IOWA ACADEMY OP SCIENCE 
37 
The names of Bafnard, Barris, Schaeffer, Hill and Badenhousen do not 
.appear on the final list of charter members as given in the secretary’s book, 
but an account of these men should not be omitted from our records. 
DR. W. H. BARRIS. 
I find on the final list of charter members the name of Prof. W. H. Barris*. 
For some reason, unknown to me, his name and a few others do not appear 
on the subsequent list. It will 'not be amiss, however, in this connection to 
say a few words about this man since he was so intimately identified with 
the early scientific work of the state. 
The Rev. W. H. Barris was born at Brush Creek, Pennsylvania, July 9, 1821; 
and his death occurred in Davenport, June 10, 1901. He was graduated from 
Alleghany College, Pennsylvania, in 1841, receiving the degree of C.E. and 
■completed his theological course in the General Theological Seminary, New 
York, in 1850. He became an assistant to W. H. Lee of Rochester, N. Y. It 
was while in this parish in 1855 that he yielded to the earnest solicitation 
of Bishop Lee, who had been elected the first bishop of the Episcopal Church 
in Iowa, to come to this state. E. S. Hammatt states that Bishop Lee called 
to see him and found him confined to his bed with geological books opened 
around him. Pointing to a plate of beautiful fossils from the Burlington lime- 
stone, he said, “Bishop, I would like to go there.” He went to Iowa City in 
1855, where he remained until 1859. From Iowa City he moved to Burlington, 
where his wish to study the fossils in that vicinity was gratified, but it bore 
still another most fruitful result. A splendid collection of crinoids was made. 
In the work of Etheridge and Carpenter on Blastoidea in 1866, the authors 
make special mention of the work of Barris and Wachsmuth. It, too, gained 
for him a personal visit from Professor and Mrs. Louis Agassiz in 1866. Mrs. 
Hammatt in a recent letter tells me this story which is worth preserving. 
“A physician in Burlington said to Dr. Barris: ‘There is an old fellow 
down in that grocery, who has one foot in the grave, if you could get him 
■out in the hills with you, you would save his life.’ That was Dr. Wachsmuth.” 
In 1866 he was called to the chair of Ecclesiastical History in the Theological 
Department of Griswold College, Davenport. While he was rector at Iowa 
City, he served as a trustee of the University of Iowa. He was elected Pro- 
fessor of Exegesis by the trustees of Seabury Divinity School in 1877, and 
rector of St. John’s Church, Keokuk, in 1869, and in 1870 of Trinity Church, 
Davenport. These offers were not accepted by him. In 1873 the chair of 
Geology at the Iowa State University was tendered him, he declined, saying: 
“Paleontology is my play, theology my work.” 
Dr. Barris contributed papers to the Davenport Academy of Sciences. He 
became a trustee at its first meeting in 1867, and served the Academy in one 
way or another until his death, being elected president in 1876. That he was 
not only an enthusiastic geologist, but was also well versed in matters geological 
*For those who may wish to look up more in regard to the' life of Dr. Barris, 
the following the biographical sketches will help : 
C. H. Preston. Prof. W. H. Barris; American Geologist. 28:358. 
Alfred A. Butler. Wilils H. Barris. The Living Church. 25 : 289. June 29, 1901. 
Edward S. Hammatt. The Rev. Willis Henry Harris. Proc. Davenport Acad, of 
Sci. 9 ; separate. 
Charles A. White. Annals of Iowa. October, 1901. 
A Vision. Science N. S'. 16 :710. 
