Raphael Pumpelly | |
---|---|
Raphael Pumpelly
|
|
Born | September 8, 1837 Owego, New York |
Died |
August 10, 1923 (aged 85) Newport, Rhode Island |
Nationality | American |
Fields | geology, archeology |
Institutions | Harvard University |
Influences | Louis Agassiz |
Raphael Pumpelly (September 8, 1837 – August 10, 1923) was an American geologist and explorer.
He was born on September 8, 1837 in Owego, New York, into a family with deep New England roots that trace back to Thomas Welles (1590–1659), who arrived in Massachusetts in 1635 and was the only man in Connecticut's history to hold all four top offices: governor, deputy governor, treasurer, and secretary;John Deming, (1615–1705) an early Puritan settler and original patentee of the Connecticut Colony and Honor Treat, the daughter of Richard Treat (1584–1669) an early New England settler, Deputy to the Connecticut Legislature and also a Patentee of the Royal Charter of Connecticut, 1662.
He was also a descendant of William Pynchon, a colonial assistant treasurer and original patentee of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He led the 1635 settlement of Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts, which was named after his home village, now a suburb of Chelmsford in Essex, England; and Captain Elizur Holyoke, the namesake of the mountain, Mount Holyoke, and (indirectly), of the city of Holyoke, Massachusetts.
His father was William Pumpelly, son of John Pumpelly and Hannah Bushnell. His father was great great grandson of Jean Pompilie, a sea captain who settled at Plymouth, Massachusetts. He was a French Huguenot refugee from Avignon, France, originally from Spoleto, Italy.