BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF CHAS. EMERSON BEIiCHER. 



Chakles Emersox Beechee, eldest son of Moses and Emily 

 (Downer) Beecher, was born in Dunkirk, Xew York, October 9, 

 1856. 



The mother of Moses Beecher was a Dawson, originally from 

 England. On the Emerson side, the great-grandfather of Charles, 

 Eichard Emerson, was from Spotford, J^Tew Hampshire, and his 

 wife was Mary Gorton, a direct descendant of Samuel Gorton, 

 of Ehode Island. They moved to Otsego county, New York, in 

 1749. 



Moses Beecher was a banker, and is remembered as a courtly 

 gentleman of the old school, a man of education and refinement. 

 He and his wife were considered persons of more than ordinary 

 cultivation and attainments. Five children, four boys and a 

 girl, were born to them, of whom one brother survives in Cali- 

 fornia. 



In the early childliood of Charles his parents removed to War- 

 ren, Pennsylvania, where the boy attended private grammar and 

 the public high schools. The surroundings were favorable, the 

 rocks of the vicinity rich in fossils, and at the age of twelve 

 years he began making a collection of the local fossils. Perhaps, 

 as he was always delicate, his parents may have encouraged him 

 as a means of keeping him as much as possible in tlie open air. 

 At all events, he became much interested, and amassed from the 

 Chemung and AVaverley formations of Warren a choice and ex- 

 tensive collection. These tastes soon led him to extend his studies 

 to the minerals and recent shells, in wliich he always remained 

 interested. 



Later he took the scientific course at Michigan University, 

 receiving in 1878 the degree of B. S. from that institution. The 

 late Prof. James Hall, of Albany, kept a watchful eye on all 

 students and collectors of fossils, and, after graduation, young- 

 Beech er went to Albany almost immediately, where he was en- 

 gaged as assistant in the N"ew York State Museum directed by 



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