The Unpublished Works of Joseph Le Cotite. 235 



THE UNPUBI.ISHED WORKS OF JOSEPH LE CONTE. 



BY MARY BELI.. 



A T the time of Professor Le Conte's death in the Yoseinite 

 -^^ Valley, on July 6, 1901, he had completed the autobi- 

 ography of his life. This work, consisting of probably two 

 hundred thousand words, was written in Georgia dur- 

 ing the winter before his death. Professor Le Conte 

 also left a journal of three months' personal experiences dur- 

 ing the last days of the Confederacy. This is full of exciting 

 details of the rescue of his daughter from the Federal lines 

 and the burning of Columbia. Besides these are innumerable 

 unpublished lectures, after-dinner speeches and many pamph- 

 lets that have not yet been collected in a permanent form. 



In the autobiography of Joseph Le Conte, there is a loug 

 account of his Huguenot ancestry. Guillaume Le Conte fied 

 from Rouen after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, served 

 under William of Orange in England and finally came to 

 America in 1698, settling near New York. Louis Le Conte, 

 ten years after graduating from Columbia in iSoo, removed 

 to Liberty Count}', Georgia, where he had inherited a large 

 plantation. Here he married Ann Ouarterman, a lady of 

 English Puritan descent, and of these parents Joseph Le 

 Conte was born February 26, 1823. There were seven 

 children, Joseph being the youngest of the four sons. 



The best of Joseph Le Conte's early education was received 

 on the large plantation where every kind of industry was con- 

 ducted, including weaving, spinning, shoemaking, the manu- 

 facturing of farm implements and harness and the making of fire- 

 arms. All of the necessaries, even some of the luxuries of life on 

 the old Southern plantation, were produced where the Le Conte 

 children could daily watch the negro laborers at work under 

 the overseers. The boys frequently entered with interest into 



