PARRY MEMORIAL OF PROF. SHELDON. l8l 



Iowa town, he commenced his pioneer educational work in the west. 

 Here, the heavy hand of affliction was laid on him in the loss of an only 

 child, and soon after, with his stricken life -companion, he came to 

 Davenport, having accepted a professorship in Iowa College. Thus, at 

 the age of forty-four, this place became his permanent home. Here, 

 then, we begin to tread on familiar ground. The sturdy son of Ver- 

 mont took kindly to the trying climate of Iowa, with its chilling winter 

 blasts and summer heats, the peculiarities of which he made a special 

 study, in connection with a complete set of meteorological instruments, 

 records of which are, no doubt, still accessible. As Professor of Natu- 

 ral Science, one of the important duties devolving upon him was the 

 establishment of a museum, and the times usually devoted to relaxation 

 were largely spent by him in scouring the adjacent country, securing 

 specimens of plants, shells, fossils, etc., which, by an extensive system 

 of exchanges, secured valuable returns from all parts of the world. In 

 connection with this was also accumulated a valuable scientific library. 



During the summer vacations longer excursions were undertaken, 

 and the boggy margins of Rock River, in Illinois, yielded up their hid- 

 den treasures of Unio shells, here in their richest development, but only 

 to be procured by persistent wading and digging. In this way was 

 secured the magnificent series of forms that excited the admiration ot 

 Prof. Agassiz, many of which went to enrich the museum at Cambridge, 

 Massachusetts. At that time also, he was associated with Mr. Sereno 

 Watson, then a tutor in Iowa College, in connection with whom a very 

 complete series of local plants were collected, most of which are now 

 stored in the Davenport Academy Herbarium, awaiting the apprecia- 

 tive hand of some young botanist yet to appear from the ranks of the 

 promising Agassiz Club. It is altogether probable that in this congen- 

 ial employment (in which Mrs. Sheldon took a prominent part), Mr. 

 Watson received his first bent to botanical research, since so efficiently 

 followed up as Botanist of the 40 ° parallel, and later, as the trusted 

 associate of Prof. Asa Gray, at Cambridge, in the magnificent work of 

 The North American Flora. 



So, with our present subject, time moves on — full fifty years have 

 passed over his head, full of cares and labors. Iowa College becoming 

 involved in financial difficulties, is removed, in search of a more con- 

 genial location. Prof. Sheldon remains; his hopes still cling to Dav- 

 enport as an educational center; he becomes connected with another 

 educational institution, under the auspices of a different denomination 

 of Christians, with whom, in a true catholic spirit, he unites, and again 



