StemCell Therapy

In the 1800s, as today, people overcame challenges to make great accomplishments.

Although many people dont know who he is, the subject of this weeks story has been called our greatest American historian.

Francis Parkman was born in Boston in 1823. His grandfather was a wealthy merchant whose estate provided him with enough money to be a man of independent means.

In 1846, Francis graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard. After graduation, he became intrigued with the French and Indian Wars from 1689 to 1763, and decided to write a book. For background material, he felt it was necessary to get a picture of the Indian before the arrival of the Europeans.

Realizing he was no longer able to do that with the northeastern Indians, Francis headed west. On June 15, 1846, he arrived at Fort Laramie, Wyo. Over the next six months, he lived with the Oglala Sioux and discovered these blood-thirsty savages were actually a warm and generous people who indulged their children to excess and were devoid of greed. The result was an important book about the ethnicity of the Indian titled, The Oregon Trail.

Because of an illness that plagued him throughout his life, he had to return east after six months. In a short time, Francis became virtually blind, making it impossible for him to see what he wrote. He had to use a device called a noctograph that had spaced wires so he could write on a straight line. For five years, he couldn't concentrate for more than a few minutes at a time.

In spite of these handicaps, Francis Parkman's passion for chronicling the true history of the United States kept him working. During his life, he wrote more than 30 books and is considered one of our great writers.

Dakota Livesay is the editor of the Chronicle of the Old West. For more information about the Old West visit http://www.ChronicleoftheOldWest.com. You can hear Dakota at 10 a.m. each day on KZUZ 93.5 in Show Low and KZUA 92.1 in Holbrook.

See the original post:
Despite blindness, Parkman successfully chronicled US history - White Mountain Independent

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