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John Milton Bigelow
John Milton Bigelow (June 23, 1804 – July 18, 1878) was an American physician and botanist. He had a successful medical practice, and also, a keen interest in botany - especially native plants with medical applications. He participated as a botanist and surgeon on two important expeditions through the American Southwest—the Mexican Boundary Survey and the 35th Parallel Expedition for the Pacific Railroad Surveys. He also amassed a significant collection of California plants that yielded many new species. He communicated his botanical results with the three top American botanists of the day, John Torrey, Asa Gray, and George Engelmann. Many of his botanical discoveries were named after or by him. He contributed to the botanical and medical literature of his day.
He was a 7th generation descendant of English immigrant John Biglo, who settled in Watertown, MA ca. 1632. Soon after his birth in Peru, VT, his family moved to central Ohio, where he was schooled. He took up teaching to gain the funds to attend the Medical College of Ohio in Cincinnati, from which he graduated with an MD degree in 1832. At the college he also became interested in botany, possibly under the special influence of one of the lecturers. John Riddell has been suggested, but that is not certain. Soon after graduation he married Maria L. Meiers of Lancaster, OH in Fairfield County. He and his wife settled in Lancaster where he took up medical practice, and soon began county-wide botanical studies.
Bigelow resided in Lancaster for nearly three decades, though absenting himself to participate in government-led western explorations in the 1850s. He and his wife had eight children, born between c. 1834 and c. 1848. A son, Rev. Francis C. Bigelow, C.S.C, became a professor at Notre Dame University. A daughter became Sister Blanche of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, of Notre Dame, Indiana.
In his early years, in addition to establishing a medical practice, he spent much time becoming familiar with the flora of central Ohio, joining with other local physicians and William Starling Sullivant, a prominent botanist residing in the area. Sullivant specialized in the study of bryophytes, but had broad botanical interests, and was in close contact with John Torrey and Asa Gray.
In those days and later, Bigelow often championed, among his fellow medical practitioners, the usage of medicinal plants. This was in the spirit of Materia Medica and Herbalism, practices going back many centuries. (A contemporary movement is documented by an Elsevier peer-reviewed journal: Phytomedicine.) In an 1841 presentation to the Medical Convention of Ohio (see Works, 1841) he stated that Botany was the most important science "collateral to medicine", but that most members of the profession were "careless" or "indifferent" regarding it. He later prepared, at the request of his colleagues, a list of the medicinal plants of Ohio, which appeared in 1849 (see Works).
In 1850 (following some early confusion), Bigelow joined the Mexican Boundary Survey to serve as both surgeon and botanist on the expedition led by Major William H. Emory. Recognizing the survey as an opportunity for botanical exploration, John Torrey and Asa Gray had lobbied to include botanists in the survey parties, which would be crossing territory unknown to science. Bigelow was recommended to the position by his friend Sullivant. Other botanists on the expedition included Charles C. Parry, George Thurber, and Charles Wright. The resulting botanical report, Botany of the Boundary, compiled principally by John Torrey, classified some 2,600 plants collected on the survey; it was the largest survey of plants undertaken in the US up to that time. One of Bigelow's most notable plant discoveries was Parthenium argentatum, a rubber-yielding plant known as 'guayule'.
Bigelow joined the Pacific Railroad Survey which explored along the 35th parallel, led by Lt. Amiel Weeks Whipple. The expedition got under way in 1853, with Bigelow serving as surgeon and botanist. Balduin Möllhausen served as naturalist and artist for the group. Bigelow and Möllhausen often explored the countryside together. In his diary of the expedition (including a preface by his mentor Alexander von Humboldt), Möllhausen records many of their exploits. Möllhausen described Bigelow as a congenial colleague in the field, "a general favourite and by far the oldest [49] of the party. ... [with] a pattern of gentleness and patience ... not only a zealous botanist, but also an enthusiastic sportsman. ... To his patients he was most kind and attentive, and of his mule, Billy, he made an absolute spoiled child."
The expedition reached Los Angeles on March 20, 1854.
