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Correspondence of Rhoda Waterbury and
G. W. Clinton |
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Correspondence of Rhoda Waterbury and G. W. Clinton 1865 - 1867 Edited
by P. M. P.O. Box 299, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Missouri, 63166‑0299;
and Research Associate, Buffalo Museum of Science, Buffalo, New York, 14204.
Email: mailto:patricia.eckel@mobot.org May 1865 Vol.
1. 20. I 208. Schoharie
May 27th, 1865 Mr.
Clinton. I
can hardly tell you how happy I am with my plants, they reached here on the 25th
all safe and I have not written before because I have spent every spare
moment in looking them over and arranging them, not a single label was moved
so as to cause the least trouble, I had not the slightest idea of putting
your patience to so severe a test. I really think Mr. Clinton I do not
deserve so much, over two hundred plants when I should have been rich with
fifty! Some few of them are the same as grow in this part of the state, but
most of them are new to me: then the grasses are just what I needed for
really I have found the grasses a more difficult study than the mosses,
perhaps it is because I have not so much patience with them; and these will
be like having the living teacher to assist, and the ferns many of them are
quite new, indeed I could not have directed you what to send half so well. In
regard to the Musci and Hepaticae, Jungermanniaceae (a suborder of Hepaticae)
I am making them a special study
and will be much more devoted in my study with the hope that I may be able to send you a list
of those in this vicinity, and if
you wish send you specimens that you may lack. I have been in the
fields today and according to your suggestion I send you a list of the plants now in blossom here Erigeron
bellidifolium, Medeola virginica,
Geranium maculatum, Aralia trifolia, Sambucus pubens, Trientalis
americana, Uvularia perfoliata,
Polygonatum multiflorum, Polygala paucifolia, Azalea nudiflora, Trillium grandiflorum, T.
erectum, Gaylussacia resinosa,
Smilacina bifolia or Majanthemum bifolium and of the Musci
Polytrichum commune and P.
formosum, Mnium affine, these
I determined the first by the hairy covering of the calyptra and the
distinctly four angled capsule, the last by situation and general appearance.
I discovered one of the Hepaticae but I have not yet determined its name. I
suppose Mr. Peck would name it at sight, so shall I some day. I do hope you will allow me in
some way to repay the obligations I am under for your generous gift of
specimens, and if I can possibly find one plant you do not already possess I
shall consider it a treasure. I shall have during the summer the assistance
of a friend - Mr. Gebhard whom you may have met at Hoping
I may contribute to your enjoyment as you have to mine. I
remain as ever Your disciple Rhoda Waterbury Hon.
G. W. Clinton Recd.
June 1. Wrote her June 2.
Erigeron bellidifolius Muhl. ex Willd. = Erigeron
pulchellus Michx. Polygonatum multiflorum Pursh = Polygonatum biflorum
(Walt.) Ell. Gaylussacia resinosa
(Ait.) Torr. & A. Gray = Gaylussacia baccata (Wang.) K. Koch The United
States Civil War ended the day before this letter was written, on May 26 when
the last Confederate army surrendered at Shreveport, Louisiana. The correspondence had begun earlier than the
first letter of this series, but perhaps no earlier than January of 1865,
although see discussion in the introduction above. The specimens noted appear
to have been the first exchange of vascular plants from Clinton to Waterbury.
In his Botanical Journal, on Jan. 12, 1865 he wrote, in Albany: ‘Wrote
to my wife & Dewey, Miss Rhoda Waterbury & E. C. Howe de [regarding]
matters touching the State Herbarium.’ He wrote to Howe on the State
Herbarium, but he also appears to have written to Rhoda on this subject as
well. On Jan. 14, in Albany: ‘Up to this time
have been working as Regent and on & de the Herbarium of the
State.’ On Jan. 25. ‘My time, at Albany, since my return from
Cambridge [where he visited Asa Gray], was taken up with matters concerning
the Herbarium belonging to the State, & in collecting matter for and
drafting the Annual Report on the State of the Cabinet. Charles F. Peck, the
muscologist, spent some time with me in the Curator’s Room, & so
did Henry B. Lord & his wife. I shall copy herein [i.e. in the journal],
by & by, some notes made by me in looking over some parts of L. C.
