Description
The Samuel Paul Pablo Parkman family papers includes correspondence, mining
documents, diaries, personal legal documents and genealogies.
Background
Samuel Paul ["Pablo"] Parkman, the founder of the Mexican branch of the family, was born in February,
1804, in Aurora, New York, and died at Guanajuato May 2, 1875. When he was yet an infant, his parents
moved to Parkman Township, Geauga County, Ohio, where he was reared. In 1827 he made his way to
Missouri, and in 1828 was named postmaster at Petitsaw Bluffs, Lafayette County, Missouri. In 1829 he
went to the Rocky Mountains with William L. Sublette, returning the following year. He then became the
clerk of Jedediah S. Smith, and in the spring of 1831 accompanied Smith in the journey on the Santa Fe
Trail on which Smith was killed. Briefly he took charge of Smith's affairs, and afterward was associated
with Jedediah Smith's younger brother, Peter, in the firm Parkman & Smith. In the fall of 1832
he went down into Mexico and through a series of vicissitudes settled at Guanajuato, connected with
various mining enterprises. In 1835 he married Antonia de Vega, and to them 12 children were born, of
whom Felipe, Franco, and Juan Ignacio figure in these family papers.
Restrictions
Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or
quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for
publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not
intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the
reader.