William Wood (naturalist)

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Dr. William Wood
Born(1822-07-07)July 7, 1822
Waterbury, Connecticut, US
DiedSeptember 9, 1885(1885-09-09) (aged 63)
South Windsor, Connecticut, US
Alma materUniversity Medical College of New York
OccupationPhysician
Known forScientific and popular writings in ornithology; accumulating one of the largest private bird specimen collections in the United States

William Wood (July 7, 1822 – August 9, 1885) was an American physician and naturalist, best remembered as an expert on the avifauna of Connecticut.

Education and career[edit]

Wood was born in Waterbury, Connecticut on July 7, 1822, to Rev. Luke Wood (1777–1851) and Anna (Pease) Wood (1780–1859).[1][2] He was one of eleven children.[3][2]

Wood completed his early education in Old Killingsworth (today Clinton), Connecticut.[1] He was accepted at Yale University but disqualified from enrolling on account of poor eyesight.[1] At age 17, Wood became a teacher at the East Windsor Hill Academy, a preparatory school in the East Windsor Hill neighborhood of South Windsor, Connecticut.[4] In the following years, Wood took courses at the Berkshire Medical College and graduated from the University Medical College of New York in 1847.[1][5]

After medical school, Wood moved back to East Windsor Hill, where he lived for the remainder of his life. Wood was a practicing physician in the Windsor area for almost four decades[2] and medical examiner for South Windsor.[6][7] He founded the Hartford County North Medical Association, was secretary of the Hartford Medical Society, and was a member of the Connecticut Medical Society and the American Medical Association.[1][5][2][8] Wood published on medical treatments.[9]

Natural history[edit]

Wood was an active field ornithologist and a "leading authority" on New England birds.[1][5] He published in the American Naturalist, Ornithologist and Oologist, Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, Familiar Science and Fancier's Journal, and wrote a series of 21 popular articles about New England birds for the Hartford Times in 1861, as well additional articles in later years.[10][11][12][13] Wood specialized in raptor research and made numerous contributions in this area, including more accurately describing the ranges and clutch sizes of several species.

Wood acquired a significant collection of bird specimens and eggs from the United States and abroad,[14][13][15][1] including specimens of several state-first birds for Connecticut.[16][17]

In addition, Wood wrote about the fish of New England and was an active botanist, sending specimens to several research institutions.[1][18]

Wood was a member of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, the Lyceum of Natural History at Williams College, and the Essex Institute.[5] Wood's correspondents included George A. Boardman and Spencer F. Baird, to whom Wood gave two Peregrine Falcons in 1862.[19]

Other activities[edit]

Wood had an interest in archaeology, collecting Native American artifacts in South Windsor.[2] He also wrote a history of steam navigation, emphasizing the contributions of John Fitch of South Windsor.[20] Wood originally published his history in the Hartford Times and Locomotive in 1881.[21] In 1887, the Connecticut General Assembly ordered that it be preserved in the State Archives (under "A Resolution providing for a Tablet to the Memory of John Fitch of Windsor").[20] Wood was a member of the First Congregational Church.[2]

Family[edit]

Wood married Mary Lyman Ellsworth on November 9, 1848.[22][23] They had two children, Elizabeth Ellsworth (Wood) Sperry and William Russell Wood.

Death and legacy[edit]

Wood passed away in East Windsor Hill on August 9, 1885, after an illness lasting three days.[11][1]

The Hartford Scientific Society acquired Wood's specimen collection in 1896 and deposited it in the Wadsworth Antheneum, where John Hall Sage curated it.[24][25][26][1][27][28] Wood's specimens moved to Trinity College on loan from the Wadsworth in 1946.[29] The University of Connecticut now holds Wood's collection.[1]

Merriam referenced Wood's correspondence and specimens extensively in A Review of the Birds of Connecticut (1877).[16] Later reviews of New England birds also draw on Wood's records.[30][31][32][33]

The Smithsonian holds Wood's collection of Native American artifacts.[2][34]

The Wood Memorial Library, South Windsor's public library from 1927 to 1968, was dedicated to Dr. William Wood and Mary Ellsworth Wood.[35] It is now an independent research library and museum, which includes natural history collections in Dr. Wood's honor.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Boardman, Samuel Lane (1903). The naturalist of the Saint Croix. Memoir of George A. Boardman. Bangor: Priv. print. pp. 212–248. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.23315.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Burpee, Charles Winslow (1939). Burpee's The Story of Connecticut. New York: American Historical Co. pp. 293–294.
  3. ^ "Obituaries: Luke E. Wood [obituary of William's brother describing his family]". Hartford Weekly Times. November 13, 1890. p. 9.
  4. ^ Klein, Jean H. (1999). A Century of Birding in the South Windsor Meadows. Self-published.
  5. ^ a b c d "Obituary: Dr. William Wood". New York Times. August 11, 1885. p. 5.
  6. ^ "Medical Examiners in Connecticut". New York Medical Journal: 15. July 7, 1888.
  7. ^ "A doctor de jure". British Medical Journal: 994–995. December 17, 1881.
  8. ^ "Ordinary Members". Proceedings of the Connecticut Medical Society. 3 (1): 170. 1884.
  9. ^ "Anasarca". The Philadelphia Medical and Surgical Journal. February 15, 1854.
  10. ^ Burchsted, Fred. "Research Guides: New England Naturalists: A Bio-Bibliography: Wi-Z". guides.library.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
  11. ^ a b "Notes and News [in memoriam for Wood]". Auk. 2 (4): 391. 1885.
  12. ^ "Wood, William, Dr., 1822-1885 | Wood Memorial Library". woodmemorial.pastperfectonline.com. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
  13. ^ a b "Dr. Wood's Birds – He Adds Two Rare Specimens to His Collection". The New York Times. 1879-11-20. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
  14. ^ "Obituary: Dr. Wm. Wood, East Windsor Hill., Conn". Ornithologist and Oologist. 10 (9): 136.
  15. ^ "Obituary". The Press [Stafford Springs, Connecticut]. August 13, 1885. p. 2.
  16. ^ a b Merriam, C. Hart (1877). A review of the birds of Connecticut. New Haven: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, Printers. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.5985.
  17. ^ "First Historical Report". Connecticut Ornithological Association | COA. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
  18. ^ Wood, William (1869). "The Compressed Burbot or Eel-pout". American Naturalist. 3 (1): 17–21.
  19. ^ Wood, William (1878). "The Birds of Connecticut. No. 7". Familiar Science and Fancier's Journal. 5 (8): 152–155.
  20. ^ a b "Robert Fulton or John Fitch?". The Locomotive. October 1909.
  21. ^ Wood, William (June 1881). "Who First Successfully Applied Steam for Propelling Vessels". Locomotive. 4: 104–110.
  22. ^ Trumbull, J. Hammond (1886). The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884. Boston: Edward L. Osgood. pp. 127–128.
  23. ^ Stiles, Henry Reed (1892). The History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Volume 2. Hartford: Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company. p. 222.
  24. ^ Rand, McNally & Co.'s Handy Guide to the New England States. Rand, McNally & Co. 1897. p. 60.
  25. ^ "Antheneum Gets Wood Collection". Hartford Courant. January 16, 1908. p. 7.
  26. ^ "Facts of Interest: Annual Meeting of the Connecticut Historical Society". Meriden Daily Republican. May 26, 1897. p. 2.
  27. ^ "Notes and News". Auk. 14: 115. 1897.
  28. ^ "Sage 's List of Portland, Conn., Birds" (PDF). Auk. 15: 284. 1898.
  29. ^ "Collections of Birds Go to Trinity". Hartford Courant. November 28, 1946. p. 25.
  30. ^ Stearns, Winfrid Alden; Coues, Elliott (1881). New England bird life: being a manual of New England ornithology. Boston: Lee and Shepard. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.14180.
  31. ^ Morris, Robert O. (1901). The birds of Springfield and vicinity. Springfield, MA: H.R. Johnson.
  32. ^ Sage, John Hall; Bishop, Louis Bennett; Bliss, Walter Parks (1913). The birds of Connecticut. Hartford, Conn.: State Geological and Natural History Survey. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.57831.
  33. ^ Aaron Clark Bagg, Samuel Atkins Eliot and (1937). Birds of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts. Hampshire Bookshop.
  34. ^ Institution, Smithsonian. "Search". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
  35. ^ "History – Friends of Wood Memorial Library and Museum". Retrieved 2023-11-19.
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