Early Texas Naturalists of the 19th Century

Hill Country Master Naturalists

Lonnie Childs

August 19, 2015

USE WITH PERMISSION ONLY

“Naturalists of the Frontier”

Samuel Wood Geiser

“Palo Pinto Crossing

of the Guadalupe”

H. Lungkwitz circa 1850s

“Enchanted Rock”

H. Lungkwitz circa 1850s

Society for Protection of German Immigrants

Advertising brochure

to lure German immigrants

to Texas

circa 1840’s

Frederick Law Olmstead

A Journey Through Texas

Or, A Saddle-Trip on the

Southwestern Frontier

Synopsis

• Pop Quiz: Naturalists’ Test of Commitment

• Why study “Texas Naturalists”?

• Background Information

• Important Patrons

• Top Early Texas Naturalists

• Profiles of important Naturalists

As a Naturalist, would you be willing to…

Naturalist’s Test of Commitment

The Emigrants

By Knut Ekwall


1. Travel several thousand miles with hundreds of

other immigrants packed tightly in the hold of a

wooden sailing ship traversing over rough &

dangerous seas to arrive in Texas?


2. Expose yourself to infectious diseases such

as malaria, yellow fever, encephalitis,

dysentery, and cholera without available

medical assistance?


3. Expose yourself to the harsh elements of Texas

weather - summer heat, thunderstorms, floods,

blue northers, or ice storms?


4. Risk your life to unfriendly Native American tribes

or lawless criminals?


5. Walk 673 miles from San Antonio to El Paso and

then back in order to collect plants?


6. Do it all for the love of nature & discovery without

hope of making any money?

Naturalist’s Motivations?

Naturalists could expect little immediate recognition, great physical hardships, and small financial returns.

What motivated Early Naturalists?

1. Love of natural world?

2. Joy of discovery?

3. Wanderlust?

4. Pride of personal scientific contributions?

Why study these Naturalists?

• Natural History:

Understand the evolution of the

study of natural history in Texas.

• Human Stories:

Personal stories that are fascinating

and inspiring in themselves.

• Land restoration perspective:

First-hand descriptions of the natural landscape in Texas prior to arrival of European civilization.

• Scientific Names:

Solve the mystery of all those

scientific names!

Historical

Background

• In 19th Century, as Social Frontier moved west, so moved Scientific Frontier.

• Early military & railroad expeditions included natural scientists

• 1776-1880 - Most fruitful period of scientific exploration in the US.

• Competition between museums and universities to build collections.

– Herbariums are important to Botany

– “Great Bone Wars” – Cope/Marsh Feud

• Early 1800s - Scientific exploration began in Texas as northern Europeans arrive.

Historical Background (cont’d)

• Post 1875:

West Texas – Last Social Frontier of Texas is “settled”

• Most Naturalists of this early period were collectors, sending their specimens to museums and patrons

• Many were self-taught to some degree or had medical backgrounds

• 1820 – 1880:

Estimated ~150 professional Naturalists roamed Texas

(Geiser)

Importance of Expeditions & Surveys

Major Wm. Emory

US Boundary Commission

• Mexican Boundary Commission 1827-1829

• Mexican – U.S. Boundary Commission Survey of 1849-1857

– Included scientific collectors, especially botanists

– One of first organized attempts to survey

flora/fauna & natural resources in area

– “Report on the US & Mexican Boundary

Survey (1857-59)” by Wm. Emory

• Railroad Surveys –

– 12 volumes of “Pacific Railroad Reports”

w/ extensive reports on flora/fauna

• Scientific/military expeditions in mid 1850s trying to find a feasible

railroad route from Mississippi River to the Pacific

• Produced 12 volumes of “Pacific Railroad Reports”

w/ extensive reports on flora/fauna

“Greatest assemblage of of scientists marshaled under one banner

since Napoleon took his group of savants to Egypt”

Wm Goetzmann, UT Professor of History

Railroad Surveys

Top Ten Early Texas Naturalists

Name Period in Texas Specialty

Peter Custis 1806 (1st) Botany/Zoology

Jean Louis Berlandier 1828-1851 Botany/Zoology/Anthropology

Thomas Drummond 1833-1834 Botany/Ornithology/Entomology

Ferdinand Lindheimer 1836-1879 Botany

Ferdinand Roemer 1845-1847 Geology/Botany

Charles Wright 1837-1851 Botany

Gideon Lincecum 1848-1874 Botany/Zoology

Julien Reverchon 1856-1905 Botany

Gustaf Belfrage 1866-1882 Entomology

Jacob Boll 1874-1880 Geology/Entomology

Note: Although most collectors had specialties, most collected across diverse areas

of botany, zoology, and/or geology.

