History of Pittstown, (Rensselaer County) New York United States of America

Our database does not include an historic photo for Pittstown, (Rensselaer County) New York, do you have one you would like to contribute? Contact Us!

Wesley Newcomb, conchologist, was born in Pittstown, Rensselaer county, N.Y., Oct. 20, 1808; son of Dr. Simon and Sarah (Follett) Newcomb; grandson of Simon and Sarah (Mead) Newcomb, and of William and Lois (Burnham) Follett, and a descendant of Capt. Andrew Newcomb, an English mariner who settled in Boston, Mass., probably before 1663. He was a student at White Plains academy and at the Vermont Medical school at Castleton; attended medical lectures in New York and Philadelphia, and visited hospitals in France. He practised medicine in Albany, N.Y., with Dr. Henry Van Antwerp. He was married, Feb. 20, 1838, to Mrs. Helen H. Post, daughter of Eliphalet and Hannah (Swift) Wells of Manchester, Vt. He became one of the most distinguished conchologists in America, residing at Honolulu five years, where he collected tbe land shells of the entire group and described over 100 new species of the genus "achatinella," published in scientific magazines and in the proceedings of various scientific societies of America and Europe. He made explorations in Europe, the West Indies, South America, Central America and Europe; practised medicine in Oakland, Cal., 1857-69, where he described many of the helices of that state, also fresh water and marine species, and delivered courses of lectures on natural history at Mills college, Oakland. He accompanied the Santo Domingo commissioners as a sanitary expert in 1870, and discovered the locality of La Marcke helicina viridis; was appointed in 1871 one of the three commissioners to investigate tbe Sutro Tunnel, and spent the winter of 1872-73 in Florida. His famous collection of shells was purchased by Ezra Cornell for Cornell university in 1869, and occupied the top floor of the university museum in the McGraw building. He served as curator of the collection, 1869-92, and as instructor in conchology, 1886-88. He died in Ithaca, N.Y., Jan. 27, 1892.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Pittstown, (Rensselaer County) New York

Biographies: