Edward Bruce Williamson: Difference between revisions

Williamson was born in [[Marion, Indiana]] and grew up on a farm near [[Bluffton, Indiana|Bluffton]] where he became interested in collecting birds eggs and observing nature as a boy. He then went to [[Ohio State University]] and graduating in 1898 he worked as an assistant curator at the [[Carnegie Museum of Natural History|Carnegie Museum]]. He corresponded with [[Philip Powell Calvert|Philip P. Calvert]] and specialized on the dragonflies. After a fallout with his superior at the Carnegie Museum, he taught briefly at a high school in Salem, Ohio. He became a fellow of the [[Vanderbilt University]] in 1900 working on zoology. In 1901 he worked as a zoology instructor alongside [[Clarence Hamilton Kennedy|Clarence H. Kennedy]] at the University of Indiana, Winona Lake Field Station. He married in 1902 and worked as a cashier at the Wells County Bank in which his father Lent A. Williamson was a president. In 1905 he succeeded his father as president of the bank. His position at the bank allowed him to travel for collections. He also collaborated with other naturalists in the region including the amateur botanist [[Charles C. Deam|Charles Clemon Deam]] who owned a drugstore at 103 South Main Street just beside Williamson's bank. The hybrid oak known as Deam's oak was discovered by Williamson and his father in 1904 and studied by Deam and others.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bartlett |first=H. H. |date=1951 |title=Regression of × Quercus Deamii Toward Quercus Macrocarpa and Quercus Muhlenbergii |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23304180 |journal=Rhodora |volume=53 |issue=635 |pages=249–264 |issn=0035-4902}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Weatherwax |first=Paul |date=1971 |title=Charles Clemon Deam: Hoosier Botanist |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27789749 |journal=Indiana Magazine of History |volume=67 |issue=3 |pages=197–267 |issn=0019-6673}}</ref> He also named a species of dragonfly, ''[[Celithemis martha]]'', after the amateur entomologist Miss Mattie Wadsworth (1862-1943).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=White |first=Harold B. |last2=Calhoun |first2=John V. |date=2009 |title=Miss Mattie Wadsworth (1862–1943): Early Woman Author in Entomological News |url=http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.3157/061.135.0404 |journal=Transactions of the American Entomological Society |language=en |volume=135 |issue=3 &amp; 4 |pages=413–429 |doi=10.3157/061.135.0404 |issn=0002-8320}}</ref> A school teacher R. Heber Howe Jr. (1875–1932) became keenly involved in odonate studies after corresponding with Williamson. The bank that Williamson worked in collapsed in 1928, in the period known duringas the [[Great Depression]]. During the depression years he made money growing irises on his farm. In 1930 he became an associate at the Museum of Zoology in Michigan, serving until his death. He published on odonate taxonomy from 1897, conducting his research in his spare time, sometimes with his cousin Jesse H. Williamson.<ref>{{cite journal |author=O'Brien, Mark |year=2009 |title=Odonatological History in Michigan – 1875-1996 |journal=Great Lakes Entomologist |volume=41 |pages=1-11}}</ref> He collected dragonflies and damselflies across the US and South America.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Williamson |first=Edward Bruce |date=1915 |title=Notes on Neotropical dragonflies, or Odonata |url=https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/14541 |journal=Proceedings of the United States National Museum |language=en |volume=48 |issue=2089 |pages=601–638 |doi=10.5479/si.00963801.48-2089.601}}</ref> He also travelled to Burma and Thailand for collecting.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1933-03-01 |title=E.B. WILLIAMSON, NATURALIST, DEAD; Indiana Banker and Prominent Entomologist Once Assistant Curator of Carnegie Museum. AUTHORITY ON DRAGON-FLY Went to Burma and Slam to Carry On Investigation -- Once a Teacher of Zoology. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1933/03/01/archives/eb-williamson-naturalist-dead-indiana-banker-and-prominent.html |access-date=2025-01-07 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> He described 14 genera and 92 new species. His collection of nearly 50000 specimens included 310 types and are held at the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. He also created several registered iris hybrids. In 1918 and 1919 he presided over the Indiana Academy of Sciences. He died of a stroke, leaving behind his wife Anna Tribolet and their foster daughters.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Payne |first=F. |date=1933-04-07 |title=OBITUARY |url=https://www.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/science.77.1997.344 |journal=Science |language=en |volume=77 |issue=1997 |pages=344–344 |doi=10.1126/science.77.1997.344 |issn=0036-8075}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Davis, J.J. |year=1933 |title=Edward Bruce Williamson |url=https://journals.indianapolis.iu.edu/index.php/ias/article/view/4598/4450 |journal=Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science |volume=43 |pages=23-25}}</ref> The genus ''[[Boghaunter|Williamsonia]]'' was named by J. J. Davis, a student of R. Heber Howe Jr. (1875–1932). Known by the common name of boghaunter, the two elusive species in the genus, are among the most sought after dragonflies of North America. Michigan odonatologists named their newsletter as ''Williamsonia'' while another group in Vermont named theirs as ''The Boghaunter.''<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Iii |first=Harold B. White |last2=O'Brien |first2=Mark F. |date=2017 |title=Naming an Undescribed Dragonfly: Williamson's Williamsonia and the Travails of R. Heber Howe Jr. |url=http://www.bioone.org/doi/10.1656/045.024.m1401 |journal=Northeastern Naturalist |language=en |volume=24 |issue=m14 |pages=1–43 |doi=10.1656/045.024.m1401 |issn=1092-6194}}</ref>