THE 



JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY 



JULY-AUGUST, igu 



SAMUEL CALVIN 



H. FOSTER BAIN 



Samuel Calvin, who died at Iowa City, Iowa, April 17, 191 1, 

 was born in Wigtonshire, Scotland, February 2, 1840. He passed 

 the first eleven years of his life in the little town of Wigton, living 

 the simple, hardy life common in Scotch families of moderate means. 

 As a boy, after school hours, he often paused at the edge of the 

 cliff to look down upon Wigton Bay in which lay ships and schoon- 

 ers from all parts of the world. At that period trade between 

 America and the various little ports on Solway Firth was active, 

 and the longing for travel, common to all boys, was greatly stimu- 

 lated in young Calvin by the sight of the vessels that came and went . 

 Among his school companions was James Wilson, now Secretary 

 of Agriculture, and a friendship was there formed that continued 

 through life. The Calvin and Wilson families both emigrated 

 to the United States in 185 1, the Calvins going direct to Iowa and 

 the Wilsons following after a short sojourn in Connecticut. Thomas 

 Calvin, the father of Samuel Calvin, took up land south of Man- 

 chester, Iowa. At that time neighbors were few and far between 

 in eastern Iowa. The first residents came from Indiana and, 

 being accustomed to a wooded country, feared to venture upon 

 the open prairie. They accordingly settled near the streams on 

 what proved to be the poorer land. The Calvins and their asso- 

 ciates, evidently thinking that having ventured so much in coming 

 from Scotland they might as well venture more and save themselves 



Vol. XIX, No. 5 385 