Beck’s herbarium.’ On May 22 Rhoda seems to take the exchange of specimens
as personal gifts and a showing of a personal esteem, and as encouragement
for her to adopt the role of student to him as teacher. Rhoda exaggerates
this intimacy by referring to him as disciple and as mentor. That her
relationship with Clinton preceded this letter, as well as the implication
that their relationship had already evolved some, seems indicated in the “as
ever” and “Your disciple” in the letter’s closure. The botanical ability Rhoda exhibits was
derived both from her earlier education at the Troy Academy, botany being
taught at female academies (see below), and her vocation as tutor or
instructor. For example, in western Massachusettes at South Hadley, botany
was taught for female students at Mount Holyoke College for women. Rhoda’s interest in the Hepaticae would
lead her to correspondence with Coe Finch Austin who would include some of
her plants in his exsiccatae (see introduction). Prior to her receipt of these specimens, she
appears to have been studying mosses, although in the next letter perhaps it
is only the Polytrichaceae, the physically largest specimens of mosses
outside of Sphagnum. The only manual to the North American species at this
time (1865) is William Starling Sullivant’s 1856 contribution to the
second edition of Gray’s Manual of Botany, “Mosses and Hepatics
East of the Mississippi River.” Sullivant’s Icones Muscorum of
1864, which was a supplement to the Manual treatment, was probably unknown to
Rhoda. Her declared interest in mosses is curious as
Clinton just initiated a similar interest with Peck that spring - too early
yet to even write his collections systematically in his daily collecting
journal. Indeed he may have only first met Peck that January. In 1865 Charles
Peck had donated a systematic collection of New York mosses to the State
Cabinet and was about to publish a list of these, constituting a preliminary
checklist of the mosses of the State, in the Report of the Regents to the New
York State Legislature. In other words, Peck had barely begun his published
involvement in bryology, although he had been working as a volunteer with
Hall at the Cabinet and was about to receive a paid position there. During
the same period C. F. Austin was working with John Torrey at Columbia
College. Rhoda’s work on mosses so early may indicate she knew of Peck
and his specialty before Clinton had apprised her of it. Rhoda is familiar with Charles Peck’s
name and interest in Musci at this period, although she may not yet have
corresponded with him and may only know him through letters from Clinton (see
letter of June 22nd, 1865, below). Peck was teaching at the State St. High
School in Albany (Cass’ Institute), but was also volunteering at the
State Cabinet under James Hall. Peck’s first paper was to come out in
1865 (The catalogue of mosses presented to the State of New York. In:
Eighteenth annual report of the Regents of the University of New York on the
condition of the State Cabinet of Natural History, Albany, New York). Peck
would continue his correspondence with Clinton wrote in his botanical journal, 1865:
“Jan. 26. [sic, for 25. In Albany:] ‘Charles F. Peck, the muscologist, spent
some time with me in the Curator’s Room ...’. On March 31: “Walked to White’s
Grove. ... Gathered 2 or 3 mosses, and mailed one of them (capsule sessile)
to Charles H. Peck of Albany.’ May 1: ‘To date, this spring, have
collected & had identified by Mr. Peck 15 mosses & one
Liverwort.’ May 22: ‘I have enjoyed grabbing mosses & sending
them to Mr. Charles H. Peck, for determination.’ Later in the year, on October 20: “I
know so little about the mosses & hepaticaceae, that I have not kept my
journal of my collections of them. I commenced collecting them this Spring,
and have submitted them, as collected to Charles H. Peck, of Albany, &,
when he has been in doubt, have applied to Mr. Lesquereux who has, most
cheerfully, aided me.” Mr. Gebhard is considered to be a friend of
Rhoda's at this point, and here Rhoda indicates she shares a political as
well as a botanical interest with John Gebhard Sr., born in 1800, and Jr. (his
son) were both from Schoharie. “In the years of the 1820s and probably
earlier, John Gebhard [Sr.], a farmer at Schoharie Court House, was studying
the limestone caverns of this retired and beautiful valley and collecting
therefrom their quite extraordinary minerals ...” (Clarke, 1921). The
elder Gebhard communicated with “James Hadley of Fairfield Academy; the
Rubens Peale of Philadelphia; William Horton of Gowshen, afterwards an
assistant to Mather on the Geological Survey [of New York State]; Ebenezer
Emmons and Professor Eaton.” Clarke calls him the “Schoharie pioneer” of John Gebhard Jr. was appointed assistant to the chief
geologist for the Schoharie region when the Natural History Survey was
initiated. James Hall purchased the collections of the two Gebhards to use in
the Paleontology of New York, a series of 13 quarto volumes. Gebhard Jr.
