John Kirk Townsend (August 10, 1809 – February 6, 1851) was an American naturalist,

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

and collector. Townsend was a Quaker born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, the son of Charles Townsend and Priscilla Kirk. He attended

Westtown School Westtown School is a Quaker, coeducational, college preparatory day and boarding school for students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade, located in West Chester, Pennsylvania, United States, 20 miles west of Philadelphia. Founded in 1799 b ...

West Chester, Pennsylvania West Chester is a borough and the county seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania. Located within the Philadelphia metropolitan area, the borough had a population of 18,461 at the 2010 census. West Chester is the mailing address for most of its neighb ...

and was trained as a physician and pharmacist. He developed an interest in natural history in general and bird collecting in particular. In 1833, he was invited by the botanist

Thomas Nuttall Thomas Nuttall (5 January 1786 – 10 September 1859) was an England, English botany, botanist and zoologist who lived and worked in America from 1808 until 1841. Nuttall was born in the village of Long Preston, near Settle, North Yorkshire, S ...

to join him on

Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth (January 29, 1802 – August 31, 1856) was an American inventor and businessman in Boston, Massachusetts who contributed greatly to its ice industry. Due to his inventions, Boston could harvest and ship ice internati ...

's second expedition across the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

to the Pacific Ocean. Townsend collected a number of animals new to science. These included birds such as the

mountain plover The mountain plover (''Charadrius montanus'') is a medium-sized ground bird in the plover family (Charadriidae). It is misnamed, as it lives on level land. Unlike most plovers, it is usually not found near bodies of water or even on wet soil; i ...

Vaux's swift Vaux's swift (''Chaetura vauxi'') is a small swift native to North America, Central America, and northern South America. It was named for the American scientist William Sansom Vaux. Description This is a small swift, even compared to other ''C ...

chestnut-collared longspur The chestnut-collared longspur (''Calcarius ornatus'') is a species of bird in the family Calcariidae. Like the other longspurs, it is a small ground-feeding bird that primarily eats seeds. It breeds in prairie habitats in Canada and the northern ...

black-throated grey warbler The black-throated gray warbler or black-throated grey warbler (''Setophaga nigrescens'') is a passerine bird of the New World warbler family Parulidae. It is long and has gray and white plumage with black markings. The male has the bold black ...

Townsend's warbler Townsend's warbler (''Setophaga townsendi'') is a small songbird of the New World warbler family. Taxonomy Townsend's warbler was species description, formally described in 1837 by the American naturalist John Kirk Townsend under the binomial nam ...

and

sage thrasher The sage thrasher (''Oreoscoptes montanus'') is a medium-sized passerine bird from the family Mimidae, which also includes mockingbirds, tremblers, and New World catbirds. It is the only member of the genus ''Oreoscoptes''. This seems less clo ...

, and a number of mammals such as the

Douglas squirrel The Douglas squirrel (''Tamiasciurus douglasii'') is a pine squirrel found in the Pacific Northwest of North America, including the northwestern coastal states of the United States as well as the southwestern coast of British Columbia in Canada, ...

; several of these were described by Bachman (1839)Bachman, J. (1839)
Description of several new Species of American quadrupeds. ''Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 8'', 57-74. from samples collected by Townsend.

Family

John Kirk Townsend was the son of Charles Townsend and Priscilla Kirk, he had five brothers and four sisters. His sister

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

, a naturalist with an interest in entomology, wrote a popular book called "Life In the Insect World" in 1844. Mary and another sister, Hannah, wrote '' The Anti-Slavery Alphabet'' in 1846, which was sold at the Anti-Slavery Fair in Philadelphia. His brother Edward was President of the Philadelphia Institution for Instruction of the Blind and helped organize the Philadelphia Dental College.

Oregon

While at Wyeth's Fort William in

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, Townsend served as the appointed magistrate to the first public trial by Europeans in Oregon. This occurred when the post's gunsmith, Thomas J. Hubbard, attacked and killed the fort's tailor in an argument over a young

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

girl. The gunsmith was acquitted by a jury when they ruled the death was justifiable homicide.

Work

Townsend collected numerous animal specimens during his travels. He sent many of these back to

John James Audubon John James Audubon (born Jean-Jacques Rabin; April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was an American self-trained artist, naturalist, and ornithologist. His combined interests in art and ornithology turned into a plan to make a complete pictoria ...

for further assessment and characterization. Audubon gave Townsend broad authority in naming specimens that he collected.Audubon, John James, Birds of America, 1827 to 1838 On his return, Townsend wrote ''The Narrative of a Journey across the Rocky Mountains to the Columbia River and a Visit to the Sandwich Islands'' (1839). This is a narrative of a journey by Wyeth's expedition over the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean between 1834 and 1835. A number of mammals are named for Townsend. Many of these were described from specimens collected during his travels.

Townsend's ground squirrel Townsend's ground squirrel (''Urocitellus townsendii'') is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is found in high desert shrublands in several areas of the United States. Distribution Townsend's ground squirrel is found in the Great Ba ...

(''Spermophilus townsendii'') is endemic to the southwestern region of the

state of Washington Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

Townsend's chipmunk Townsend's chipmunk (''Neotamias townsendii'') is a species of rodent in the squirrel family, Sciuridae. It lives in the forests of the Pacific Northwest of North America, from extreme southwestern British Columbia through western Washington and ...

(''Tamias townsendii''),

Townsend's mole The Townsend's mole (''Scapanus townsendii'') is a fossorial mammal in the family Talpidae, and is the largest North American mole. It was named after the American naturalist John Kirk Townsend. The name was selected at the request of Thomas Nut ...

(''Scapanus townsendii''), and

Townsend's vole Townsend's vole (''Microtus townsendii'') is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae, the sister species of '' M. canicaudus''. It is found in temperate grasslands of British Columbia in Canada and in the states of Washington and Oregon in t ...

(''Microtus townsendii'') occur in the northwest of the United States and southwest of British Columbia.

Townsend's pocket gopher Townsend's pocket gopher (''Thomomys townsendii'') is a species of pocket gopher endemic to the northwestern United States. Description Townsend's pocket gopher is a relatively large gopher, measuring in total length, including a tail long. A ...

(''Thomomys townsendii'') is found in southern Oregon, northern California, northern Nevada, and through the Snake River Valley in Idaho.

Townsend's big-eared bat Townsend's big-eared bat (''Corynorhinus townsendii'') is a species of vesper bat. Description Townsend's big-eared bat is a medium-sized bat (7-12 g)

(''Corynorhinus townsendii'') is found from southern British Columbia south through the western United States to southern Mexico. The whitetail jackrabbit (''Lepus townsendii'') ranges through southern Canada and the western, central US through eastern California and Colorado. The

and

Townsend's solitaire Townsend's solitaire (''Myadestes townsendi'') is a medium-sized thrush, the only solitaire native to America north of Mexico. Range and habitat This solitaire ranges from southern Alaska, British Columbia and Alberta to northern Zacatecas in Me ...

are also named after Mr. Townsend. Townsend died of

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, but ...

poisoning. He had developed a formula used in taxidermy preparations and arsenic was the "secret" ingredient.

Family

Oregon

Work

References

Further reading