Thomas Nuttall (5 January 1786 – 10 September 1859) was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national id ...
zoologist
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...
who lived and worked in America from 1808 until 1841.
Nuttall was born in the village of
Long Preston
Long Preston is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England, in the Yorkshire Dales. It lies along the A65 road, and is from Skipton and from Settle. The population of Long Preston in 2001 was 680, increas ...
, near
Settle
Settle or SETTLE may refer to:
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* Settle, Kentucky, United States
* Settle, North Yorkshire, a town in England
** Settle Rural District, a historical administrative district
Music
* Settle (band), an indie rock band from Pennsylvania
* ''S ...
in the
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...
and spent some years as an apprentice printer in England. Soon after going to the United States he met professor Benjamin Smith Barton in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
. Barton encouraged his strong interest in natural history.
Early explorations in the United States
In 1810 he travelled to the
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five la ...
William Price Hunt
Wilson Price Hunt (March 20, 1783 – April 13, 1842) was an early pioneer and explorer of the Oregon Country in the Pacific Northwest of North America. Employed as an agent in the fur trade under John Jacob Astor, Hunt organized and led the gr ...
on behalf of
John Jacob Astor
John Jacob Astor (born Johann Jakob Astor; July 17, 1763 – March 29, 1848) was a German-American businessman, merchant, real estate mogul, and investor who made his fortune mainly in a fur trade monopoly, by smuggling opium into China, and ...
up the Missouri River. Nuttall was accompanied by the English botanist John Bradbury, who was collecting plants on behalf of
Liverpool
Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...
botanical gardens. Nuttall and Bradbury left the party at the trading post with the
Arikara
Arikara (), also known as Sahnish, ''Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation.'' (Retrieved Sep 29, 2011)
Indians in
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...
, and continued farther upriver with Ramsay Crooks. In August they returned to the Arikara post and joined
Manuel Lisa
Manuel Lisa, also known as Manuel de Lisa (September 8, 1772 in New Orleans Louisiana (New Spain) – August 12, 1820 in St. Louis, Missouri), was a Spanish citizen and later, became an American citizen who, while living on the western frontier, ...
's group on a return to
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
.
Although
Lewis and Clark
Lewis may refer to:
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* Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name
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* Lewis (musician), Canadian singer
* " Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohe ...
had travelled this way previously, many of their specimens had been lost. Therefore, many of the plants collected by Nuttall on this trip were unknown to science. The imminent war between Britain and America caused him to return to
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communi ...
. From 1818 to 1820, he travelled along the
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the ...
and Red Rivers, returning to Philadelphia and publishing his ''Journal of Travels into the Arkansas Territory during the year 1819'' (1821). He was elected an Associate Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) 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, ...
in 1823. In 1825, he became curator of the botanical gardens at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
. He published his ''Manual of the Ornithology of the United States and of Canada'' (1832 and 1834).
In 1834, he resigned his post and set off west again on an expedition led by
Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth
Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth (January 29, 1802 – August 31, 1856) was an American inventor and businessman in Boston, Massachusetts who contributed greatly to its ice industry. Due to his inventions, Boston could harvest and ship ice internati ...
, this time accompanied by the naturalist
John Kirk Townsend
John Kirk Townsend (August 10, 1809 – February 6, 1851) was an American naturalist, ornithologist and collector.
Townsend was a Quaker born in Philadelphia, the son of Charles Townsend and Priscilla Kirk. He attended Westtown School in ...
. They travelled through
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to ...
,
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the sou ...
, and
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...
, and then down the Snake River to the Columbia. Nuttall then sailed across the
Pacific Ocean
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 definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...
to the
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost ...
in December. He returned in the spring of 1835 and spent the next year botanizing in the Pacific Northwest, an area already covered by David Douglas. On the Pacific coast, Nuttall heard of the ship ''Alert'' leaving San Diego in May 1836, bound for Boston. It is here that he encounters Richard Henry Dana Jr., a former student of his at Harvard who had set sail from Boston on a two-year voyage to the California coast at about the same time Nuttall had begun his expedition. Dana writes in his memoir, ''
Two Years Before the Mast
''Two Years Before the Mast'' is a memoir by the American author Richard Henry Dana Jr., published in 1840, having been written after a two-year sea voyage from Boston to California on a merchant ship starting in 1834. A film adaptation under th ...
'' (1840), of his amazement at seeing his old professor "strolling about San Diego beach, in a sailor's pea jacket, with a wide straw hat, and barefooted, with his trousers rolled up to his knees, picking up stones and shells." Nuttall was taken on the ''Alert'' as a passenger along with many of his flora and fauna specimens, which he brought back to Boston to be cataloged and preserved for posterity. Dana writes that though the professor spent much of the voyage in his cabin, he had some occasions to speak with Nuttall about his botanizing while Dana was at the helm of the ship "on a calm night" and was amused to hear his fellow shipmates refer to Nuttall as "Old Curious" for all the curiosities he conveyed on board. Once around the Horn, some of the sights on the trip through the South Atlantic prompted Nuttall to emerge from his quarters: upon sighting
Isla de los Estados
Isla de los Estados (English: Staten Island, from the Dutch ''Stateneiland'') is an Argentine island that lies off the eastern extremity of Tierra del Fuego, from which it is separated by the Le Maire Strait. It was named after the Netherland ...
off the tip of Cape Horn, Nuttall told the Captain of the ''Alert'' that he would have liked to explore that place; and Nuttall also enjoyed the sight of dolphins swimming near the ship.
