George Perkins Marsh
Born	March 15, 1801 Woodstock, Vermont, USA
Died	July 23, 1882 Vallombrosa, Italy

George Perkins Marsh (March 15, 1801 – July 23, 1882), an American diplomat and philologist, is considered by some to be America's first environmentalist. [1] The Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in Vermont takes its name, in part, from Marsh. Download high resolution version (1368x2000, 746 KB)TITLE: Hon. ... March 15 is the 74th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (75th in Leap years). ... The Union Jack, flag of the newly formed United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. ... Woodstock, Vermont Woodstock is a town located in Windsor County, Vermont. ... Official language(s) None[1] Capital Montpelier Largest city Burlington Area  Ranked 45th  - Total 9,620 sq mi (24,923 km²)  - Width 80 miles (130 km)  - Length 160 miles (260 km)  - % water 3. ... July 23 is the 204th day (205th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 161 days remaining. ... Year 1882 (MDCCCLXXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar. ... Vallombrosa is a Benedictine abbey 21 miles (33 km) south-east of Florence, in the Apennines, surrounded by forests of beech and firs. ... March 15 is the 74th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (75th in Leap years). ... The Union Jack, flag of the newly formed United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. ... July 23 is the 204th day (205th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 161 days remaining. ... Year 1882 (MDCCCLXXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar. ... This page is about negotiations; for the board game, see Diplomacy (game). ... Philology is the study of ancient texts and languages. ... Bold textHello ... The Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park near Woodstock, Vermont preserves the site where Frederick Billings established a managed forest and a progressive dairy farm. ...

Born in Woodstock, Vermont to a prominent family, (his father had been a U.S. Senator,) Marsh graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover, in 1816 and from Dartmouth College with highest honors in 1820, was admitted to the bar in 1825, and practised law in Burlington, Vermont; he also devoted himself to philological studies. In 1835 he was appointed to the Executive Council of Vermont, and from 1843 to 1849 was a Whig representative in Congress. In 1849 President Taylor appointed Marsh United States minister resident in Turkey. In 1852–1853, he discharged a mission to Greece in connection with the imprisonment of an American missionary, Dr. Jonas King (1792-1869). He returned to Vermont in 1854, and in 1857 was a member of the state railway commission. In 1861, President Lincoln appointed Marsh the first United States minister to the kingdom of Italy; he died in that office at Vallombrosa. He is buried at the Protestant cemetery in Rome. Woodstock, Vermont Woodstock is a town located in Windsor County, Vermont. ... Burlington is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont and is the shire town of Chittenden County, Vermont. ... The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. ... The House of Representatives is the larger of two houses that make up the U.S. Congress, the other being the United States Senate. ... Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850), also known as Old Rough and Ready, was the twelfth President of the United States, serving from 1849 to 1850. ... // George W. Erving (pre 1831) David Porter (1831-1839) David Porter (1839-1843) Dabney S. Carr (1843-1849) George Perkins Marsh (1849-1853) Carroll Spence (1953-1857) James Williams (1858-1861) Edward Joy Morris (1861-1870) Joseph J. Stewart (1870) Wayne MacVeagh (1870-1871) George H. Boker (1871-1875) Horace... Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809–April 15, 1865), sometimes called Abe Lincoln and nicknamed Honest Abe, the Rail Splitter, and the Great Emancipator, was the 16th (1861–1865) President of the United States, and the first president from the Republican Party. ... Vallombrosa is a Benedictine abbey 21 miles (33 km) south-east of Florence, in the Apennines, surrounded by forests of beech and firs. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... Nickname: The Eternal City Motto: SPQR: Senatus PopulusQue Romanus Location of the city of Rome (yellow) within the Province of Rome (red) and region of Lazio (grey) Coordinates: Region Lazio Province Province of Rome Founded 21 April 753 BC  - Mayor Walter Veltroni Area    - City 1285 km²  (580 sq mi)  - Urban...

Marsh was an able linguist, able to both speak and write fluently in Scandinavian and half a dozen other European languages. He was a remarkable philologist for his day, and a scholar of great breadth, knowing much of military science, engraving and physics, as well as Icelandic, which was his specialty. He wrote many articles for Johnson's Universal Cyclopaedia, and contributed many reviews and letters to the Nation. His chief published works are:

• A Compendious Grammar of the Old Northern or Icelandic Language (1838), compiled and translated from the grammars of Rask
• The Camel, his Organization, Habits, and Uses, with Reference to his Introduction into the United States (1856)
• Lectures on the English Language (1860)
• The Origin and History of the English Language (1862; revised ed., 1885)
• Man and Nature (1865)

The last-named work was translated into Italian in 1872, and, largely rewritten, was issued in 1874 under the title The Earth as Modified by Human Action; a revised edition was published in 1885. He also published a work on Mediaeval and Modern Saints and Miracles (1876). Rasmus Christian Rask Rasmus Christian Rask (November 22, 1787 - November 14, 1832), Danish scholar and philologist, was born at Brandekilde in the island of Funen or Fyn in Denmark. ... Man and Nature is a book written by George Perkins Marsh in 1864. ...

Man and Nature constituted an early work of ecology, and played a role in the creation of the Adirondack State Park. Marsh argued that deforestation could lead to desertification. Referring to the clearing of once-lush lands surrounding the Mediterranean, he asserted "the operation of causes set in action by man has brought the face of the earth to a desolation almost as complete as that of the moon." Man and Nature is a book written by George Perkins Marsh in 1864. ... Ernst Haeckel coined the term oekologie in 1866. ... Long Pond in the Saint Regis Canoe Area. ... Deforestation is the conversion of forested areas to non-forest land use such as arable land, urban use, logged area or wasteland. ... Ship stranded by the retreat of the Aral Sea Desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors including climatic variations, but primarily human activities. ... The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south and Asia to the east, covering an approximate area of 2. ...

His second wife, Caroline (Crane) Marsh (1816-1901), whom he married in 1839, published Wolfe of the Knoll and other Poems (1860), and the Life and Letters of George Perkins Marsh (New York, 1888). This last work was left incomplete, the second volume never having been published. She also translated from the German of Johann C. Biernatzki (1795-1840), The Hallig; or the Sheepfold in the Waters (1856). (See "Hallig"). North Frisian Islands with Halligen (darker green) A Hallig (plural Halligen) is one of the ten small German islands without protective dikes in the North Frisian Islands on Schleswig-Holstein’s Wadden Sea-North Sea coast. ...

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... Horace Everett (July 17, 1779 - January 30, 1851) was a United States Representative from Vermont. ... These are tables of congressional delegations from Vermont to the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives. ... James Meacham (August 16, 1810 - December 3, 1856) was a United States Representative from Vermont. ...

References

• David Lowenthal. George Perkins Marsh: Prophet of Conservation. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000.
• Jane and Will Curtis and Frank Lieberman. The World of George Perkins Marsh. Woodstock, VT: Countryman Press, 1982.
• Marcus Hall, ed. The Nature of G.P. Marsh: Tradition and Historical Judgement. Special issue of Environment and History, 10:2 (May 2004).

External links

• The George Perkins Marsh Institute at Clark University
• Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park
• Review of "Pilgrimage to Vallombrosa: From Vermont to Italy in the Footsteps of George Perkins Marsh", at "California Literary Review".