44 ROCHESTER ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



of the Rochester Academy of Science was formed Mr. George T. 

 Fish was President the first year and Mrs. Streeter Secretary. In 

 February of the next year, Mrs. Streeter was elected President, 

 which ofifice she retained until her too early death 



The aim of the Section was the systematic study of botany and 

 the collection and identification of the plants indigenous to Rochester 

 and its vicinity, with the design of publishing a complete list of the 

 flora of Monroe County. 



After the organization of the Botanical Section, the principal 

 workers in our botanical field became members of it. A number of 

 them have passed away, and it is fitting that the Section should make 

 acknowledgment of its indebtedness to them and should give brief 

 sketches of their lives and their work. 



Among the Berkshire Hills, in the quiet little town of West Otis, 

 Mass , Mary Elizabeth Bosworth was born, January ist, 1842. At an 

 early age her dying mother committed her to the care of an elder 

 brother, Henry W. Bosworth, a well-known judge in Springfield, 

 Mass. As a sacred charge he inspired and directed the little sister, 

 and with this unusual guidance, among the breezy hills, she imbibed 

 a love of nature in all its forms, and acquired a breadth and independ- 

 ence of thought and action not uncommon among those who "lift up 

 their eyes unto the hills," instead of narrowing their vision by the 

 limitations of city walls. 



An apt, enthusiastic scholar of bright mind, she easily succeeded 

 in whatever she undertook. She attended the High School in Hart- 

 ford, Conn., when it stood well in the lead among the educational 

 institutions of New England, and afterward attended the State Normal 

 School at Westfield, Mass. 



She taught in a private school in Belvidere, New Jersey, where 

 she was greatly beloved and very successful in awakening and stimu- 

 lating her pupils. With pronounced executive ability, she later took 

 charge of a Young Ladies' Seminary, at Chester, Penna. 



After three years of teaching, she married on February 24th, 

 1865, a gallant young ofificer just returning from the Civil War, Major 

 William Streeter, who had also been bred among the hills and had 

 kindred tastes. They located in Rochester in 1868. 



By over-zeal in her profession, Mrs. Streeter' s health, which was 

 never robust, had become somewhat impaired, and after a happy 