The Patrons - George Engelmann

• Physician & self-taught Botanist

• Collected in mid to northern US

• Founded Academy of Sciences in St. Louis

•Supporter of Missouri Botanical Garden

• Friend & sponsor of Lindheimer

• “Plantae Lindheimeriane”, “Plantae Cactaceae”

• Described 108 species of native cactus

• Described Yucca genus & Pronuba moth

• Helped save French Grape industry - Phylloxera

• Friend & collaborator with Gray

(1809-1884)

George Engelmann

Engelmann’s Hedgehog Cactus

Ecninocereus engelmannii

Doug Sherman

Engelmann’s Salvia

Salvia engelmannii Bill Carr

Prickly Pear

Opuntia engelmannii

• Physician who moved to study of Botany

• Became Harvard Professor in 1842

• Wrote numerous texts incl. “Manual of

Botany of Northern US” – std. field guide

• Started Gray Herbarium at Harvard

• “Plantae Lindheimeriane “,

”Plantae Wrightiane”

• Demanding sponsor of many collectors

including Lindheimer, Wright , & Reverchon

The Patrons – Asa Gray

(1810-1888)

Peter Custis

• (1806) -Red River or Freeman-Custis Expedition commissioned by

Jefferson to find Red R. headwaters & route to Santa Fe

• Medical student & 1st academically trained naturalist on expedition

• Travelled 615 miles upriver to New Boston before turned back by

Spanish

• Prepared descriptions of 267 flora & fauna

Gustaf Belfrage

1866-1882 Entomology

• His collections reside in prestigious museums

of the eastern US and Europe.

– Corresponded with the great entomologists

– Arrived in US (1860) & Texas in 1867

– Collected in central Tx, Houston & Tyler areas

• (1882) Lived in small hut near Norse in which

he died at age 48.

• His estate: $894 & 36,881 specimens of insects!

“If the fauna of Texas is, at the present time [1883], better known than that

of the Western States of this continent, it is largely due to the skill and

industry of Mr. Belfrage and the late Mr Jacob Boll,…”

Obituary in American Naturalist

Belfrage’s cricket

Trigonidomimus belfragei Susan A. Wineriter

1833-1834

Botany /Ornithology/Entomology

Thomas Drummond

• Scottish naturalist collected for Wm. Hooker of Univ. of Glasgow

• 1825 – Franklin 2nd Expedition in Canada

• (1833-1834) Collected in southeast Texas near Galveston to Victoria to Bastrop during Cholera epidemic & Great Overflow of 1833

• Collected 750 plant & 150 bird species

• Benchmark collector for Wright & Lindheimer

• At least 31 Texas species bear his name “Overflow of 1833”

Thomas Drummond

Phlox drummondi

Drummond’s Phlox Allium drummondi

Drummond's Wild Onion or Garlic

“…It is my desire to advance as into the interior as possible; but several

difficulties lie in the way. The Indians are becoming very dangerous,…”

April, 1834 letter to Hooker

Thomas Drummond – Collecting Areas

Cooperia drummondii

Rain Lily

Joseph A. Marcus

1833-1834

“Mr. Thomas Drummond of Glasgow has done more than any other man

toward exploring the botany of Texas.” Mary Austin Holley

Clematis drummondii

Old Man’s Beard

Kimberly Kline

Jean Louis Berlandier

1828-1851

Botany/Zoology/Anthropology/

Geography/Meteorology

• Poverty > Self-taught Protégé > Scapegoat > Stature

• (1827-1829) Accompanies Mexican Boundary Commission & collects near Laredo, San Antonio, Gonzales, San Felipe, San Saba, & E. Texas

• DeCandolle’ s protégé & scapegoat

• Extensive journals included

“The Indians of Texas in 1830” &

“Journey to Mexico During Years 1826-1834”

Yellow Flax

Yaupon (Ilex vomitoria) - Te del Indio

“…panacea for all scourges…”

“powerful emmenagogue and excellent stomachic..”

