EBENEZER EMMONS. 

 1799-1863. 



AUTHORITIES differ as to the year in which Ebenezer Em- 

 mons was born. The first General Catalogue of Williams 

 College, published in 1880, puts " cet. 65" after the year of his 

 death. In Durfee's Williams Biographical Annals the year of 

 his birth is given as 1799, while, according to Prof. Jules 

 Marcou, in Science, Prof. Emmons always stated to his chil- 

 dren that he was born in 1800. His sister has informed the 

 writer that 1799 is the correct year. The month and day were 

 May i6th, and the place was Middlefield, Mass. He was an 

 only son, but had two sisters older and two younger than he. 

 Prof. Emmons's father, who also bore the name of Ebenezer, 

 was a farmer. His mother's maiden name was Mary Mack. 

 The Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Emmons, who was quite a noted 

 preacher in his day, was an uncle. The first ancestor in 

 America of this branch of the family came from England, 

 and settled at East Haddam on the Connecticut River. A 

 brother who came with him settled in Boston. 



Young Eben's interest in nature appeared at an early age. 

 The doors in his room were covered with bugs and butterflies 

 pinned on when he was a small boy. His mother often used 

 to say : " Eb, why do you always have your pockets filled with 

 stones ? I have to mend them every week." His birthplace 

 and the adjoining town of Chester were noted for rare min- 

 erals. When he came home for a vacation from school or 

 college he generally brought some fellow-student with him. 

 He and his friend would set off for the mineral localities and 

 be gone all day, coming back tired and hungry, but were 

 always ready to go again the next morning. 



He was fitted for college under the instruction of the Rev. 

 Moses Halleck, of Plainfield, Mass., a well known educator of 



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