Nicholas Marcellus Hentz
| Nicholas Marcellus Hentz | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | 25 June 1797 Versailles, France |
| Died | 4 November 1856 Marianna, Florida |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Painter, Educator, and Arachnologist |
| Known for | America's first arachnologist |
| Notable work | "The Spiders of the United States: A Collection of the Archeological Writings of Nicholas Marcellus Hentz, M.D." |
| Children | Marcellus Fabius (1825–1827) Charles Arnould (1827–1894) Julia Louisa (1829–1877) Thaddeus William Harris(1830–1878) Caroline Therese (1833–1904) |
Nicholas Marcellus Hentz (July 25, 1797 – November 4, 1856) was a French American educator and arachnologist.
Hentz was born in Versailles, France. He was the youngest child of Charles Nicholas Arnould Hentz and Marie-Anne Therese Daubree Hentz. He studied medicine and learned the art of miniature painting in Paris. His father was an active Republican and participant in the French Revolution. Upon the restoration of the Bourbons in 1815, his father was banished from France. So, in 1816, Marcellus immigrated with his family to the United States, where they settled in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He taught French and miniature painting in Boston, Philadelphia, and other places. He became a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANSP) in 1819. His illustrations were published in their journal. Among these illustrations are three well known watercolors, two of which are of freshwater fish from Alabama (painted in 1847) and one is a miniature of Hentz's father-in-law, John Whiting (painted 1824-1850). In 1820, Hentz enrolled as a medical student at Harvard but soon after abandoned his studies to teach. In 1824/5 he was associated with George Bancroft in the Round Hill School at Northampton, Massachusetts. From 1826 to 1830, he was professor of modern languages and belles lettres in the University of North Carolina. In 1827, he became the "chair of modern languages" at the university. In 1830, Hentz conducted a female academy for two years. Following, he conducted various schools in Cincinnati, Ohio, 1832–1834; Florence, Alabama, 1834–1843; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1843–1845; Tuskeegee, Alabama, 1845–1848; and Columbia,_Alabama, 1848–1849. After 1851, Hentz and his wife lived with his son in Marianna, Florida, where he eventually succumbed to an illness in 1856.
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