There are four more eyes gazing down at visitors from the walls of the Parkman Com-munity House, from two newly acquired portraits of the township's…
There are four more eyes gazing down at visitors from the walls of the Parkman Com-munity House, from two newly acquired portraits of the township’s founders, Samuel and Sarah Parkman.
They join three walls of photos of the Parkman band, Parkman high school graduating seniors from the early 20th century, and other snapshots of more recent Parkman history.
Trustees proudly showed off the new acquisitions Tuesday, and announced they were a recent gift from Parkman family descendant S. Parkman Shaw, Jr., of Brookline, Mass.
“The original portraits were painted in 1807. These are copies made in 1887 by a lithographer named S.P. Hodgdon,” said Trustee Roger Anderson.
The trustee said Shaw, known as “Parky,” contacted the township’s website early last fall to offer the portraits to the township.
Shaw, as one of the last of the family, wanted the portraits to go to the township that his ancestor had founded when Northeast Ohio was a frontier wilderness in a brand new state, Anderson said.
“We got it just last week. With all the historical pictures in here, we thought it was the best place for them, on either side of the windows, overlooking where the trustees sit.
“This family was big time, hanging out with George Washington and all of the big names,” Anderson said. “They had a bell made by that famous guy who made all the silver.”
“Paul Revere, you ding-a-ling,” chided Trustee Dennis Ikeler.
According to “The Pioneer and General History of Geauga County,” published in 1953 by the Geauga County Historical Society, Samuel Parkman of Boston came to the township in 1797 and again in 1803 to survey and outline lots for the Western Reserve.
His nephew, Robert B. Parkman, and his family settled on 600 acres in the township in 1804 and built the first cabin in the community.
“Samuel Parkman sent his nephew to oversee everything,” Anderson said. “Robert had the first house and the first caucasian child born in Parkman,” according to the account.
Anderson provided a biographical information sheet after the meeting that said Samuel Parkman (1751-1824) was the son of a pastor from Westborough, Mass.
His family was related by marriage to Robert Gould Shaw, whose son became famous in the Civil War as commander of the 54th Massachusetts, the African American regiment made famous in the movie “Glory.”
Samuel Parkman became a prosperous Boston merchant, and in 1806, he presented to Boston the famous full-length portrait of George Washington painted by Gilbert Stuart, the premier American portrait artist of the 18th Century.
Stuart painted portraits of Parkman and his second wife, Sarah. The portraits were passed down to the Parkman family descendants, who commissioned renowned lithographer Sylvester Phelps Hodgdon (1830-1906) to make exact copies in 1887.
Robert Breck Parkman, the township’s first permanent resident, was born in Massachusetts on May 21, 1771, five years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
His father (Samuel Parkman’s brother) had been a soldier in the Revolutionary War and had pioneered in Oneida County, N.Y. Robert Parkman was an attorney admitted to the bar in Ohio in 1808.
He was appointed the first postmaster of Parkman Township, when it had three families, and served in that capacity until 1829. He also served as prosecutor in the first court in Geauga County, and was the only attorney in the county at that time.
Court was held in Painesville, so the commute was long and difficult.
“We’re very pleased to have these portraits on our walls here in the community house,” Anderson said. “It’s a real piece of our history for everyone to enjoy.”
