Biographical S\etch J 



Avenue in the Murray Hill section of New York City. His mother, Emma Frances 

 Bashford, who was of English and Huguenot French stock, gave her family name to her 

 third and youngest child. Fortunately his widow, Mrs. Mary Alice Dyckman Dean, 

 and his sister possess a remarkable series of documents, including many drawings, letters, 

 and similar memorabilia of Dean's childhood, together with his own notebooks' of his- 

 early travels in Europe, to which they have kindly given me access. 



At the age of possibly seven or eight years the young Bashford was already drawing 

 spirited pictures of knights in combat. Later with several of his schoolmates he issued 

 miniature "newspapers,'" his own being very neatly lettered by hand, on little folded 

 sheets not more than two by three inches. The name of his paper was "The Comet," 

 while, as he records it, the names of some of the other "papers" were "The World," "The 

 Sun," "The Meteor," etc. Each issue was filled with interesting notes and subjects, 

 including brief descriptions of native birds, their nests and eggs. Thus at an early age 

 we have manifested or at least foreshadowed his interest in knights in armor, his knowl- 

 edge of birds and their habits, his fondness for minute writing and drawing, his gift of 

 precise statement and accurate observation. How did he acquire these traits? 



According to Miss Dean's interpretation, he derived his early interest in natural 

 history largely from association with his father, who himself was an enthusiastic collector 

 and cataloguer of fossil invertebrates and a student of birds in the field. According to 

 Bashford Dean's memories of his childhood, as well as those of his sister, his first interest 

 in armor was manifested when, as a very young child he saw a beautiful European helmet 

 at the residence of Carlton Gates in Yonkers, when he was calling there with his mother. 

 He was so much attracted by this object that he asked and received permission to hold 

 it in his hands. Early in this period also belongs a large picture book of King Arthur and 

 his Round Table, showing knights in combat, which evidently inspired some of his first 

 drawings already mentioned. Thus his parentage, earliest training, and surroundings 

 were essentially Victorian, in the best sense. His continental culture came later. 



About this time Professor Edward S. Morse, of Salem, Massachusetts, a friend of his 

 father, used to be a guest of the family whenever he came down to give popular lectures 

 on science at Cooper Union. On these visits Professor Morse often amused the Dean 

 children by making sketches of pterodactyls and other strange animals including the 

 "gyascutus." Several of these quaint drawings are still extant. Miss Dean states that 

 it was Professor Morse who taught Bashford, who was left handed, to draw .with both 

 hands simultaneously and with two crayons in each hand. This habit later enabled him 

 to draw, with astonishing speed and skill, black-board diagrams of cross-sections of 

 vertebrate embryos showing the three germ layers in all their windings. These sketches 

 were at once the envy and the despair of his admiring students. 



Before he was fourteen years old he was ready to enter the College of the City of 

 New York, but because of his extreme youth it required the special intervention of General 

 Alexander Webb, the president of the college and a friend of his father's, to secure his 

 admission. A batch of his college themes on many subjects show that during his college 