1828 - Journeyed into east Texas as far as Trinity R. w/

General Teran expedition before sickness overtook them.

Journey to Cibolo Creek – April & November, 1828

April - …”the richness & beauty of the vegetation soon caused those

inconviences t be forgotten….The beauty of the country side was so

constant that even the road itself was covered with flowers. On the

prairies can be observed ranunculi, vetches, salvias, a chelone..”

November – Ayume’ (Flame-leaf Sumac), Post Oaks, Agarita, &

Artemisia. Abundant Bears, Deer, & some Bison

November 24, 1828

“..from Arroyo del Lobo Blanco to a nameless stream…

where we observed the traces of bear and bison.”

“At supper time, we ate zorillo…. I believed myself to be

eating suckling pig.”

Jean Louis Berlandier Gopherus berlandieri

Berlandier’s or Texas Tortoise Rana berlandieri

Rio Grande Leopard Frog

Berlandieri lyrata

Chocolate Daisy

Bruce Leander

Calylophus berlandieri

Square-bud or Texas Primrose

Julian Reverchon

1856-1905 Botany

• First to extensively collect in western Edwards Plateau

• (1885-6) Explored Llano R. basin, Western Edwards Plateau to the

headwaters of the Guadalupe, Medina, & Sabinal Rivers to Uvalde

• Personal collection: 2,600 species & 20k specimens

– One of the best collections of its kind

– Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis

“…a valuable correspondent, an

acute and sedulous botanist.”

Asa Gray

Texas Bluebell

Campanula reverchonii

May 21, 1886:

“…we found ourselves on a vast table land, the divide between Devil's

river to the west and the Nueces to the south. This country is a perfect

desert, with only temporary supplies of water in holes, plenty of

grasses though not properly a prairie, being covered with mesquit (sic)

bush, clumps of post-oak, and thickets of cedars and live oaks,…”

“Beautiful Sabine”

June 3, 1886

“The 3d of June we reached the Guadalupe,

and the vegetation began to change….

The next day there appeared along the river

the beautiful Sabine (Taxodium distichum).

Afterwards we observed this tree along most

of the rivers in the mountainous region north-

west of San Antonio. Between Kerrville and

Bandera the country is mountainous, covered

with good grasses but not very interesting

to the botanist,…”

“The 6th we camped at Bandera's Pass, a

very interesting place to the botanist.”

Reverchon – Collecting Areas

Dallas

Junction

Uvalde

Yucca

reverchonii

Lampasas

Brownwood

San Angelo

1869-1882

1885-1886

Charles Wright

(1811-1885)

International Botanist

Jimsonweed

Datura Wrightii

“a great amount of useful & excellent

work for botany in the pure & simple

love of it.”

Wright’s or Bushy Skullcap

Scutellaria wrightii

Charles Wright

• (1811) – Born in Connecticut

• Developed early interest in nature

• Graduated from Yale Phi Beta Kappa

• (1837) - After brief sojourn in Mississippi as tutor, came to

Zavalla in E. Texas where he was a teacher & surveyor

• 1837-1845: Conducted extensive botanical explorations along

Neches R. and over to the Sabine R.- “land of thieves, robbers,

counterfeiters, and murderers”

• (1844) Begins 40 yr relationship & correspondence with A. Gray

Charles Wright

• (1848) A. Gray secured him position on US-Mexico Boundary

Survey Commission to collect on trip from San Antonio to El Paso

& back

• Military provided transportation for trunk & paper only.

• (June,1849 to Sept., 1849) He walked 673 miles to El Paso

collecting specimens (104 days)!

• (Oct., 1849 to Nov. 1849) Walked back in 42 days!

• Collected 1500 species for Gray’s Harvard herbarium.

From San Antonio to El Paso & back -

a “hog- and ass-paradise combined”

Zavalla

Rutersville

Del Rio

Austin

San Antonio

El Paso

Houston

Charles Wright – Collecting Areas

Charles Wright

• (1851) After 15 years, left Texas never to return.

