Jared Potter Kirtland (November 10, 1793 – December 10, 1877) was a

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

malacologist Malacology, from Ancient Greek μαλακός (''malakós''), meaning "soft", and λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (molluscs or mollusks), the second-largest ...

, and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

most active in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

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 ...

, where he served as a

probate judge A probate court (sometimes called a surrogate court) is a court that has competence in a jurisdiction to deal with matters of probate and the administration of estates. In some jurisdictions, such courts may be referred to as orphans' courts o ...

, and in the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in ...

. He was also a

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and co-founder of

Western Reserve University Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US * Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia * Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that ...

's Medical School, as well as what would become the

Cleveland Museum of Natural History The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum in University Circle, a district of educational, cultural and medical institutions approximately five miles (8 km) east of Downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The ...

. The Kirtland Bird Club of Northeast Ohio, founded on September 28, 1940, is named after him.

Early life

Kirtland was born in

Wallingford, Connecticut Wallingford is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, centrally located between New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford, and Boston and New York City. The town is part ...

. His mother was Mary, daughter of Dr. Jared Potter, a famous physician of Wallingford. His father, Turhand Kirtland, was largely interested in the purchases made by the

Connecticut Land Company The Connecticut Company or Connecticut Land Company (est. 1795) was a post-colonial land speculation company formed in the late eighteenth century to survey and encourage settlement in the eastern parts of the newly chartered Connecticut Western ...

in Ohio, and moved to the

Western Reserve The Connecticut Western Reserve was a portion of land claimed by the Colony of Connecticut and later by the state of Connecticut in what is now mostly the northeastern region of Ohio. Warren, Ohio was the Historic Capital in Trumbull County. T ...

in 1803. In the meantime the son remained in Wallingford. When Potter died in 1810, he left a legacy to provide for Jared's medical education at

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. But the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

with Great Britain prevented the voyage, and when the

Yale School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the medical school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. It is the sixth-oldest m ...

went into operation in 1813, Kirtland was the first matriculated student in a class of 38 members. He was married in May, 1814, to Caroline, second daughter of Joshua Atwater, of Wallingford, and after graduation in 1815 he practiced in Wallingford until 1818, when he made a journey to Ohio to perfect arrangements for a removal thither. But on returning for his family he found a peculiarly attractive opportunity for establishing himself in Durham, Conn., and there remained until the death of his wife in 1823, when he carried out his intention of settling in

Poland, Ohio Poland is a village (United States)#Ohio, village in eastern Mahoning County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,463 at the 2020 United States census. A suburb about south of Youngstown, Ohio, Youngstown, it is part of the Mahoning Vall ...

. He had acquired a large country practice, and had also been for three terms a member of the legislature, when in 1837 he was elected to the professorship of the theory and practice of medicine in the Ohio Medical College at

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

. He resigned this position in 1842, having in the meantime purchased a fine fruit farm in East Rockport, five miles from the city of

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, where he spent the rest of his life. In 1843 the medical department of the Western Reserve College was established, at Cleveland, and he filled the chair of theory and practice in that institution until 1864. He was elected an Associate Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1855. Twenty years later, in 1875, he was elected as a member to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

. Besides his professional attainments, Dr. Kirtland was interested in all departments of natural history. He was an efficient assistant in the first geological survey of Ohio, and was untiring in his efforts to improve the horticulture and agriculture of his adopted state. He died at his residence in East Rockport, December 10, 1877, aged 84 years. Shortly after the death of his first wife he was married to Hannah F. Toucey, of Newtown, Conn. Of three children by his first marriage, one daughter survived him. His great-grandson

Kirtland Cutter Kirtland Cutter (August 20, 1860 – September 26, 1939) was a 20th-century architect in the Pacific Northwest and California. He was born in East Rockport, Ohio, the great-grandson of Jared Potter Kirtland. He studied painting and illustrati ...

became an architect, designing Yale

Sheffield Scientific School Sheffield Scientific School was founded in 1847 as a school of Yale University, Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut, for instruction in science and engineering. Originally named the Yale Scientific School, it was renamed in 1861 in honor of Jos ...

and various personal residences such as the Patsy Clark Mansion.Kirtland Cutter: Architect in the Land of Promise
Henry C. Matthews, University of Washington Press, Seattle and London, p. 173

Taxon described by him

*See :Taxa named by Jared Potter Kirtland

Taxon named in his honor

Kirtland's warbler Kirtland's warbler (''Setophaga kirtlandii''), also known in Michigan by the common name jack pine bird, or the jack pine warbler, is a small songbird of the New World warbler family (biology), family (Parulidae). Nearly Extinction, extinct just ...

(''Setophaga kirtlandii''), Kirtland's snake (''Clonophis kirtlandii''),Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M. 2011. ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Kirtland", p. 142). and the forest vine snake (''Thelotornis kirtlandii'') are named after him.

References

Sources

"Jared Potter Kirtland"
at the Dittrick Medical History Center
"Jared Potter Kirtland"
at the Illinois Natural History Survey, hosted by the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

"Jared Potter Kirtland"
at the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History * *

External links

National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirtland, Jared American naturalists 1793 births 1877 deaths People from Wallingford, Connecticut Members of the Ohio House of Representatives Physicians from Ohio American malacologists Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Yale School of Medicine alumni University of Cincinnati faculty Case Western Reserve University faculty People from Poland, Ohio 19th-century members of the Ohio General Assembly