Gerard Fowke
Gerard Fowke (June 25, 1855 – March 5, 1933) was an American archeologist and geologist best known for his studies of
Childhood
Born Charles Mitchell Smith in Charleston Bottom, Mason County, Kentucky, near Maysville, his parents were John D. Smith and Sibella Smith.[1][4][5] He was the eldest of five children and the only one to survive to adulthood.[1][4] Fowke's mother died before he reached ten years of age.[4] He spent his childhood in Kentucky and was raised by his father and other relatives.[2] In 1887, he legally changed his name to Gerard Fowke, naming himself after a prominent American ancestor of his maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Fowke.[1][6]
Early career
He worked as a bookkeeper and clerk in
Career
Fowke's career in science began in 1883 when he studied geological formations associated with the Wabash, Arkansas, and Missouri Rivers.[1] The river he spent most of his time studying, though, was the Ohio River. During the course of his career, Fowke thoroughly investigated the geology of the Ohio River from its mouth to its source.[1] He studied Flint Ridge for the Smithsonian Institution, detailing his findings in the "Smithsonian Report" in 1884.[7] In 1886, he studied the archeology of the Monongahela River Valley of Pennsylvania.[2]
Fowke was hired by antiquities collector Warren Moorehead in 1889 to study Native American mounds in Ross County, Ohio. Working together with a team of laborers for about a month, the two excavated 12–15 Native American mounds.[8] Fowke worked for the Smithsonian Institution, under the Bureau of Ethnology, from 1885 to 1888, studying Native American sites in the eastern United States.[9] He searched for evidence of pre-historic settlements on Vancouver Island in Canada from 1896 to 1897.[9]
He travelled in
From 1911 to 1916, he worked for the Missouri Historical Society, studying the geology of the Saint Louis, Missouri area. Before this, he had studied geology in Ohio. Fowke also worked for the Jefferson Memorial in Saint Louis, setting up a collection there of Native American relics. He rearranged them in 1926, and set up a new collection in 1930.[9]
In 1912, Fowke travelled to
Fowke spent much of his life studying ancient mounds of rocks and earth, trying to prove the existence of a civilization that pre-dated what we currently understand to be the Native Americans.[9][14] He never found evidence of a civilization distinct from the later Native Americans. His 1902 book Archaeological History of Ohio, which summarized his research, helped to prove that these mounds were indeed made by the Native Americans.[9] His research was sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History of New York, the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Science, the Smithsonian Institution, and others.[4]
Fowke published at least 59 works during his career, mostly regarding his research on Native American archeology.[2] His publications appeared in numerous journals, newspapers, and magazines, including Science, Popular Science, and publications of the Smithsonian Institution.[2][10] Most of Fowke's research was done on foot. He walked an estimated 100,000 miles during the course of his career. He did geological or archeological research in nearly every state in the United States.[15] Fowke was a lifelong bachelor and died with no close kin.[4][9] He moved to Madison, Indiana, in 1922 and lived there the remainder of his life. Fowke died in King's Daughters' Hospital in Madison of natural causes at age of 78 and was interred in Springdale Cemetery in Madison, Indiana.[4]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Leahy, Ethel C. Who's Who on the Ohio River and Its Tributaries. Cincinnati: The E.C. Leahy Publishing Company, 1931. pages 422–3.Print.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Hansford, Hazel, and Logan. "Gerard Fowke(Charles Mitchell Smith)". Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science. Volume 43 (1933) pages 20–23.Print.
- ^ "Gerard Fowke Found Dead". Madison Daily Herald.[Madison, Indiana] 6 March 1933.Print.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Gerard Fowke Found Dead". Madison Daily Herald.[Madison, Indiana] 6 March 1933. Print
- ^ Necrology Scrapbook, Missouri History Museum Library, Saint Louis, Missouri
- ^ Fowler, Ila Earle. (1978). Kentucky Pioneers and Their Descendants (p. 9). Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company.
- ^ Moorehead, Warren K. "A Narrative of Explorations in New Mexico, Arizona, and Indiana, Etc." Bulletin of Phillips Academy, Andover, Department of Archeology. Bulletin III.(1906): page 107. Print.
- ^ Moorehead, Warren King. The Field Diary of an Archeological Collector. Harvard University Tozzar Library, 1902. Pages 6–7.Print.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Gerard Fowke, Noted Archeologist, Dies". Saint Louis Post Dispatch 10 March 1933, page 3B. Print.
- ^ a b Randall, E.O. Preface. Fowke, Gerard. Archeological History of Ohio. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State Archeological and Historical Society, 1902.Page iii. Print.
- ^ a b Bloch, Alexia, and Kendall, Laurel. The Museum at the End of the World: Encounters in the Russian Far East. University of Pennsylvania:2004. Page X. Print.
- ^ Shirina, Danara. "Jesup North Pacific Expedition". Encyclopedia of the Arctic. Volume 1, 2, and 3. New York: 2005. Page 1045. Print.
- ^ "Marksville State Historic Site." Louisiana Office of State Parks. State of Louisiana, 11 September 2013.Web.http://www.crt.state.la.us/parks/imarksvle.aspx
- ^ Gerard Fowke (1902), Archæological History of Ohio: The Mound Builders and Later Indians
- ^ "Gerard Fowke Dead". Madison Courier[Madison, Indiana] 6 March 1933. Print.