DELAWAEE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 3 



the possession of the Academy, and formerly the property of 

 George Ord, but which Mr. Calder assured me he had never 

 seen until I showed it to him. 



This statue attracted much attention when exhibited and the 

 suggestion was made that it be cast in life-size bronze and placed 

 in Fairmount Park. Although this was never realized, it seems 

 very desirable that the idea should now be carried out and the 

 statue be located in the park or on the new Parkway, which will 

 pass by the front of the Academy. 



My second item under Wilsoniana deals with a certain trunk 

 belonging to Wilson, which was in the possession of a member 

 of the Rittenhouse family ' of Germantown and came to the 

 notice of Wm. Redwood Wright Esq. In response to my request 

 Mr. Wright has furnished the following memorandum regarding 

 his experience with this trunk. 



"October 27th, 1913. 



' ' My dear Mr. Stone : You ask me for some particulars in 

 reference to my purchase of Alexander Wilson's trunk and 

 contents. 



"As a boy I had become ver}'- fond of observing bird life, 

 and was a great admirer of Alexander Wilson's Ornithology, a 

 a copy of which I had access to in a friend's library. 



" Sometime not long after my return from the army in 1865, 

 I learned (just how I have forgotten) that Wilson had been 

 very intimate with a member of the Rittenhouse family, who 

 in his time lived in a house on the bank of the Wissahickon 

 below where Poor House Lane (now Rittenhouse Street) joins 

 the Wissahickon Drive, and that when Wilson died he left his 

 trunk and contents to this person. Knowing at that time, by 

 sight at least, every man, woman and child, in Germantown, 

 and most of the dogs and horses, I very soon located the trunk 

 in the possession of a lady living on Poor House Lane near 

 Greene Street, and by the exercise of a little diplomacy got her 

 to show me the contents, which consisted almost entirely of 

 printed matter and papers connected with Wilson's lifework. 



' A descendant, apparently, of Sarah Miller, to whom Wilson was engaged to 

 he married and who with George Ord was an executor of his estate. 



