| Title |
Gambel, William |
| Alternate title |
Gamble, William |
| Date |
June 1823-December 13, 1849 |
| Description |
William Gambel, born in June 1823 in Pennsylvania to William Gamble, Sr. and school teacher Elizabeth Gamble, was a naturalist,
ornithologist and physician who designed flower lithographs for Thomas Sinclair's "North American Sylva" (1846). Introduced
to naturalist Thomas Nuttall (1786-1859) in 1838, Gambel accompanied Nuttall on survey trips, learning botany, mineralogy,
and ornithology and in 1841 began to explore Santa Fe, New Mexico and the "Far West" region between the Rocky Mountains and
the Sierra Nevada. He subsequently explored the Hawaiian Islands and South America by serving as a clerk on United States
navy ships. He returned to Philadelphia in July 1845, entered medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, and served
as the secretary of the Academy of the Natural Sciences. He married Catharine Towson (b. ca. 1825) and resided with her family
at 118 North Eighth Street in the northern part of Center City (South Mulberry Ward). After completing his degree in 1848,
Gambel decided to relocate to California and left Philadelphia in April of 1849. He arrived in ill-health, treated miners
in the Feather River area, and eventually contracted typhoid fever. He died on December 13, 1849 at the young age of twenty-six.
|
| Is part of |
Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers |
| References |
See Sinclair, Thomas. |
| Call number |
Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers |
| Bibliographic citation |
Census 1850 |
|
Gercinovic, "William Gambel: New Mexico Plant Specimens," |
|
http://www/newmexicoflores.com |
|
Groce & Wallace, 249 |
|
Fuller, "Gambel's Life: Brief but Brilliant," http://www.towhee.net |
|
Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences 5 (1852): 55-56 |