From 1836 until 1841, Nuttall worked at the
Academy of Natural Sciences
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, formerly the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1812, by many of the leading natu ...
in Philadelphia. During this time he made contributions to the ''Flora of North America'' being prepared by
Asa Gray
Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botanist of the 19th century. His '' Darwiniana'' was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessarily mutually ex ...
and
John Torrey
John Torrey (August 15, 1796 – March 10, 1873) was an American botanist, chemist, and physician. Throughout much of his career, he was a teacher of chemistry, often at multiple universities, while he also pursued botanical work, focusing on ...
. The death of his uncle then required Nuttall to return to England. By terms of his uncle's will, to inherit the property, Nuttall had to remain in England for nine months of each year. His ''North American Sylva: Trees not described by F. A. Michaux'', which was the first book to include all the trees of North America, was finished just before he left the US in December 1841.
Later
From 1842 until his death in 1859 Nuttall lived at Nutgrove Hall in
St Helens, Lancashire
St Helens () is a town in Merseyside, England, with a population of 102,629. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, which had a population of 176,843 at the 2001 Census.
St Helens is in the south-west of the ...
, built by printer Jonas Nuttall in 1810. Nuttall is buried at Christ Church in the nearby village of Eccleston.
List of selected publications
* Nuttall, T. 1817. Observations on the genus Eriogonum, and the natural order Polygoneae of Jussieu. Part 1. ''Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia'' 1(2), 24–31. BHL link
* Nuttall, T. 1817. Observations on the genus Eriogonum, and the natural order Polygoneae of Jussieu. Part 2. ''Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia'' 1(3), 33–37. BHL link
* Nuttall, T. 1817. An account of two new genera of plants, and of a species of ''Tillaea'' and ''Limosella'', recently discovered on the banks of the Delaware, in the vicinity of Philadelphia. ''Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia'' 1(6), 111–123. (Read September 16, 1817) BHL link
* Nuttall, T. 1817. Description of ''Collinsia'', a new genus of plants. ''Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia'' 1(6), 189–192. BHL link
*
*
Named after him
The
World Register of Marine Species
The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive list of names of marine organisms.
Content
The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scientific speciali ...
lists 44 marine genera and species named after him with the epithet ''nuttalli''. Various plants and birds were named after Nuttall, including
Nuttall's woodpecker
Nuttall's woodpecker (''Dryobates nuttallii'') is a species of woodpecker named after naturalist Thomas Nuttall in 1843. They are found in oak woodlands of California and are similar to the ladder-backed woodpecker in both genetics and appearanc ...
''Dryobates nuttallii'' by his friend
William Gambel
William Gambel (June 1823 – December 13, 1849) was an American naturalist, ornithologist, and botanist from Philadelphia. As a young man he worked closely with the renowned naturalist Thomas Nuttall. At the age of eighteen he traveled overland ...
, and
yellow-billed magpie
The yellow-billed magpie ''(Pica nuttalli)'', also known as the California magpie, is a large bird in the crow family that is restricted to the U.S. state of California. It inhabits the Central Valley and the adjacent chaparral foothills and mou ...
''Pica nuttalli'' and
common poorwill
The common poorwill (''Phalaenoptilus nuttallii'') is a nocturnal bird of the family Caprimulgidae, the nightjars. It is found from British Columbia and southeastern Alberta, through the western United States to northern Mexico. The bird's habi ...
''Phalaenoptilus nuttallii'' by
John James Audubon
John James Audubon (born Jean-Jacques Rabin; April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was an American self-trained artist, naturalist, and ornithologist. His combined interests in art and ornithology turned into a plan to make a complete pictoria ...
. He is also commemorated in the
Pacific dogwood
''Cornus nuttallii'', the Pacific dogwood, western dogwood, or mountain dogwood, is a species of dogwood tree native to western North America.
Description
It is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree, reaching tall, often with a canopy spr ...
Nuttall's oak
''Quercus texana'', commonly known as Nuttall's oak, is a fast-growing, large deciduous oak tree.
It is a tree growing up to 25 meters (83 feet) tall, with dark brown bark. It has leaves with sharp pointed lobes somewhat similar to those of ...
Bigelowia nuttallii
''Bigelowia nuttallii'' (Nuttall's rayless goldenrod) is a species of North American flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, native to the southern United States (Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida).
''Bigelowia nuttallii'' is a ...
'', and other plants.
The Nuttall Ornithological Club of
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most ...
Linda Hall Library
The Linda Hall Library is a privately endowed American library of science, engineering and technology located in Kansas City, Missouri, sitting "majestically on a urban arboretum." It is the "largest independently funded public library of scien ...