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John Milton Bigelow
John Milton Bigelow (June 23, 1804 – July 18, 1878) was an American physician and botanist. He had a successful medical practice, and also, a keen interest in botany - especially native plants with medical applications. He participated as a botanist and surgeon on two important expeditions through the American Southwest—the Mexican Boundary Survey and the 35th Parallel Expedition for the Pacific Railroad Surveys. He also amassed a significant collection of California plants that yielded many new species. He communicated his botanical results with the three top American botanists of the day, John Torrey, Asa Gray, and George Engelmann. Many of his botanical discoveries were named after or by him. He contributed to the botanical and medical literature of his day.
He was a 7th generation descendant of English immigrant John Biglo, who settled in Watertown, MA ca. 1632. Soon after his birth in Peru, VT, his family moved to central Ohio, where he was schooled. He took up teaching to gain the funds to attend the Medical College of Ohio in Cincinnati, from which he graduated with an MD degree in 1832. At the college he also became interested in botany, possibly under the special influence of one of the lecturers. John Riddell has been suggested, but that is not certain. Soon after graduation he married Maria L. Meiers of Lancaster, OH in Fairfield County. He and his wife settled in Lancaster where he took up medical practice, and soon began county-wide botanical studies.
Bigelow resided in Lancaster for nearly three decades, though absenting himself to participate in government-led western explorations in the 1850s. He and his wife had eight children, born between c. 1834 and c. 1848. A son, Rev. Francis C. Bigelow, C.S.C, became a professor at Notre Dame University. A daughter became Sister Blanche of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, of Notre Dame, Indiana.
In his early years, in addition to establishing a medical practice, he spent much time becoming familiar with the flora of central Ohio, joining with other local physicians and William Starling Sullivant, a prominent botanist residing in the area. Sullivant specialized in the study of bryophytes, but had broad botanical interests, and was in close contact with John Torrey and Asa Gray.
In those days and later, Bigelow often championed, among his fellow medical practitioners, the usage of medicinal plants. This was in the spirit of Materia Medica and Herbalism, practices going back many centuries. (A contemporary movement is documented by an Elsevier peer-reviewed journal: Phytomedicine.) In an 1841 presentation to the Medical Convention of Ohio (see Works, 1841) he stated that Botany was the most important science "collateral to medicine", but that most members of the profession were "careless" or "indifferent" regarding it. He later prepared, at the request of his colleagues, a list of the medicinal plants of Ohio, which appeared in 1849 (see Works).
In 1850 (following some early confusion), Bigelow joined the Mexican Boundary Survey to serve as both surgeon and botanist on the expedition led by Major William H. Emory. Recognizing the survey as an opportunity for botanical exploration, John Torrey and Asa Gray had lobbied to include botanists in the survey parties, which would be crossing territory unknown to science. Bigelow was recommended to the position by his friend Sullivant. Other botanists on the expedition included Charles C. Parry, George Thurber, and Charles Wright. The resulting botanical report, Botany of the Boundary, compiled principally by John Torrey, classified some 2,600 plants collected on the survey; it was the largest survey of plants undertaken in the US up to that time. One of Bigelow's most notable plant discoveries was Parthenium argentatum, a rubber-yielding plant known as 'guayule'.
Bigelow joined the Pacific Railroad Survey which explored along the 35th parallel, led by Lt. Amiel Weeks Whipple. The expedition got under way in 1853, with Bigelow serving as surgeon and botanist. Balduin Möllhausen served as naturalist and artist for the group. Bigelow and Möllhausen often explored the countryside together. In his diary of the expedition (including a preface by his mentor Alexander von Humboldt), Möllhausen records many of their exploits. Möllhausen described Bigelow as a congenial colleague in the field, "a general favourite and by far the oldest [49] of the party. ... [with] a pattern of gentleness and patience ... not only a zealous botanist, but also an enthusiastic sportsman. ... To his patients he was most kind and attentive, and of his mule, Billy, he made an absolute spoiled child."
The expedition reached Los Angeles on March 20, 1854.