DR. JOHN L. LECOXTE. V 



writing, a tatlier and a son occur no less than fo,ur times, — a number 

 which is surjnising when we consider that tlie election was made out of 

 about twelve hundred men of science. The influences which affect the 

 study of this question among ourselves are diversified, for here, perhaps 

 better than anywhere else in the world, one may carve out one's own 

 destiny, and a man of genius may conse(|uently more readily rise from 

 the lower ranks, our lineage, too, is so much more mixed, and in a large 

 jiroportioii of cases so obscure that the traces of hereditary character are 

 less readily discernible ; yet to pass by all names that are in close relation 

 with European immigration we have some clear instances of family influ- 

 ence in science alone, as may be seen by repeating merely the names of 

 Dana and Draper, Eaton, Harris, Hitchcock, Pickering, Pierce, Rogers 

 and Whitney, and especially LeConte. While if we were to include, as 

 we should, the mother's side we should have to add such related names 

 as Franklin and Bache, and Silliman and Brush, to which no doubt a 

 serious research would add illustrious examples, but the historical element' 

 of our country is so modern, our professional life so unstable as it were, 

 the growth and opportunities of scientific culture so recent, that in nearly 

 all these instances we have but the connection of a single pair of names, 

 hence it is that the name of LeConte is here somewhat conspicuous. 



Pierre, the great-grandfather of Dr. LeConte, and grandson of the 

 original (iluillaume, was a physician of some distinction in his day, and 

 possessed, through his success, considerable property. His second wife, 

 through whom the descent comes, was a si-ster of Dr. Joseph Eatton. 

 The sous all appear to have been men of more than ordinary character, 

 but it is not known that any of them had any special scientific tastes. 

 The eldest, William, moved to Georgia,* and the other followed, spend- 

 ing the winters on their plantations there, but still retaining their pos- 

 sessions in the North. John Eatton, the first, until the birth of his 

 children, must have lived at Shrewsbury, as his children were all born 



s* " William LeConte . . . was a lawyer by profession, and took an active part in 

 the Revolutionary struggle. On the 22d of June, 1775, he was appointed a mem- 

 l(er of the first ' Council of Safety' for the Province of Georgia, and was likewise a 

 member of the ' Provincial Congress' which met in Savannah on the 4th of July, 

 1775, representing the parish of St. Philip, or Great Ogeechee. On the 8th of 

 August, 1775, as a member of the Council of Safety, he signed a letter addressed 

 to Governor Sir James Wright, and his name appears on the ' black list' which the 

 royal Governor of Georgia sent to England, with the annexed title of ' Rebel 

 Counselor.' " — Family records by Prof LeConte Stevens. See also Rev. Dr. Ste- 

 vens' History of (jeorgiti, vol. ii, pp. 101. 105. \2'A. 



(2) AUorsT, 1S84. 



