Parkman (September 16, 1823 – November 8, 1893) was born in Boston, Massachusetts and died in Jamaica Plain, Boston, Massachusetts. He is best known as a historian, and particularly as author of The Oregon Trail: Sketches of Prairie and Rocky-Mountain Life, and his monumental seven volume France and England in North America. These works are considered masterpieces of both history and literature. image of Francis Parkman clipped from an article by George Willis Cooke in “The New England Magazine”, vol 7 issue 3, November 1889, pages 248-63. ...
image of Francis Parkman clipped from an article by George Willis Cooke in “The New England Magazine”, vol 7 issue 3, November 1889, pages 248-63. ...
September 16 is the 259th day of the year (260th in leap years). ...
1823 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...
November 8 is the 312th day of the year (313th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 53 days remaining. ...
1893 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...
Nickname: City on a Hill, Beantown, The Hub (of the Solar System), Athens of America Motto: Official website: www. ...
Jamaica Plain is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts. ...
France and England in North America is an eight-volume history written by Francis Parkman. ...
He was also a horticulturist, briefly a Professor of Horticulture at Harvard University and the first leader of the Arnold Arboretum, originator of several flowers, and author of several books on the topic. The Latin words hortus (garden plant) and cultura (culture) together form horticulture, classically defined as the culture or growing of garden plants. ...
Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and a member of the Ivy League. ...
The Arnold Arboretum is one of the worlds finest research arboretums. ...
In 1846, Parkman travelled west on a hunting expedition, where he spent a number of weeks living with the Sioux tribe, at a time when they were struggling with some of the effects of contact with Europeans, such as epidemic disease and alcoholism. This experience led Parkman to write about American Indians with a much different tone from earlier, more sympathetic portrayals represented by the "noble savage". Writing in the era of "Manifest Destiny", Parkman believed that the conquest and displacement of American Indians represented progress, a triumph of "civilization" over "savagery", a common view at the time. The Sioux (also Dakota) are a Native American tribe. ...
This article is about the continent. ...
Chief Quanah Parker of the Quahadi Comanche Native Americans in the United States (also Indians, American Indians, First Americans, Indigenous Peoples, Aboriginal Peoples, Aboriginal Americans, Amerindians, Amerinds, or Original Americans) are those indigenous peoples within the territory which is now encompassed by the continental United States, and their descendants in...
A noble savage is a person who belongs to an uncivilized group or tribe and is considered to be, consequently, more worthy than people who live within civilization. ...
This painting (circa 1872) by John Gast called American Progress is an allegorical representation of Manifest Destiny. ...
 A 1925 depiction of Parkman by N.C. Wyeth, for an edition of The Oregon Trail. A scion of a wealthy Boston family, Parkman had enough money to pursue his research without having to worry too much about finances. His financial stability was enhanced by his modest lifestyle, and later, by the royalties from his book sales. He was thus able to commit much of his time to research, as well as to travel. He travelled across North America, visiting most of the historical locations he wrote about, and made frequent trips to Europe seeking original documents with which to further his research. Image File history File links Portrait of Francis Parkman by N.C. Wyeth, c. ...
Image File history File links Portrait of Francis Parkman by N.C. Wyeth, c. ...
Newell Convers Wyeth (October 22, 1882 - October 19, 1945) was an American artist and illustrator. ...
Parkman's accomplishments are all the more impressive in light of the fact that he suffered from a debilitating neurological illness, which plagued him his entire life, and which was never properly diagnosed. He was often unable to walk, and for long periods he was effectively blind, being unable to stand but the slightest amount of light. Much of his research involved having people read documents to him, and much of his writing was written in the dark, or dictated to others.
Personal As a young boy, 'Frank' Parkman was found to be of poor health, and was sent to live with his maternal grandfather, who owned a 3000 acre (12 km²) tract of wilderness in nearby Medford, Massachusetts, in the hopes that a more rustic lifestyle would sturdy him up some. In the four years he stayed there, Parkman developed his love of the forests, which would animate his historical research. Indeed, he would later summarize his books as "the history of the American forest." He learned how to sleep and hunt, and could survive in the wilderness like a true pioneer. He later even learned to ride bareback, a skill that would come in handy when he found himself living with the Sioux. Medford is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts just a few miles north of Boston on the Mystic River. ...
A dense growth of softwoods (a forest) in the Sierra Nevada Range of Northern California A forest is an area with a high density of trees (or, historically, a wooded area set aside for hunting). ...
Parkman enrolled in Harvard University at age 16, and in his second year conceived the plan that would become his life's work. In 1843, at the age of 20, he travelled to Europe for eight months in the fashion of the Grand Tour. Parkman made expeditions through the Alps and the Apennine mountains, climbed Vesuvius, and even lived for a time in Rome, where he befriended Passionist monks who tried, unsuccessfully, to convert him to Catholicism. Upon graduation in 1846, he was persuaded to get a law degree, his father hoping such study would rid Parkman of his desire to write his history of the forests. It did no such thing, and after finishing law school Parkman proceeded to fulfill his great plan. His family was somewhat appalled at Parkman's choice of life work, since at the time writing histories of the American wilderness was considered ungentlemanly. Serious historians would study ancient history, or after the fashion of the time, the Spanish Empire. Parkman's works would become so well-received, that by the end of his lifetime histories of early America has become the fashion. In the 18th century, the Grand Tour was a kind of education for wealthy British noblemen. ...
Passionists are a Roman Catholic religious group that was founded by St Paul of the Cross (Paul Francis Danei). ...
Parkman was married once and had three children. A son died in childhood, and shortly afterwards, his wife died. He successfully raised two daughters, introducing them in to Boston society and seeing them both wed, with families of their own.
Selected works - The Oregon Trail (1847)
- The Conspiracy of Pontiac (1851)
- Vassall Morton (1856), a novel
- The Pioneers of France in the New World (1865)
- The Book of Roses (1866)
- The Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth Century (1867)
- La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West (1869)
- The Old Régime in Canada (1874)
- Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV (1877)
- Montcalm and Wolfe (1884)
- A Half Century of Conflict (1892)
- The Journals of Francis Parkman. Two Volumes. Edited by Mason Wade. New York: Harper, 1947.
- The Letters of Francis Parkman. Two Volumes. Edited by Wilbur R. Jacobs. Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 1960.
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