Marcus Wilson Jernegan (1872–1949) was an American

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

and a professor at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. In 2017, a scholar from Harvard (

Donald Yacovone Donald Yacovone (born February 25, 1952) is an American researcher, writer and academic who primarily specializes in African American History.

) referred to him as one of the leading historians of his time who influenced textbooks of his era and noted the tainted and bigoted sources he relied on.

Biography

Jernegan was from

Edgartown, Massachusetts Edgartown is a tourist destination on the island of Martha's Vineyard in Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States, for which it is the county seat. It was once a major whaling port, with historic houses that have been carefully preserved. Tod ...

, son of ship captain Jared Jernegan and his second wife,

Helen Jernegan Helen Jernegan (September 8, 1839 – February 26, 1934) was an American woman and wife of a whaler. She began her career as a teacher in 1859 and then married a whaling captain. As he missed his wife, he sent for her to join him and she met him i ...

. He graduated as valedictorian of Edgartown High School, then received his PhD from the

in 1906. His father was a whaler and his brother, Prescott Jernegan, became infamous as the promoter of the fraudulent Jernegan Process for extracting gold from seawater, used to defraud investors in

Lubec, Maine Lubec ( ) is a town in Washington County, Maine, United States. It is the easternmost municipality in the contiguous U.S. (see extreme points of the United States) and is the country's closest continental location to Africa. The town, with a p ...

. Jernegan was part of a pioneering effort to map colonial churches. He wrote about slavery and conversion to Christianity in the United States. He also wrote about the veracity of

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

's supposed

kite experiment The kite experiment is a scientific experiment in which a kite with a pointed, conductive wire attached to its apex is flown near thunder clouds to collect electricity from the air and conduct it down the wet kite string to the ground. It was p ...

s to demonstrate electricity. Jernegan collected specimens of algae.

Legacy

A collection of essays written by his students was published as a historiography in 1937.

Selected publications

*''The American Colonies — 1492 to 1750'' *''A Child’s Diary Aboard a Whale-ship'' (edited version of his sister's diaries) *''The History of the Whaling Industry''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jernegan, Marcus 1872 births 1949 deaths University of Chicago faculty People from Edgartown, Massachusetts University of Chicago alumni 20th-century American historians 20th-century American male writers Historians from Massachusetts American male non-fiction writers