Boston molasses flood trial12/7/2023 ![]() That same year he offered to raise $16,000 for the construction of a full-size institution. ![]() ![]() In 1817, he wrote two papers, Remarks on Insanity and The Management of Lunatics in an effort to convince the trustees of the Massachusetts General Hospital that he could supervise an asylum they were considering opening. Parkman thought Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital was a good model and talked to the faculty of Massachusetts General Hospital about having a lunatic hospital connected to it. Parkman believed that psychiatric institutions should reflect a residence-like setting, where patients could enjoy hobbies and socializing and participating in household chores, as permitted. The War of 1812 called for the service of young men and Parkman “received a commission as a surgeon in a regiment of the third brigade belonging to the first division of the Massachusetts militia.” He began in South Boston and simultaneously served as a physician to the poor with a desire to replicate the practices of Pinel and Esquirol. He spent time in England studying with men of Science, as well. Under teachers like Pinel and Esquirol, Parkman practiced at the Parisian Asylum, and learned the history and treatment of mental "diseases." At this time Parkman developed his own path of his career. The 70-year-old Pinel’s ideas impressed Parkman. That same interest helped to cement the relationship between Parkman and Pinel. Pinel received me kindly, and inquired with much interest after Benjamin Rush, who had lately written his book on Diseases of the Mind," Parkman wrote from Paris. "My first knowledge of the Salpêtrière, was with the high privilege of the guidance of its great physician, Pinel, and of his new illustrious associate, Esquirol. He studied at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital for his graduate work. While there, he observed the pioneering and humane treatment methods of two famous French psychiatrists, Philippe Pinel and Étienne Esquirol. Barlow introduced him to many doctors in Paris. After returning to Boston, he traveled aboard the USS Constitution to Europe and was under the charge of a former Bostonian, Benjamin Thompson, who introduced him to the Minister to France, Joel Barlow. He spent two years at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland obtaining his medical degree. Despite his assured wealth, a lecture by Benjamin Rush inspired him to take an interest in the terrible state of asylums for the mentally ill. ![]() He entered the freshman class of Harvard University when he was only 15 years old, and delivered the "Salutory Oration" in 1809. George Parkman’s poor health as a youngster led him to want to study medicine. Of his eleven offspring, Samuel chose George as the one to administer the Parkman estate. The eleven Parkman scions united in marriage with the Beacon Hill families of Blake, Cabot, Mason, Sturgis, Tilden, and Tuckerman. The most notable was George’s sister Elizabeth Willard Parkman, whose spouse Robert Gould Shaw (1776 – 1853), grandfather of Robert Gould Shaw (Octo– July 18, 1863, Union Army colonel during the American Civil War), grew his wife’s share of the fortune to become the senior partner in the most powerful commercial house in a city glutted with the proceeds of the China Trade. Samuel’s daughters inherited wealth as well. His sons from his first marriage oversaw the Ohio properties, while his second set of boys were responsible for the Maine parcel. He also founded and was part owner of the towns of Parkman, Ohio and Parkman, Maine. Samuel Parkman, George’s father and family patriarch, had bought up low-lying lands and income properties in Boston’s West End. Samuel Parkman had also had six children by his previous marriage to Sarah Shaw. Samuel Parkman (Aug– June 11, 1824) and Sarah Rogers had five children: Elizabeth (1785), Francis (1788), George (1790), Samuel (1791), and Daniel (1794). "George Parkman (Febru– November 23, 1849), a Boston Brahmin and a member of one of Boston's richest families, was a prominent physician, businessman, and philanthropist, as well the victim in the sensationally gruesome Parkman–Webster murder case, which shook Boston in 1849–1850. John White Webster from Wikipedia Commonsĭr. Header Image Source: Photo by Eric Prouzet on Unsplash
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