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Parkman is situated in the south-western part of Piscataquis
County, 12 miles west of Dover, and 4 miles from the Bangor and Pis.. cataquis Railway station in Abbot. The latter
town lies out he north; on the east is Sangerville; on the west Wellington; and on the south, Cambridge, in Somerset
County. It has an area of 25,000 acres; and. a large proportion of it is excellent for farming purposes. Watson’s
Hill is the greatest elevation of land. Bennett and Harlow Ponds are the principal bodies of water. There are several
saw-mills and a grist mill in the town. At Parkman Corner there are several mechanic shops, four stores and one
hotel.
The township was early purchased by Samuel Parkman, Esq., of Boston. The first settlers were Peter and William
Cummings, Ephraim Andrews, Arvida Briggs, William Brewster, and Richard Caswell. Samuel Pingree also early moved
in and became the proprietor’s agent. He settled near the centre of the town where be put a saw and grist mill
in operation. Mr. Pingree was a hatter by trade, and made the first hats produced in the county. Edward Soule,
from Freeport, was one of the earlier settlers. In the war of 1812 he was three times taken prisoner by different
British cruisers, and the last time was confined for fourteen months in the famous Dartmoor prison, only to be
compared with Libby and Andersonville.
The preaching of Rev. Zenas Hall, in 1818, led to the organization of a Baptist church in the town.
The township bore the name of Plantation Number Five, Sixth Range until 1822, when it was incorporated as the town
of Parkman. The first store in town was opened at the Corner about 1827 by Thomas Seabury. The first physician
was Dr. Nicholas Jumper, who, about 1834, was succeeded by Dr. A. J. W. Stevens, who died in 1875. Besides attending
to his practice, Dr. Stevens represented the town in the legislature, and was an able temperance lecturer. Dr.
George Parkman, after his father’s death, succeeded to his lands in this town; and previous to his own tragical
death, visited the place annually. The Baptist and the Christian denomination have each a church-edifice in the
town. Parkman has fifteen public schoolhouses valued at $4,5O0. The valuation of all estates in 1870 was $259,304.
The rate of taxation in 1880 was about two per cent. The population in 1870 was 1,105. By the census of 1880 it
is 1,005. The valuation in 1880 was $249,211.
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