• (1851-1853) Collected in the SW US on Graham’s expedition.

• (1853-1856) Ringgold’s North Pacific expedition & collected in the Cape of Good Hope, Australia, Hong Kong & Japan.

• (1856-1867) Gathered an important collection while in Cuba.

• Gray and Engelmann memorialized his collections in “Plantae Wrightianae” & “Cactaceae of the Boundary”

Wright’s Beardtongue

Penstemon wrightii Ray Mathews

Charles Wright

Remember him because:

One of the most prolific & dedicated of the Texas

Botanists over a long period of time.

Gray’s eulogy said: “a great amount of useful and

excellent work for botany in the pure and simple love

of it.”

Chelianthes wrightii Joseph A. Marcus

“…indefatigable in his endeavors to further the cause of the

particular branch of study to which he has devoted himself.”

(1818-1891)

“Father

of

Texas Geology”

Ferdinand Roemer

Ferdinand Roemer

• (1818) - Born Germany to educated family with scientific interests

• (1842) - Received Phd in Geology at age 24.

• Early stature in Germany for geological studies & publications.

• (1845) At age 26, Commissioned by Adelsverein to perform geological study of the Fisher-Miller land grant

– Prince Solms had heard of the San Saba silver mines

• (1845) Traveled to Texas – Collects 7 weeks around Houston & Galveston area

• (1846) Befriended Lindheimer & spends time collecting around New Braunfels.

Heteraster texanum

• (1847) Collected around Fredericksburg & accompanied

Meusebach on his treaty expedition with the Comanches.

• His journeys stretched from Galveston to Glen Rose, from

San Antonio to Fredericksburg and on to San Saba. An area

of 20,000 square miles.

• (May, 1847) Returned to Germany.

– Wrote well received paper detailing the geology of Texas

– Wrote “Texas” , a first-hand account of his travels.

Ferdinand

Roemer

Ferdinand Roemer Travels

Galveston

New Braunfels.

Fbg.

Waco

Mimosa roemeriana

Sensitive Briar

Bruce Leander

Phlox roemeriana

Golden Phlox Joseph Marcus

Ferdinand

Roemer


Man of great insight &

cosmopolitan perspective.

Fascinating account of his travels,

German immigrant life, & Comanche

culture.

First scientifically trained assessment

of Texas geology.

“Father of Texas Geology”

Ferdinand Roemer

Cedar Sage

Salvia roemeriana

Gideon Lincecum

(1793-1874)

Naturalist

Frontiersman

Explorer

Physician

Teacher

Trader

“I looked upon the long journey through the

wilderness with much pleasure.”

Gideon Lincecum

• (1793) Born in Georgia.

• His father, a lay minister, moved the family constantly westward, breeding in Gideon a love of frontier travel & nature.

• At age 14, attended school for total of 5 months.

• (1818) Gideon moved to eastern Miss. & became a trader and friend/student of the Choctaws & Chickasaws

• (1830) Became a self-taught physician specializing in botanical or Indian herb medicine.

Gideon Lincecum

• (1835) Accompanied a Mississippi committee to explore Texas for possible settlement.

– Traveled as far as La Grange with committee

– Explored alone the sources of LaVaca & Navidad R.’s, to juncture of San Marcos & Guadalupe R.’s, to Nueces R., & over to site of Fredericksburg

– Captured by Comanches & escapes

– Gathered a “pack load of specimens”

Gideon Lincecum – Collecting Areas

Washington Co.

Fbg.

“ If I cannot have company whose minds are clearly free, I would

prefer to go alone. And thus it has turned out with me through my

long sojourn, I have had not associates, and my observations and

conclusions, be them right or wrong, are not trammeled by the

sway of other minds.” Gideon Lincecum

Post Oak Grape

Vitis lincecumii

Gideon Lincecum

Charles

Darwin

• (1848) At 55, returned to settle in Washington county.

– Lived there for 20 yrs - the eccentric iconoclast

• Well-known for his study of the Agricultural Ant

– Paper read by Charles Darwin at Linnaean Society in London

• (1867) At age 74, extensive collecting trip of flora &

fauna in Central Texas sent to Smithsonian

• (1867) Moved to Vera Cruz, Mex. to escape Reconstruction

• (1873) Moved back to Texas

• (1874) Completed autobiographical writing and died.

