Noted Fern Authors
Biographical Sketches
[The works of these authors are listed under “Fern Literature” in the following pages.]
EATON, DANIEL CADY. Born at Gratiot, Mich., September 12, 1834. His grandfather was Amos Eaton, noted botanist and author. Studied botany under his friend, Prof. Asa Gray, who had studied with Prof. John Torrey, who in turn was a pupil of Amos Eaton. Daniel C. was professor of botany in Yale College, for more than thirty years. A man of graceful and winsome personality, an authority on ferns, and widely known by his writings. His masterpiece was “The Ferns of North America” in two large, quarto volumes, beautifully illustrated. He died June 29, 1895.
CLUTE, WILLARD NELSON. Born at Painted Post, N.Y., February 26, 1869. Education informal; common schools, university lectures and private study. Manifested early a keen interest in birds and flowers. Was founder and first president of the American Fern Society. Collected in Jamaica more than three hundred species of ferns. Has written extensively on the ferns and their allies, besides publishing several standard volumes. His great distinction is in founding and editing the Fern Bulletin through its twenty volumes, when he combined this publication with The American Botanist, which is now on its twenty-eighth volume, the whole a prodigious achievement of great scientific value.
UNDERWOOD, LUCIUS MARCUS. Born at New Woodstock, N.Y., October 26, 1853. Spent early life on a farm. Was graduated from Syracuse University in 1877. After teaching several years in his alma mater and elsewhere, he became Professor of Botany in Columbia University. He contributed numerous articles to the Torrey Bulletin, Fern Bulletin, and other scientific journals. His scholarly book, “Our Native Ferns and Their Allies,” continued unexcelled through six editions. He died November 16, 1907.
DAVENPORT, GEO. EDWARD. Born in Boston, August 3, 1833. A promoter and officer of the Middlesex Institute. An accurate and diligent student of the ferns, his numerous articles were published in the Fern Bulletin, in the Torrey Bulletin, Rhodora, and in separate monographs. He was a leading authority on the pteridophyta, and collected a large and choice herbarium of the native ferns, which he donated to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. By his gentle manners and kindly spirit he won many friends, all of whom were proud to recognize his distinguished ability. He cultivated many of our rare native ferns in his Fellsway home, at Medford, Mass., and freely gave specimens to his friends. He died suddenly of heart failure, November 29, 1907.
WATERS, CAMPBELL EASTER. Born in Baltimore County, Md., September 14, 1872. Was graduated at Johns Hopkins University in 1895. Ph.D. in 1899. Was for a time a close student of ferns, and issued his notable book, “Ferns,” in 1903, containing his “Analytical Key Based on the Stipes.” A chemist by profession, he has pursued that branch of science for the last eighteen years. His address is Bureau of Standards, Washington, D.C.
MAXON, WILLIAM RALPH. Born at Oneida, N.Y., February 27, 1877. Was graduated at Syracuse University in 1898. Began as aid in cryptogamic botany, United States National Herbarium, 1899, and is now associate curator of the same. Has specialized in scientific work on the pteridophyta, distinguishing himself by the excellence as well as by the large number of his publications, the more important being “Studies of Tropical American Ferns,” Nos. 1 to 6. The Fern Bulletin, Torrey Bulletin, American Fern Journal, Fernwort Papers, et al., have profited from his expert and up-to-date knowledge. He is president of the American Fern Society.
PARSONS, FRANCES THEODORA. Born in New York, December 5, 1861. Née Smith. Married Commander William Starr Dana of the United States Navy, who was lost at sea. As Mrs. Dana, she published, “How to Know the Wild Flowers,” in 1893, and within ten years more than seventy thousand copies of the book had been sold. “According to Season” appeared in 1894. In February, 1896, she married Prof. James Russell Parsons, treasurer of the University of the State of New York. In 1899 she published, “How to Know the Ferns.” She combined a thorough knowledge of her subject with an easy and graceful style.
DODGE, RAYNAL. Born at Newburyport, Mass., September 9, 1844. Civil War veteran. Wounded at Port Hudson, June 28, 1863. A machinist by trade. A careful observer and student of nature, he discovered Aspidium simulatum at Follymill, Seabrook, N.H., in 1880. (Whittier’s “My Playmate,” verse 9.) He discovered also the hybrid Aspidium cristatum × Marginale. He published his little book, “Ferns and Fern Allies of New England,” in 1896. Died October 20, 1918.
EATON, ALVAH AUGUSTUS. Born at Seabrook, N.H., November 20, 1865. Studied at the Putnam School in Newburyport, but was largely self-educated. He took up teaching for several years, spending three years in California. Returning East, he became a florist and began to write for various fern journals, giving special attention to the fern allies. He prepared the genera Equisetum and Isoetes for the seventh edition of “Gray’s Manual.” He proved the keenness of his observing powers by discovering several ferns new to the United States. Died at his home in North Easton, Mass., September 29, 1908.
WILLIAMSON, JOHN. Born in Abernathy, Scotland, about the year 1838. He came to Louisville, Ky., to live in 1866. A wood-carver by trade, he could work skillfully in wood or metal, and after a time established a brass foundry. His friend, George E. Davenport, writes of him: “He caught as by some divine gift or inspiration the innermost life and feelings of the wild flowers and ferns, and his marvelously accurate needle transfixed them with revivifying power on paper or metal.” His “Ferns of Kentucky,” issued in 1878, was the first handbook on ferns published in the United States. He died June 17, 1884, in the mountains of West Virginia, whither he had gone for his health.