Henry Ernst Muhlenberg, Botanist

A Patriot of the American Revolution for PENNSYLVANIA. DAR Ancestor # A082596

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotthilf_Henry_Ernst_Muhlenberg

Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg (17 November 1753 – 23 May 1815) was an American clergyman and botanist.

Biography

The son of Heinrich Melchior Muhlenberg, he was born in Trappe, Pennsylvania. He was educated at Franckesche Stiftungen in Halle starting in 1763 and in 1769 at the University of Halle. He returned to Pennsylvania in September 1770 and was ordained as a Lutheran minister. He served first†† in Pennsylvania and then as a pastor in New Jersey. He received a Doctor of Divinity degree from Princeton University.

He served as the pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania from 1780 through 1815. In 1787, he was also made the first president of Franklin College. 1779 he retired and devoted himself to the study of botany. He is best known as a botanist. Muhlenbergia, a well-known genus of grasses, was named in his honor. His chief works are Catalogus Plantarum Americae Septentrionalis (1813) and Descriptio Uberior Graminum et Plantarum Calamariarum Americae Septentrionalis Indiginarum et Cicurum (1817).

Muhlenberg discovered and identified the bog turtle while conducting a survey of plants in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The turtle was named named Clemmys muhlenbergii, or Muhlenberg's tortoise, in 1801 in his honor. However, the species' common name was changed to bog turtle in 1956, as the practice of naming an organism's common name after individuals became less popular.

The standard author abbreviation Muhl. is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name.

†† evidently he also assisted with the formation of the New Germantown NJ parish. See: Chapter XI " New Germantown and the German Valley " in The Early Germans of New Jersey: Their History, Churches, and Genealogies By Theodore Frelinghuysen Chambers page 83

Family

Muhlenberg was the brother of Frederick and Peter Muhlenberg, father of Henry A. P. Muhlenberg and Frederick Augustus Hall Muhlenberg, a physician, who was the father of Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, the first president of Muhlenberg College.

Scientist. The son of Heinrich Melchior Muhlenberg, who is considered the patriarch of the American Lutheran Church, he himself was an ordained Lutheran minister, and served as the pastor of the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania for thirty-five years. He became an expert in American botany after his retirement from the clergy, and published a number of seminal botanical works, his best known and influential being "Catalogus Plantarum Americae Septentrionalis" in 1813, and "Descriptio Uberior Graminum et Plantarum Calamariarum Americae Septentrionalis Indiginarum et Cicurum" in 1817. Maintained by: Find A Grave Record added: May 07, 2000

Find A Grave Memorial# 9241

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Aug 18 2018, 2:42:55 UTC

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Scientist. The son of Heinrich Melchior Muhlenberg, who is considered the patriarch of the American Lutheran Church, he himself was an ordained Lutheran minister, and served as the pastor of the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania for thirty-five years. He became an expert in American botany after his retirement from the clergy, and published a number of seminal botanical works, his best known and influential being "Catalogus Plantarum Americae Septentrionalis" in 1813, and "Descriptio Uberior Graminum et Plantarum Calamariarum Americae Septentrionalis Indiginarum et Cicurum" in 1817.* Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Aug 11 2019, 2:27:28 UTC

curator note: It appears that his imother-in-law and wife were not pleased with the scope of his duties with the Lutheran Church. See his father's Journals Vol. 3 May 31, 1779