John Kirk Townsend

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For other people with the same name, see John Townsend (disambiguation).
John Kirk Townsend
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
DiedFebruary 6, 1851 (1851-02-07) (aged 41)

John Kirk Townsend (August 10, 1809 – February 6, 1851) was an American

ornithologist
and collector.

Townsend was a Quaker born in

black-throated grey warbler, Townsend's warbler and sage thrasher, and a number of mammals such as the Douglas squirrel; several of these were described by Bachman (1839)[1] from samples collected by Townsend. Townsend collected skulls of indigenous people, procured by stealing them from graves. [2]

Family

John Kirk Townsend was the son of Charles Townsend and Priscilla Kirk, he had five brothers and four sisters. His sister Mary, a naturalist with an interest in entomology, wrote a popular book called "Life In the Insect World" in 1844.[3][4] Mary and another sister, Hannah, wrote The Anti-Slavery Alphabet in 1846, which was sold at the Anti-Slavery Fair in Philadelphia.[3] His brother Edward was President of the Philadelphia Institution for Instruction of the Blind and helped organize the Philadelphia Dental College.[5]

Oregon

While at Wyeth's Fort William in Oregon, Townsend served as the appointed magistrate to the first public trial by Europeans in Oregon.[6] This occurred when the post's gunsmith,

Thomas J. Hubbard, attacked and killed the fort's tailor in an argument over a young native girl.[6] The gunsmith was acquitted by a jury when they ruled the death was justifiable homicide.[6]

Work

Townsend collected numerous animal specimens during his travels.[7] He sent many of these back to John James Audubon for further assessment and characterization.[7] Audubon gave Townsend broad authority in naming specimens that he collected.[7][8]

On his return, Townsend wrote The Narrative of a Journey across the Rocky Mountains to the Columbia River and a Visit to the Sandwich Islands (1839).[7] This is a narrative of a journey by Wyeth's expedition over the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean between 1834 and 1835.[7]

A number of mammals are named for Townsend. Many of these were described from specimens collected during his travels.

whitetail jackrabbit (Lepus townsendii) ranges through southern Canada and the western, central US through eastern California and Colorado.[7] The Townsend's warbler and Townsend's solitaire
are also named after Mr. Townsend.

Townsend died of arsenic poisoning.[7] He had developed a formula used in taxidermy preparations and arsenic was the "secret" ingredient.[7]

References

  1. ^ Bachman, J. (1839) Archived 2009-01-07 at the Wayback Machine Description of several new Species of American quadrupeds. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 8, 57-74.
  2. ^ "American Philosophical Society Library". Retrieved 2023-11-13.
  3. ^ a b "Mary Townsend (1814-c.1851)". www.sierracollege.edu. 2015. Archived from the original on 2021-01-25. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  4. S2CID 191701294
    .
  5. ^ "Early American Nature Writers: A Biographical Encyclopedia," by Daniel Patterson, Roger Thompson, J. Scott Bryson, 2008
  6. ^ a b c "Narrative of a Journey". New and Recent OSU Press Books. OSU Press. Archived from the original on 2006-09-18. Retrieved 2007-01-23.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Beolens, B.; Watkins, M.; Grayson, M. (2009-09-28). The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals.
    OCLC 270129903
    .
  8. ^ Audubon, John James, Birds of America, 1827 to 1838

Further reading

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