ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 13 



A SKETCH AND BIOGRAPHY OF NICHOLAS 



MARCELLUS HENTZ. 



N. M. Hentz was born in Versailles, July 25, 1797. To 

 this place his flither, who was active in political affairs, had 

 been obliged to flee from Paris, and conceal himself under 

 an assumed name (Arnold). His son showed a remarkable 

 talent for miniature painting while quite young, and attained 

 considerable proficiency in this art. In 18 13 he entered the 

 Hospital Val de Grace as a student in medicine, where he 

 rem lined busied with his studies and duties as hospital as- 

 sistant until the fall of Napoleon. At this time his %ther 

 was proscribed and obliged to flee to America. 



The family, after their arrival in this country, spent a few 

 weeks in New York City and Elizabeth Town, when they 

 removed to Wilkesburg, Pa., the latter part of April, 1816. 



For some years Hentz was engaged in Philadelphia and 

 Boston as teacher of French and miniature drawing. Fol- 

 lowing this, for a short time he was tutor in the family of a 

 weathy planter (Mr. Marshall) on Sullivan's Island, near 

 Charleston, S. C. 



While engaged as a teacher in a school for boys at Round 

 Hill, Northampton, Mass., he was married to Miss Caroline 

 Lee Whiting, the daughter of Gen. John Whiting, of Lan- 

 caster. His wife afterwards became well known as a poet 

 and novelist. 



Soon after his marriage, in 1824, he moved to Chapel 

 Hill, N. C, where he had charge of Modern Languages in 

 the State University until 1830. From this time up to 1849, 

 he was in charge of various female seminaries and academies 

 in the South; at Covington, Ky., Cincinnati, O., Florence, 

 Tuscaloosa, and Tuskegee, Ala., and Columbus, Ga. His 

 health having failed, he moved to the residence of his son 

 Charles, at Mariana, Florida; where he died Nov. 4, 1856. 



It is a remarkable fact that during his long life as a teacher 

 he was one of the pioneers in American Entomology, and 

 became during his time the highest authority on American 

 Spiders. His life and work then are of special interest to 

 the members of the Mitchell Society because of his connec- 

 tion with the University of North Carolina. All of his leis- 



