George Vasey (botanist)
| George Vasey | |
|---|---|
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| Born | February 28, 1822 Snainton, North Yorkshire, England |
| Died |
March 4, 1893 (aged 71) Washington, D.C., United States |
| Alma mater | Berkshire Medical Institute |
| Known for | Chief Botanist of USDA, creator of the United States National Herbarium |
| Awards | Hon. M.A., fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | USDA |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | Vasey |
George S. Vasey (February 28, 1822 – March 4, 1893) was an English-born American botanist who collected a lot in Illinois before integrating the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), where he became Chief Botanist and curator of the greatly expanded National Herbarium.
George Vasey was born in 1822 in Snainton near Scarborough, England, the fourth of ten children. His family emigrated to the United States the next year, and they established in Oriskany, New York. He left school at 12 to take a job as a store clerk.
He took interest in botany after borrowing and, since he could not afford the volume, manually copying a book on the subject. This interest was later encouraged after a chance encounter with Peter D. Knieskern, another naturalist who allowed Vasey to begin writing to various other botanists. Until 1870 he would maintain an extensive correspondence and collect a great many specimens both in Oneida County and later McHenry County, but did not publish material of scientific relevance until the 1870s.
Vasey married Martha Jane Scott in 1846, having graduated the same year from Berkshire Medical Institute with a M.D. degree, and shortly after they moved to establish themselves in Ringwood, Illinois. In 1854 he opened a dry good store to support his family of 7: four children and his mother. In 1858 he was a founding member of the Illinois Natural History Society, and over the next few years, began writing prolifically for the society and the Prairie Farmer. He had two more children by 1861, but in 1864 he lost his youngest to whooping cough. When his wife began to grow weaker, Vasey relocated the family to Richview, to no avail. Martha Vasey died in 1866.
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