– “Reminiscences of an Octogenarian” in American Sportsman

Gideon Lincecum

Assembled medicinal plant collection of 500 species

Kept meteorological journal for the Smithsonian

Made extensive observations of Harvester Ant

Published in noted scientific journals of the time

Documented traditions and lives of Choctaw Indians

Corresponded with eminent natural scientists

x Lack of schooling limited formal scientific understanding

& allowed injection of unorthodox social & religious beliefs into

scientific writings


He was a highly intelligent, intensely curious man with

tremendous courage and an indefatigable spirit who set an

example for naturalists of both his era and today.

Gideon Lincecum

Red Harvester Ant

Pogonymyrmex spp.

(1801-1879)

“Father

of

Texas Botany”

Ferdinand Lindheimer

“I cannot think of anything I prefer to wandering around & gathering

plants, & collecting & preserving them.”


• (1801) - Born in Germany into affluent merchant family.

• Well schooled but does not finish university degree. Early interest in Botany.

• (1834) Involvement with liberal political movements led him to sever family ties and leave Germany for Illinois.

• (1834) Traveled to Vera Cruz, Mexico where he spent 16 mos. collecting plants & insects & working in German colony.

• (1836) Disenchanted with Mexican politics & inspired by Texas revolution, traveled to Galveston.

• (1837-41) Lives near Houston & collects in the area.

– Lives penurious life as a “would-be” farmer Lindheimer’s Gaura

Gaura lindheimeri Joseph A. Marcus


• (1839-1840 & 1842-1843) Winters in Missouri with Engelmann

• 1843-1851 Collects specimens in Texas for Gray & Engelmann

• (1843-1844) Moved to Cat Springs & Industry area.

– Collected in Brazos bottom, Galveston, Chocolate Bayou & Matagorda Bay.

• (Dec. 1844) Traveled to Port Lavaca to assist first Adelsverein immigrants in migration.

– Helped select New Braunfels as location for settlement.

Germans on the way

to New Braunfels (1844)


“Lindheimer Home “

painted by Henry Piepers

• (1846-1851) Collected from New Braunfels to Fbg. area and San Saba/Llano R. areas sending specimens to Gray.

– Befriended & collected with Roemer.

– Held in wary respect by the Indians.

• (1852-1872) Editor of “New Braunfelser Zeitung” – voice & conscience of German settlers.

Ferdinand Lindheimer-

Collecting Areas

Galveston

Industry

New Braunfels

Fbg.

San Saba

Lindheimer’s Beebalm

Monarda lindheimeri

Peter Loos Lindheimer’s Morning Glory

Ipomoea lindheimeri


• First permanent resident botanical collector in Texas

• Specimens sent to Gray and Engelmann contributed extensively to Texas Botany.

– Gray & Engelmann memorialized him with publication of

“Plantae Lindheimerianae”, Parts I & II

• 48 (?) plant species/sub-species & 1 genus named after him

• 1 Snake species

Accomplishments:


Man of great integrity with fierce dedication to human liberty.

Provided fascinating account of travels & the natural landscape.

“Father of Texas Botany”

Texas Star

Lindheimera texana


Lindheimer Museum in New Braunfels

Questions?

Reference

Material

Bibliography

1. Berlandier, Jean Louis, Trans Sheila M. Ohlendorf, Journey to Mexico during the Years 1826 to 1834, (2 vols.,

Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1980)

2. Burkhalter, Lois Wood, Gideon Lincecum, 1793-1874: A Biography, (Austin: UT Press, 1965)

3. Flores, Dan L., "The Ecology of the Red River in 1806: Peter Custis and Early Southwestern Natural History",

Southwestern Historical Quarterly 88 (July 1984

4. Flores, Dan L., ed. Jefferson & Southwestern Exploration: The Freeman & Custis Accounts of the Red River

Expedition of 1806 Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1984

5. Geiser, S.W., Naturalists of the Frontier (Dallas: SMU, 1938, 2d ed. 1948)

1. Appendix B: A Partial List of Naturalists and Collectors in Texas (1820-1880)

6. Goyne, Minetta Altgelt, A Life Among the Texas Flora: Ferdinand Lindheimer’s Letters to George Engelmann, (

Texas A&M U. Press, 1991)

