MEMORIAL OF WILLIAM M. FONTAINE 7 



each other. The passing of Professors Fontaine and Ward removed the 

 last two of a small hut distinguished group of eminent pioneers in the 

 field of fossil botany. 



After faithful and distinguished service as teacher for thirty-two years 

 in his alma mater, during which he achieved wide reputation for scholarly 

 contributions in his chosen field of geologyj^ Professor Fontaine was 

 retired September 1, 1911, on the Carnegie Foundation for the Advance- 

 ment of Teaching. 



Professor Fontaine was born in Louisa County, Virginia, on Decem- 

 ber 1, 1835, the son of James and Juliet (Morris) Fontaine, representa- 

 tives of old and distinguished families in the State. He was of Huguenot 

 descent on his paternal side, a lineal descendant of Jean de la Fontaine, 

 who was martyred at La Mans, France, in 1561. His paternal ancestor 

 came to Virginia with other refugees from the western provinces of 

 France which border on the Atlantic, where they might be free to live 

 and practice ^^the Huguenot ideals of civil and religious liberty, which 

 they fought for in France and taught in Virginia.^^ 



Young Fontaine grew up on his father's plantation, and was prepared 

 for college under the instruction of a private tutor, Eichard Maury, and 

 at Hanover Academy. He entered the University of Virginia in 1856, at 

 the age of twenty-one, and was graduated with the Master of Arts degree 

 in 1859. Following his graduation from the University of Virginia, he 

 taught in Hanover Academy in 1860-1861. At the outbreak of the Civil 

 War he joined the Confederate Army, in which he served as Second 

 Lieutenant of Artillery, until 1862; then as First Lieutenant of Ord- 

 nance till April 9, 1865. The years 1865 to 1868 were spent partly in 

 teaching school and partly in farming. 



In 1869 and 1870 he was a student at the Koyal School of Mines, 

 Freiburg, Saxony. In 1873 he was elected professor of chemistry and 

 geology in the University of West Virginia, in which capacity he served 

 until 1879. In 1879 he was called to the Corcoran Chair of Natural His- 

 tory and Geology (established in 1878) and Curator of Brooks Museum 

 at the University of Virginia, being its first incumbent, and in which 

 capacity he ably served until September, 1911, when he retired on the 

 Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. From the date 

 of his retirement, in 1911, until that of his death, in 1913, Professor Fon- 

 taine continued to reside at the University during each academic session 

 and, as was his custom for some years previous to retirement, spent the 

 summers at his old home in Hanover County. 



Immediately on his taking up his duties as professor in the University 

 of Virginia, he became active in the geology of the State. Appreciating 



