Emma Jane Cole (January 23, 1845 – April 25, 1910) was an American teacher, botanist, and curator, and the author of ''Grand Rapids Flora: A Catalogue of the Flowering Plants and Ferns Growing Without Cultivation in the Vicinity of Grand Rapids, Michigan.'' She was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.

Early life

Emma Jane Cole was born in

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

on January 23, 1845. During her childhood, her family moved to Vergennes Township, near

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is the largest city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, United States. With a population of 198,917 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 200,117 in 2024, Grand Rapids is the List of municipalities ...

, where she attended Lowell Union School and Grand Rapids High School. Her parents were Andrew Cole and Jerusha Cole. She had three siblings, brothers John and Hugh, and sister Mary Cole Altman. In 1876, Cole enrolled at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in New York, which had recently begun admitting women. She attended Cornell in 1876–1877 and 1879–1880 and completed coursework in botany, but is not recorded as having received a degree.

Career

Emma Cole worked as a teacher for much of her life. She was one of the first female members of the Kent Scientific Institute (predecessor of the Grand Rapids Public Museum), and served as the vice president and botanical curator. Cole is well known for her 1901 book, ''Grand Rapids Flora: A Catalogue of the Flowering Plants and Ferns Growing Without Cultivation in the Vicinity of Grand Rapids, Michigan.'' Realizing the need for a local reference in her teaching, Cole set out to document all the vascular plants present in Grand Rapids and its surrounding townships. To create this substantial botanical reference, she collected specimens from 1892 to 1900, creating a comprehensive survey of nearly 1300

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 ...

found in the greater Grand Rapids area. As a working professional botanist, Cole corresponded with many notable botanists and scientists of her time, including Benjamin Lincoln Robinson, Merritt Lyndon Fernald, and Charles Sprague Sargent (

Arnold Arboretum The Arnold Arboretum is a botanical research institution and free public park affiliated with Harvard University and located in the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale, Massachusetts, Roslindale neighborhoods of Boston. Established in 1872, it is the ...

Death and legacy

Emma Cole died of

kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as renal failure or end-stage renal disease (ESRD), is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney fa ...

on April 25, 1910, in

San Antonio, Texas San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...

, following a trip to

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 ...

. She is buried in Bailey Cemetery in Lowell, Michigan. Cole's will funded three bequests: * The department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

awards the Emma J. Cole Fellowship in Botany to a graduate student. * The Board of Education of Grand Rapids was granted a trust to buy botany equipment for Central High School. * The Emma J. Cole Flower Fund funded biannual "flower services" at eight Grand Rapids churches. The Emma J. Cole collection (held at the Grand Rapids Public Library) documents these "flower services." Plant specimens collected by Cole are still used for research and study at

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sh ...

s including the University of Michigan Herbarium, the

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

herbarium, the

Albion College Albion College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Albion, Michigan. The college was founded in 1835 and its undergraduate population was approximately 1,500 students as of Fall 2021 ...

herbarium and the herbarium of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. A species of hawthorn that Cole discovered, ''

Crataegus ''Crataegus'' (), commonly called hawthorn, quickthorn, thornapple, Voss, E. G. 1985. ''Michigan Flora: A guide to the identification and occurrence of the native and naturalized seed-plants of the state. Part II: Dicots (Saururaceae–Cornacea ...

'' ''coleae,'' was named for her. Charles Sprague Sargent wrote of the honor: Cole was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 2007. A project at Calvin University from 2014 to 2018 attempted to revisit and assess all the locations described in ''Grand Rapids Flora.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Emma Jane 1845 births 1910 deaths 19th-century American botanists 19th-century American women scientists 20th-century American botanists 20th-century American women scientists American women botanists Cornell University alumni Deaths from kidney failure in Texas People from Kent County, Michigan Scientists from Michigan Scientists from Ohio American women curators American curators