Albert Smith Bickmore (March 1, 1839–1914) was an American naturalist and one of the founders of the American Museum of Natural History. March 1 is the 60th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (61st in leap years). ... 1839 (MDCCCXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Childhood

Bickmore was born in the town of St. George near Martinsville harbor, Maine, on March 1, 1839. He attributes his childhood lived on the beach and near a forest to his love of nature and vocation as a naturalist.^[1] As a child, he collected shells and sea urchins, learned the names of the local flora and fauna, and skated on a nearby pond on winter evenings. According to Bickmore, the church and the school were the centers of the community of St. George. Books were scarce, however, and in his earliest childhood, he remembered being permitted to hold in his hands "Goldsmith's Natural History, Abridged," which he treasured lie a sacred relic. He loved to look at its crude illustrations of animals and to memorize them. At age 8, he spent a year travelling in France with his parents and sister. St. ... March 1 is the 60th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (61st in leap years). ... 1839 (MDCCCXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

Education

He later attended prep school in New London, NH, then went on to Dartmouth College, where his favorite subjects were chemistry, geology, and mineralogy. His love of natural history was noted by the Dartmouth faculty, who gave him a letter of introduction to study under the well-known Harvard professor Louis Agassiz. After graduating with the class of 1860, he went on to become one of Agassiz's handful of special students. He also worked in Agassiz's Museum of Comparative Zoology, which helped him pay his way through a four-year course of study. It was during this time that Bickmore began to visualize founding a Museum of Natural History in New York City, as the European museums of natural history were in political and monetary capitals, and New York was a logical American parallel city. When the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII) visited Cambridge MA in 1861, Dr. Akland of the University of Oxford joined him. Bickmore was privileged to discuss his plans for a museum with Dr. Akland, whose encouragement strengthened his determination to found such a museum. Others had previously failed to generate the necessary funds to establish a museum. Dartmouth College is a private, coeducational university located in Hanover, New Hampshire, in the United States. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... There are many Museums of Natural History around the world, including: American Museum of Natural History, in New York City. ... Edward VII King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Emperor of India His Majesty King Edward VII (Albert Edward) (9 November 1841–6 May 1910) was the first British monarch of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. ... The University of Oxford (usually abbreviated as Oxon. ...

Civil War military service

In late 1862, Bickmore joined the 44th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers, under Col. Francis L. Lee. The Regiment was sent to Newbern, NC, in October 1862 to serve under Major General John G. Foster. They encountered the Confederate Army at Whitehall in December of 1862, sustaining heavy casualties, but Bickmore remained unharmed. Bickmore then requested to keep the meteorological record at a hospital near Cape Lookout. He then traveled home to resume his studies at Harvard. John Gray Foster (1823-1874) was a Union general during the American Civil War whose most distinguished services where in North and South Carolina. ...

References