“did not long remain in Albany, but went back among the Schoharie hills
to fulfill his duties as Justice of the Peace in his valley and to follow the
desire of his heart, the peaceful pursuit of fossil hunting.” John
Gebhard Jr. died late in 1886 (pp. 40-41, footnote 16 in Clarke, 1921). In French’s 1860 Gazetteer of New York
State, of the caves that occur in the limestone region about Schoharie
township “Ball’s Cave, otherwise called Gebhard’s
Cave” had a stream of water running through it, over cascades, and a
boat was available for visitors. “Nehtaway’s Cave ... was
explored in 1836, by John Gebhard, Jr., and John Bouny. A few fine specimens
of colored rhombohedral spar were found in it,” (French p. 606 footnote
no. 12). There is some State political influence
derived from the Schoharie region. Governor Bouck, holding that position in
1843 “was from ‘Old Schoharie,’ a stronghold of the
Whig-Democrats ever since its emergence from the sea". John Gebhard,
Junior, was of the Schoharie fold and he not only wanted the curatorship but
he had earned the right to go to his neighbor, the Governor, and ask for it.
He did so and got the promise of it.” The curatorship was of the newly
initiated (1843) Paleontology of New York project, with designated collection
and collection rooms in Albany, the nucleus of the State Cabinet of Natural
History or the State Museum (Clarke, 1921, p. 134-135). In the 1850’s
Gebhard was second custodian of the State collections. Gebhard “was an
indefatigable collector and the collections soon outgrew their little rooms
in the Capitol.” Clarke indicates that when Gebhard retired from his
duties “to whom very great credit belongs for the growth and
development of the “Cabinet” during this period, presently
retired ... amid thunderstorms of denunciation in [James] Hall’s
letters ...” to various colleagues. It was due to Gebhard’s
collecting that the Cabinet had to be expanded in 1855. Hall appears to have been an extraordinarily
contentious man and it is probable that Hall did denounce Gebhard, but for
what reason, Clarke does not say. In 1857 Gebhard was replaced by a close
colleague, “Hall’s collector and devoted admirer” Colonel
Ezekiel Jewett toward whom Hall also later “grew impatient.” It
is possible that Gebhard still bore a resentment toward Hall who, in 1865
experienced a resurgence of importance in the State with respect to a
reorganization of the Natural History Survey. Hall appears to have been
sensitive with regard to his own prominence in the field of paleontology and
may have been mindful of Mr. Gebhard’s father’s prominence in
being an originator of the stratigraphic sequences in the State. Gebhard’s personally and successfully
asking the governor for the curatorial position, after that of John
Washington Taylor’s, the first curator of the State Cabinet, is
curiously reminiscent of Rhoda’s private visit to Governor Fulton in
her letter of Aug. 10th, 1866. One of Hall’s correspondences denounced
Gebhard to John Seymour, brother of governor Horatio Seymour (Clarke p. 383). |
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Sullivant’s Plate 1 |
