148 SOME AMERICAN MEDICAL BOTANISTS 



In 1824 Pitcher married Ann Sheldon, of Kal- 

 amazoo, Michigan. They had a son (Nathaniel) 

 and daughter (Rose) the mother died in 1864. 

 In 1867 he married Emily Backus, granddaugh- 

 ter of Col. Nathaniel Rochester, of Virginia, the 

 founder of Rochester, New York, and, on the 

 death of DeWitt Clinton, Acting Governor of 

 New York. I do not know whether Nathaniel 

 and Rose helped their father in his natural his- 

 tory work, as nothing much is told of his family 

 life, the door just standing ajar when we read 

 that " his home was at the service of the sick: he 

 was known to have taken a stranger suffering 

 from small-pox into his home, and to both nurse 

 and doctor him to recovery. Moreover, to him 

 the Bible was a guide, a counsellor and an inspi- 

 ration." Of his fruitful outdoor life his writings 

 testify. In driving through the country he at 

 once detected an unfamiliar plant or animal, se- 

 cured a specimen and determined its place. 

 While in Texas he collected many fossils and for- 

 warded them to the Philadelphia Academy of 

 Natural Sciences. Studies of these and allied 

 collections were the basis of Dr. S. G. Morton's 

 work, Cretaceous System of the United States. 

 One of the specimens is known as Gryphaea 

 Pitcherl. In Gray and Torrey's Flora of the 

 United States several new species are named after 

 Pitcher in acknowledgment of his service to bot- 



