Robert Kennicott (November 13, 1835 – May 13, 1866) was an American

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 ...

and

herpetologist Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

. Chronic illness kept Kennicott out of school as a child. Instead, Kennicott spent most of his time outdoors, collecting plants and animals. His father schooled him at home and convinced naturalist

Jared Potter Kirtland Jared Potter Kirtland (November 10, 1793 – December 10, 1877) was a naturalist, malacologist, and politician most active in the U.S. state of Ohio, where he served as a probate judge, and in the Ohio House of Representatives. He was also a phy ...

to take him as an understudy. Soon, Kennicott was providing specimens for the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

via assistant secretary

Spencer Fullerton Baird Spencer Fullerton Baird (; February 3, 1823 – August 19, 1887) was an American naturalist, ornithologist, ichthyologist, Herpetology, herpetologist, and museum curator. Baird was the first curator to be named at the Smithsonian Institution. He ...

. Kennicott advocated for the study and protection of native prairie animals in an era when farmers sought to eradicate them. He teamed with

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

to found a natural history museum in 1857, then founded the Chicago Academy of Sciences. While in Chicago he served as a mentor to several young naturalists, including

William Healey Dall William Healey Dall (August 21, 1845 – March 27, 1927) was an American natural history, naturalist, a prominent Malacology, malacologist, and one of the earliest scientific explorers of interior Alaska. He described many mollusks of the Pacifi ...

. He joined the

Megatherium Club The Megatherium Club was a group of scientists based in Washington, D.C. as a result of the Smithsonian Institution's rapidly growing collection, meeting from 1857 to 1866. It was founded by William Stimpson. Many of the members had no formal ed ...

and studied specimens in

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...

. The Western Union Telegraph Expedition commissioned Kennicott as a scientist for their excursion in the mid-1860s. Kennicott died on the expedition and was memorialized as the namesake of

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

's Kennicott Glacier. His home, " The Grove" in

Glenview, Illinois Glenview is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, approximately northwest of the Chicago Loop. Per the 2020 census, the population was 48,705. The Village of Glenview is governed by New Trier and Northfield townships. According ...

, is today recognized as a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

Biography

Robert Kennicott was born in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, on November 13, 1835. His father, John Albert, was interested in botany and maintained a large land holding in

Northfield Township, Cook County, Illinois Northfield Township is one of 29 townships in Cook County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 91,565. The township office is located at 2550 Waukegan Road (just south of Willow Road) in Glenview. The township was establi ...

, which came to be known as " The Grove". Robert was a sickly child and attempted to improve his overall health by spending much time outdoors. He did not attend school regularly, but his father ensured that he received an education at home. Under the tutelage of his father, Kennicott learned to patiently observe nature and began a collection of specimens.

, a friend of Kennicott's father and one of the leading naturalists in the west, agreed to take Robert as an understudy in late 1852. Kennicott wintered with Kirtland in East Rockport (now Lakewood), Ohio. Kirtland encouraged Kennicott to contact other naturalists, and soon Kennicott had come to the attention of

, the assistant secretary of the

. For the next thirteen years, Kennicott would correspond with Baird about his findings. As Illinois was still largely undocumented by naturalists, Baird encouraged Kennicott to send him specimens. In 1855, the

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the Central United States. Its primary routes connected Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, and thus, ...

commissioned the Illinois State Agricultural Society to prepare a survey of the state's natural resources. Kennicott's father was the secretary of the society and recommended Robert for the job. After the excursion, Kennicott published a catalog of the animals of

Cook County Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40 percent of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. ...

. The first new animal species identified by Kennicott was a Northern Illinois snake, which he sent to Baird. Baird suggested that Kennicott name the animal after Kirtland, '' Regina kirtlandii'' (today ''Clonophis kirtlandii''). Kennicott published a three-part paper from 1856 to 1858 entitled "The Quadrupeds of Illinois, Injurious and Beneficial to the Farmer". In it, Kennicott pleaded with farmers to first study the habits of wild animals before attempting to eradicate them. The Board of Trustees of

approached Kennicott in early 1857, asking him to help them create a natural history museum. Later that year, Kennicott co-founded the Chicago Academy of Sciences. For the next two winters, Kennicott worked at the Smithsonian in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, helping Baird organize its amphibian and reptile collections. There, he met

William Stimpson William Stimpson (February 14, 1832 – May 26, 1872) was an American scientist. He was interested particularly in marine biology. Stimpson became an important early contributor to the work of the Smithsonian Institution and later, director o ...

and became a part of the

In April 1859 he set off on an expedition to collect natural history specimens in the

subarctic The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of hemiboreal regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Fennoscandia, Northwestern Russia, Siberia, and the Cair ...

boreal forest Taiga or tayga ( ; , ), also known as boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by pinophyta, coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces, and larches. The taiga, or boreal forest, is the world's largest land biome. I ...

s of northwestern

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in what is now the Mackenzie and

Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...

river valleys and in the

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

tundra In physical geography, a tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. There are three regions and associated types of tundra: #Arctic, Arctic, Alpine tundra, Alpine, and #Antarctic ...

beyond. Kennicott became popular with

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...

rs in the area and encouraged them to collect and send natural history specimens and

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

artifacts to the Smithsonian. He returned to Washington at the end of 1862. Kennicott considered joining the Union Army in the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, but was convinced otherwise, sending a substitute. Robert and his younger brother lived in the Smithsonian Castle during the war along with

Edward Drinker Cope Edward Drinker Cope (July 28, 1840 – April 12, 1897) was an American zoologist, paleontology, paleontologist, comparative anatomy, comparative anatomist, herpetology, herpetologist, and ichthyology, ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker fam ...

and other noted naturalists. He returned to Illinois in 1863 to tend to his ailing father, who died later that year. Helen Teunisson

While working at the Smithsonian Institution under Assistant Secretary Spencer F. Baird, Robert Kennicott wrote the original descriptions of many new snake taxa brought back by expeditions to the American West. He also collected snake specimens including with his specimen collecting first cousin Helen L. Teunisson. He subsequently named the subspecies '' Carphophis amoenus helenae'' in her honor. In 1864 the Western Union Telegraph Expedition was mounted to find a possible route for a telegraph line between North America and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

by way of the

Bering Sea The Bering Sea ( , ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre, p=ˈbʲerʲɪnɡəvə ˈmorʲe) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasse ...

