Andrew Jackson Grayson (1819–1869) was an American

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

and artist. Grayson was the author of ''Birds of the Pacific Slope'' (1853–69), which he considered to be a completion of

John James Audubon John James Audubon (born Jean-Jacques Rabin, April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was a French-American Autodidacticism, self-trained artist, natural history, naturalist, and ornithology, ornithologist. His combined interests in art and ornitho ...

's ''Birds of America''.

Early life and education

Grayson was born August 20, 1819, in the northwest corner of Louisiana, on the Ouachita River, where his father had a cotton plantation. Later on, his father sent him to St. Mary's College in St. Louis, Missouri. There, they discouraged him from studying art. He developed a talent for drawing the birds he observed in the bayous while in his teens. However, he was once punished by a schoolteacher for drawing instead of doing his lessons. Admonished by his father, he stopped drawing birds for the next 25 years.

Moving west

After his father died, Mr. Grayson used his inherited funds to invest in a small store. As he ignored it for the most part it went out of business fairly quickly. After meeting frontiersmen in his college years, he developed an insatiable urge to move west. After he married his wife, Frances J. Timmons, on July 21, 1842, they decided to move to California. They had a child in 1845, Edward B. Grayson, and moved to St. Louis to begin the journey. In April 1846, Grayson led a party of migrants out of Independence, Missouri. Other groups joined along the way. At Fort Bridging, a conman, L. W. Hastings, persuaded one of the groups to take a shortcut through a mountain pass. They ended up being the

Donner Party The Donner Party, sometimes called the Donner–Reed Party, was a group of American pioneers who migrated to California interim government, 1846-1850, California in a wagon train from the Midwest. Delayed by a multitude of mishaps, they spent ...

. The party Grayson led reached Fort Hall,

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

. In between there and

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, Grayson lost half his group. In late 1846, they reached

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

Early California days

Once Grayson settled in San Francisco, he instantly joined a military group led by

Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo Don Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (July 4, 1807 – January 18, 1890) was a Californio general, statesman, and public figure. He was born a subject of Spain, performed his military duties as an officer of the Republic of Mexico, and shaped the tran ...

. During this given period of time, he became a colonel. After he came back from the war, he took no breaks in settling down. He invested in several San Franciscan business ventures, and established the town of Grayson along the San Joaquin river. However, because he had no interest in business, most of these ventures failed.

Taxa named after Grayson

Two bird

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

and several other

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

have been named in honor of Grayson. They are mainly from the

Revillagigedo Islands The Revillagigedo Islands (, ) or Revillagigedo Archipelago are a group of four volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean, known for their unique ecosystem. They lie approximately from Socorro Island south and southwest of Cabo San Lucas, the sout ...

and other islands offshore

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. As with much island

fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

, several are

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

: Birds: * ''Micrathene whitneyi graysoni'' - Socorro

elf owl The elf owl (''Micrathene whitneyi'') is a small grayish-brown owl about the size of a sparrow found in the Southwestern United States, central Mexico, and the Baja California peninsula. It has pale yellow eyes highlighted by thin white "eyebrow ...

(probably

since c. 1970) * ''

Mimus graysoni The Socorro mockingbird (''Mimus graysoni'') is an Endangered species, endangered mockingbird endemic (ecology), endemic to Socorro Island in Mexico's Revillagigedo Islands. The specific name (zoology), specific epithet commemorates the American ...

'' - Socorro mockingbird (

critically endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

) * ''Parula pitiayumi graysoni'' - Socorro tropical parula * '' Zenaida graysoni'' - Socorro dove (

extinct in the wild A species that is extinct in the wild (EW) is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as only consisting of living members kept in captivity or as a naturalized population outside its historic range ...

) Other: * ''

Cambarus graysoni ''Cambarus'' is a large and diverse genus of crayfish from the United States and Canada. The adults range in size from about up to approximately . Description The genus ''Cambarus'' is the second largest freshwater crayfish genus inhabiting t ...

'' - a

Cambaridae The Cambaridae are the largest of the four families of freshwater crayfish, with over 400 species. Most of the species in the family are native to the United States east of the Great Divide and Mexico, but fewer range north to Canada, and south ...

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the infraorder Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. Taxonomically, they are members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea. They breathe through feather-like gills. Some spe ...

* '' Ochrotrichia graysoni'' - a

Hydroptilidae The Hydroptilidae are a large family of caddisflies (Trichoptera) with a worldwide distribution. They are commonly known as microcaddisflies or purse-case caddisflies, in reference to two characteristic traits of this family: Hydroptilidae are ...

caddisfly The caddisflies (order Trichoptera) are a group of insects with aquatic larvae and terrestrial adults. There are approximately 14,500 described species, most of which can be divided into the suborders Integripalpia and Annulipalpia on the basis ...

* ''

Sylvilagus graysoni The Tres Marias cottontail or Tres Marias rabbit (''Sylvilagus graysoni'') is a species of mammal in the family Leporidae. It is endemic to the Islas Marías in Mexico. Taxonomy ''Sylvilagus graysoni'' was first identified by Joel Asaph Allen ...

'' - Tres Marias cottontail rabbit (

)

References

External links

Guide to the Andrew Jackson Grayson Papers
at

The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library is the primary special-collections library of the University of California, Berkeley. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retain the name Bancroft Library in perpetuity. ...

Grayson Spends Christmas in Mazatlan on 1866. {{DEFAULTSORT:Grayson, Andrew Jackson 1819 births 1869 deaths American ornithologists American bird artists 19th-century American painters American male painters 19th-century American male artists