Edward Francis Tuckerman, IV

Edward Francis Tuckerman, IV

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Tuckerman
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/116384016/edward-tuckerman

He was the son of Edward Francis Tuckerman (1775-1843) and Sophia May (1784-1870); the brother of Dr. Samuel Parkman Tuckerman, Professor Frederick Goddard Tuckerman and Sophia Mary Tuckerman Eckley

After receiving a law degree from Harvard College (1839), he studied lichens in Europe (1841--2) under the Swedish lichen specialist Elias Fries. He became museum curator at Union College (1842--3), then returned to Harvard, earning a bachelor's degree (1847) and a degree in divinity (1852). He wrote many historical and theological articles after joining Amherst College as a lecturer in history (1854--8) and a professor of botany (1858--86). He was the first botanist to explore the New England mountains for lichens; his Genera Lichenum: An Arrangement of North American Lichens (1872) is considered his greatest book on this topic. Tuckerman Ravine in New Hampshire is named for him.

He was graduated at Union in 1837, and at the Harvard Law School in 1839, after which for two years he continued at Cambridge, pursuing studies in law, and taking a special course at the divinity-school. In 1841 he went to Europe for further study, and in Upsala met Elias Fries, who confirmed his fondness for botany. On his return in 1842, he made with Asa Gray a botanical excursion in the White mountains, and contributed to the "American Journal of Science" a paper descriptive of the plants that he had collected. He had previously published several papers on the New England lichens, giving the results of his individual experiences.

In 1847 he took the A. B. degree at Harvard, having entered the senior class a year previous. He completed the course of study at the Harvard divinity-school in 1852. In 1854 he was appointed lecturer on history in Amherst, and until 1873 he continued to give instruction in that branch, during a part of the time filling the chair of oriental history. He was appointed professor of botany.

in 1858, which chair he then held until the end of his life, although during his later years he was relieved from class instruction. His botanical studies were various, but he made a specialty of lichenology, in which branch he had no superior in the United States. Professor Tuckerman's papers on this subject number nearly fifty, and are devoted to descriptions of the lichens not only of New England, but of other parts of North America. Specimens collected by the United States exploring expedition, the Pacific railroad surveys, and later by the United States geological surveys, were referred to him for examination and classification.

Early in life Thomas NuHall dedicated to him the genus Tuckermania, one of the finest of California Composits, and several species have been named in his honor. Tuckerman's ravine, on Mount Washington, also bears his name. The degree of LL.D. was given him by Amherst in 1865, and he was a member of various scientific societies, among which were the American academy of Arts and Sciences after 1865, and the National academy of sciences after 1868.

Professor Tuckerman contributed to the New York "Churchman," between 1834 and 1841, numerous articles, under the titles of " Notitia Literaria " and " Adversaria," on subjects in history, biography, and theology. He also contributed short articles on antiquarian topics to the" Mercantile Journal " in 1832, and in 1832-'3 he aided Samuel G. Drake in the preparation of his " Book of the Indians " and "Indian Wars." Besides his paper on botany, he edited " New England's Rarities Discovered," by John Josselyn (1860), and published "Genera Lichenum: An Arrangement of North American Lichens " (Amherst, 1872);" A Catalogue of Plants growing without Cultivation within Thirty Miles of Amherst College" (1882); and " A Synopsis of the North American Lichens " (part i., Boston, 1882). The second part of the last-named work, left by Professor Tuckerman, has been issued, with an appendix, by Henry Willey (New Bedford, 1888). See "Memoir of Edward Tuckerman" (Washington, 1887), by William G. Farlow.