. Kennicott was selected as the scientist for this expedition, and the party of naturalists sent to assist him included W.H. Dall. The expedition arrived in

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 ...

in April 1865, but disagreements between its leaders meant that little was achieved. The party moved north to

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

where Kennicott suffered a period of ill health. After his recovery they moved north again to

in August 1865. Kennicott died in May 1866 while traveling up the

Yukon River The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. From its source in British Columbia, it flows through Canada's territory of Yukon (itself named after the river). The lower half of the river continues westward through the U.S ...

. His body was returned to his family's home in Illinois, enclosed in a metal canister and shipped via Russia and Japan rather than sent back on undeveloped trails through Canada. Robert Kennicott skeleton

In an interesting twist, the scientist became the subject of study. An investigation in 2001–2016 into the cause of his death suggested that Kennicott may have suffered from

long QT syndrome Long QT syndrome (LQTS) is a condition affecting repolarization (relaxing) of the heart after a heartbeat, giving rise to an abnormally lengthy QT interval. It results in an increased risk of an irregular heartbeat which can result in fainti ...

, a congenital cardiac condition that can cause an irregular heartbeat, weakness, and fainting spells. This was made worse by

strychnine Strychnine (, , American English, US chiefly ) is a highly toxicity, toxic, colorless, bitter, crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine, when inhaled, swallowed, ...

, a drug that Kennicott regularly self-administered to improve his condition, but which only aggravated it. According to a summary of the research in the ''Washington Post'', "the combination of stress, physical exhaustion and toxic 'medicine' was too much for the young scientist's weak heart," and led to his death by cardiac arrest. With permission of his family, his body has been added to the human anatomy collection at the Smithsonian.

Legacy

To commemorate his efforts on behalf of science, Kennicott Glacier, Kennicott Valley, MV Kennicott, and the Kennicott River were named after him. The town of Kennecott, famous for rich copper mines, was named for its proximity to the glacier. However, the name was slightly misspelled. Natural features have retained the original spelling of his name, while the mines and related businesses have continued to use this alternate spelling. Additionally, two birds retain Kennicott's name: the western screech owl (''Megascops kennicottii'' ) and the Alaskan

Arctic Warbler The Arctic warbler (''Phylloscopus borealis'') is a widespread leaf warbler in birch or mixed birch forest near water throughout its breeding range in Fennoscandia and the northern Palearctic. It has established a foothold in North America, bre ...

(''Phylloscopus borealis kennicottii'' ). Some of his papers are maintained at

, others at his family home, The Grove, a

in Glenview, Illinois, where his original grave remains in a family plot. His papers are also available on microfilm at the Glenview Public Library in the Genealogy & Local History Room.
3-D reconstruction of his face
has been done by the Smithsonian Institution, by scanning his skull and using computers to reconstruct his facial structure. A 3-D copy of the skull was then made, onto which a sculptor molded clay into the facial reconstruction. Nature writer Donald Culross Peattie ( Donald C. Peattie) includes a sketch of Kennicott's life in Peattie's memoir, entitled "The Road of a Naturalist.Donald Culross Peattie, The Road of a Naturalist, Houghton Mifflin 1941. P.254-261. Peattie spent time at Kennicott's Grove during his childhood.

Bibliography

* Kennicott, R. (1855). "Catalogue of animals observed in Cook County, Illinois". ''Ill. State Ag. Soc. Trans. for 1853-1854'' 1: 577-595. * Kennicott, R. (1856). "Description of a new snake from Illinois". ''Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil. Proc.'' 8: 95-96. * Kennicott, R. (1859). "Notes on '' Coluber calligaster'' of Say, and a description of new species of serpents in the collection of the North Western University of Evanston, Illinois". ''Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. Proc.'' 1859: 98-100. * Kennicott, R. (1861). "On three new forms of rattlesnakes". ''

Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia The ''Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication designed to further the progress of science by disseminating ...

'' 13: 206-208. * ''Audubon to Xanthus: The Lives of Those Commemorated in North American Bird Names''. Mearns and Mearns * Schlachtmeyer, S. S. (2010). ''A death decoded: Robert Kennicott and the Alaska telegraph : a forensic investigation''. Alexandria, Va: Voyage Publishing. * Vasile, Ronald S. (1994). "The Early Career of Robert Kennicott, Illinois' Pioneering Naturalist." ''Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society'' vol. 87: 150-70.

References

External links

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History page "Robert Kennicott (1835–1866): Early Smithsonian Scientific Explorer and Collector"
* ttp://findingaids.library.northwestern.edu/catalog/inu-ead-nua-archon-212 Robert Kennicott and Henry M. Bannister Papers, Northwestern University Archives, Evanston, Illinoisbr>Robert Kennicott's Letters to Spencer F. Baird, 1853-1865
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennicott, Robert 1835 births 1866 deaths American naturalists American herpetologists Explorers of Alaska History of Yukon People from Glenview, Illinois Scientists from New Orleans