7. Handbook of Texas Online, (General Libraries of UT-Austin & Texas State Historical Association),

www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online

8. Lawson, Russell M., Frontier Naturalist: Jean Louis Berlandier and the Exploration of Northern Mexico and

Texas, (University of New Mexico Press, Nov., 2012) not available yet

9. Lincecum, Jerry Bryan & Phillips, Edward Hake, Editors, Adventures of a Frontier Naturalist: The Life and Times

of Dr. Gideon Lincecum, (Texas A&M U. Press, 1994)

10. Lincecum, Jerry Bryan & Phillips, Edward Hake, Redshaw, Peggy A., Editors, Science on the Texas Frontier:

Observations of Dr. Gideon Lincecum, (Texas A&M U. Press, 1997)

11. Olmstead, Frederick Law, A Journey Through Texas or A Saddle-trip on the Southwestern Frontier (1857), UT

Press, 1982)

12. Peacock, Howard, Frontier Naturalists, ( Texas Highways, May, 1995)

13. Reverchon, Julian, “Botanizing in Texas I & II”. Botanical Gazette, Vol, 2. No. 3, (Mar., 1886); available on-line at

http://www.jstor.org/stable/2994975

14. Roemer, Dr. Ferdinand, Trans. Oswald Mueller, Roemer’s Texas 1847-1847, ( Eakin Press, 1995)

15. Shaw, Elizabeth A., Charles Wright on the Boundary, 1849-52, (Westport, Connecticut: Meckler, 1987)

16. Warren-Henrick, Betsy, Wilderness Walkers: Naturalists in Early Texas (youth oriented), (Dallas: Long Publishing

Co., 1987)

17. Weniger, Del, Explorer’s Texas: Volume 1, The Land and Waters, (Eakin Press, 1984)

18. Weniger, Del, Explorer’s Texas: Volume 2, The Animals They Found, (Eakin Press, 1997)

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online

Gustaf Belfrage, Entomologist

• Born 1834 in Stockholm & died near Norse, Tx in 1882

• (1854-1859) Studied Forestry & was Forester in Sweden

• (1859-1860) For unknown reasons migrates to New York & then Chicago where be

begins collecting insects

• (1867) Moves to Texas to continue his insect collecting

• Makes a living providing insect collections to Swedish Academy of Science as well as

university students in the US

• Collected near Houston, Tyler, Waco & Laredo, but primarily in the Clifton/Norse area

just west of Waco.

• Corresponded with many leading entomologists of the time who encouraged his efforts.

• His collections reside in many of the most prestigious museums of the eastern US and

Europe.

• (1879) Built a small hut near Norse in which he lived & died at age 48.

• His estate was valued at $894 but contained 36,881 specimens of neatly mounted

insects!

Jacob Boll, Geologist & Entomologist

• Born 1828 in Switzerland & died in Wilbarger County, Texas in 1880.

• Became a pharmacist & collected floral specimens of his canton which he published in a book in 1869 bringing him some recognition.

• (1869) After the death of his wife & business failure, he migrated to Dallas area where he had family & to make a new start.

• On the way, he stopped at Harvard to visit his friend & mentor, Louis Agassiz, who had become a world renowned scientist. – Agassiz convinces him to collect animals in Texas for the Harvard Museum

• (1870) Collected 15K specimens & 1600 species in Texas & then returned to Harvard as an Asst. at the Museum.

• (1871) Returns to Switzerland & is commissioned by govt. for further collecting of mollusks & woody plants in Texas

• (1872-73) Collected in New England & Switzerland & receives accolades in Europe & US for his work.

• (1874) Returned to Dallas area.

• By 1876, Began to collect fossils in the Wichita River country.

• (1877) Worked for US Entomological Commission on the Rocky Mtn. Locust

• (1877-1880) Collected fossils for Edward Cope (Am. Museum of Natural History) & discovered 32 new, rare species of Permian vertebrate fossils.

• (1880) Writes article for the American Naturalist & is first to identify scientifically the Permian Rocks of Texas

Environment

Early Texas Naturalists of the 19th Century