690 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



SKETCH OF WILLIAM STARLING SULLIVANT. 



" "TN him we lose tlie most accomplislied bryologist whicli thig 

 -L country has produced, and it can hardly be said that he 

 leaves behind anywhere a superior." This is high praise, and its 

 value is enhanced by its coming from Prof. Asa Gray, who cer- 

 tainly knew whereof he spoke. 



William Starling Sullivant was born January 15, 1803, at 

 the little village of Franklinton, then a frontier settlement in the 

 midst of primitive forest, near the site of the present city of Co- 

 lumbus. He was the eldest of the four children of Lucas Sulli- 

 vant, a Virginian, and Sarah (Starling), his wife. His father had 

 been commissioned by the Government to survey a district in the 

 Northwestern Territory lying in the center of what is now the 

 State of Ohio, where he early purchased a large tract of land, 

 bordering on the Scioto River, and near by, if not including, the 

 site afterward chosen for the capital of the State. 



The early life of William Sullivant was therefore that of the 

 frontier, with its mixture of hardships and opportunities. At a 

 time when the hominy mortar and the hand grater served to fur- 

 nish coarse meal for bread, and grist mills were few and far apart, 

 young William, mounted astride of a bag of wheat on one horse 

 and leading another on which also was strapped a well-filled bag, 

 was often sent on a journey along the blazed bridle-path through 

 the forest to procure flour for the family. These expeditions fre- 

 quently occupied two or three days' waiting for the grist, and ne- 

 cessitated sleeping in the mill wrapped in a blanket, where he was 

 fortunate who had a pile of corn or wheat for his couch instead 

 of the hard floor. But all this, together with the athletic sports 

 of the frontier settlement, served to give him the fine physical 

 development which was often remarked in his adult years. He 

 was also one of the party on some of his father's shorter survey- 

 ing expeditions, thus gaining knowledge that he was soon destined 

 to put in practice. 



He was sent to a private school in Kentucky, and, entering the 

 Ohio University when that institution opened, received there the 

 rudiments of a collegiate education. He was then transferred to 

 Yale College, from which he was graduated in 1823. His father 

 dying in the same year, he was obliged to give up the idea of 

 studying a profession in order to take charge of the large family 

 estate. The property consisted of lands, mills, etc., and demanded 

 much and varied attention. The care of it required him to become 

 a surveyor and a practical engineer, and to be much engaged in 

 business for the greater part of his life. He became a member of 

 the Ohio Stage Company, whose operations covered a wide field. 



