Zina Pitcher (April 12, 1797, in Sandy Hill, New York – April 5, 1872, in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

) was an American

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 ...

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 ...

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

, and

academic administrator Academic administration is a branch of university or college employees responsible for the maintenance and supervision of the institution and separate from the faculty or academics, although some personnel may have joint responsibilities. Some ...

. He was a president of the

American Medical Association The American Medical Association (AMA) is an American professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. This medical association was founded in 1847 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was 271,660 ...

, a two-time

mayor of Detroit This is a list of mayors of Detroit, in the U.S. state of Michigan. The current mayor is Mike Duggan, who was sworn into office on January 1, 2014. History of Detroit's executive authority During the earliest part of its history, Detroit was a ...

and a member of the

Board of Regents In the United States, a board often governs institutions of higher education, including private universities, state universities, and community colleges. In each US state, such boards may govern either the state university system, individual co ...

of 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 ...

Biography

Early life

Pitcher was born in Sandy Hill, New York, on April 12, 1797. He was the son of Nathaniel Pitcher Sr., who died in Sandy Hill in 1802, and Margaret Stevenson, who died in

Kingsbury Kingsbury may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Kingsbury, London, a district of northwest London in the borough of Brent ** Kingsbury tube station, London Underground station * Kingsbury, Warwickshire, a village and civil parish in Warwickshi ...

, in 1819. He was the younger half-brother of

Nathaniel Pitcher Nathaniel Pitcher (November 30, 1777 – May 25, 1836) was an American lawyer and politician who served in Congress and as the eighth governor of New York from February 11 to December 31, 1828. Pitcher was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, and r ...

, a future

Governor of New York The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor ...

. (In his 1836 will, Nathaniel mentioned an Osage orange walking stick given to him by Zina.) Another of Zina's brothers was James Pitcher, who became the first mayor of the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1835. Zina attended

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont, United States. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists, Middlebury w ...

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

and graduated in medicine in 1822.

Career

Pitcher joined the

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

in 1822 as an assistant

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

, and was promoted to the rank of

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

in 1836 as a full surgeon. He was president of the Army Medical Board in 1835, and resigned from the Army at the end of 1836. Pitcher was also an excellent botanist (not uncommon for medical professionals of his day). He collected and studied plants in the

Great Lakes region The Great Lakes region of Northern America is a binational Canadian– American region centered on the Great Lakes that includes the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin and the Ca ...

, and the exceedingly rare

Pitcher's thistle ''Cirsium pitcheri'', sometimes called Pitcher's thistle or dune thistle, is a species of thistle native to sand dune shorelines along the upper Great Lakes. It is native to Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ontario. It is listed by t ...

(''Cirsium pitcheri'') was first collected by him from the

Grand Sable Dunes Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is a U.S. National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, United States. It extends for along the shore of Lake Superior and covers . The park has extensive views of the hilly shoreline between Muni ...

during his service as an Army surgeon; subsequently it was named for him as well. At times Pitcher teamed with botanist

Thomas Nuttall Thomas Nuttall (5 January 1786 – 10 September 1859) was an English botanist and zoologist who lived and worked in America from 1808 until 1841. Nuttall was born in the village of Long Preston, near Settle in the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

. He moved to Detroit, and was elected mayor for two separate terms, once from 1840–1841 and again in 1843. He was also a

regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

of the

from 1837 until 1852 where he bought a copy of

Audubon The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such org ...

's "Birds of America" for the library. He served as president of the

from 1856 to 1857, presiding over its annual meeting in Detroit. He died in Detroit on April 5, 1872, and is buried in Elmwood Cemetery.

Commemoration

* The Zina Pitcher Collegiate Professorship of the History of Medicine at the

University of Michigan Medical School The University of Michigan Medicine (branded as Michigan Medicine) is the academic medical center of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It consists of the university's Medical School, affiliated hos ...

* Zina Pitcher Place, a street leading into the

University of Michigan Medical Center The University of Michigan Medicine (branded as Michigan Medicine) is the academic medical center of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It consists of the university's Medical School, affiliated hos ...

* The

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

plant,

, named for its discoverer. * Dr. Zina Pitcher Elementary School (closed 2007, demolished 2019)

Notes

References

* *

External links

*
Elmwood Cemetery Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitcher, Zina Mayors of Detroit Regents of the University of Michigan 1797 births 1872 deaths 19th-century mayors of places in Michigan Burials at Elmwood Cemetery (Detroit) Presidents of the American Medical Association Physicians from New York (state) American botanists Middlebury College alumni People from Hudson Falls, New York Scientists from New York (state)