Thursday, February 19, 2009

Leach/Parkman Deed Linked to Revolutionary War



WOW! Here is a lesson to research EVERY name on a document. My target person is William R. Leach since I am trying to confirm the relationship between William and Mary Ann Leach. I believe that William is the father of Mary Ann Leach who married Jotham Viles in 1848 in Augusta, Maine but so far a birth record for Mary Ann has not been found. Land records in Somerset County Maine may be a help. The first one that I found leaves me with many more questions than answers.

Gideon Parkman and William R. Leach purchase Lot number 5 in the Fifth Range in Palmyra, Somerset, Maine formerly owned Jariah Miles. It is a 75 acre plot. bought the land for $460 in 1821 from Arnold Welles and John C. Warren, executors of the estate of John Warren.


Just who is Gideon Parkman?? And why would William be purchasing land with someone else. A google search on John Warren, John C. Warren and Arnold Welles (General in the Rev. War) was very interesting in deed. http://www.masshist.org/objects/2006june.cfm Close friends of these men included John and Abigail Adams, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Benedict Arnold. So how did William Leach and Gideon Parkman come to buy the land of Dr. John Warren, founder of Harvard Medical School. Did William's brother, Dr. Jeremiah Leech introduce them to John C. Warren, physician and son of Dr. John Warren? By the way, Dr. John C. Warren performed one of the first surgeries using anesthsia. Why would a Boston physician own land in Somerset County Maine? Maybe other deeds will help solve the mystery.

What a brush with history!