Charles Johnson Maynard
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Charles Johnson Maynard | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | May 6, 1845 Newton, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | October 15, 1929 (aged 84) Newton, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Known for | Founding member of the Nuttall Ornithological Club. |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Ornithology, natural history, taxonomy, herpetology, taxidermy, conchology, malacology |
| Author abbrev. (zoology) | Maynard |
Charles Johnson Maynard (May 6, 1845 – October 15, 1929) was an American naturalist and ornithologist born in Newton, Massachusetts. He was a collector, a taxidermist, and an expert on the vocal organs of birds. In addition to birds, he also studied mollusks, moss, gravestones and insects. He lived in the house at 459 Crafts Street in Newton, Massachusetts, built in 1897 and included in the National Register of Historic Places in 1996 as the Charles Maynard House.[1] The Charles Johnson Maynard Award is given out by the Newton Conservators, Inc.
Charles Johnson Maynard was born in Newton, Massachusetts, on May 6, 1845, to Samuel Maynard and Emeline Sanger. He left school at the age of 16 to help out on the family farm. His interests led him to taxidermy, and the collecting and dealing in specimens of natural history. He founded his own company in Boston, Massachusetts, called C. J. Maynard & Co. in 1865, which published books and sold naturalist supplies. Maynard eventually married Pauline Thurlow Greenwood
In 1870, at the age of 24, Maynard's Naturalist's Guide was published, becoming America's first publication on a reliable and detailed method of collecting and preserving zoological specimen.[2] This first book was illustrated by the notable artist Edwin Lord Weeks and published by James R. Osgood & Co., formerly Ticknor and Fields.[3] The book mentions other future leading figures in ornithology that he worked with such as William Brewster, Joel Asaph Allen, Henry Augustus Purdie and others.
Maynard was the first editor of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, the first such club in America, founded in 1873. However, he was forced to resign after he had avoided his duties in order to collect specimens during a trip. This roused the ire of his colleague Charles Foster Batchelder, who would later pay penance by compiling Maynard's extensive bibliography after Maynard's death. This event is believed to be the reason that he was excluded from the American Ornithologists' Union when it was first formed in 1883. This angered some, including Joseph Marshall Wade, the editor of the Ornithologist and Oologist, who defended Maynard as someone who studies while the other ornithologists were "toddling around in petticoats."[2]
Maynard later managed Boston's Naturalists' Bureau, into which he merged C. J. Maynard & Co.[4] He was president of the Newton Natural History Society, Vice President of the Nuttall Ornithologist Club of Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1875.[5]
Maynard died in Newton on October 15, 1929.
Personal life
Charles Johnson Maynard was married twice.
In 1870, he married Pauline Thurlow Greenwood. She was the daughter of Thomas Smith Greenwood, the lighthouse keeper in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and the owner of Greenwood Farm. Her father was also a recipient of an award from the Massachusetts Humane Society. The two children of Charles and Pauline included Maude Pauline (1872-1965), who, along with George William Phypers, owned the Ohio Greenwood Farm His second marriage was to Elizabeth Cotter. They had a daughter, Pearl, who continued to live in the Charles Maynard House after her father's death.[6]
Eponyms and selected zoological discoveries
Birds:
- A subspecies of the eastern towhee, Pipilo erythrophthalmus alleni, was discovered and collected by Maynard in Florida, but cited by Elliott Coues, who named it for Joel Asaph Allen before Maynard had the chance to name it Pipilo leucopsis.[7] (1871)
- The Ipswich sparrow, Passerculus sandwichensis princeps, which is a subspecies of the Savannah sparrow (1872)
- The recently extinct dusky seaside sparrow of Florida, Ammodramus maritimus nigrescens, (1872).[8]
- Maynard's cuckoo, Coccyzus minor maynardi, a Caribbean subspecies of the mangrove cuckoo (1887)
- A Caribbean subspecies of the white-eyed vireo, Vireo griseus maynardi, (1887)
- A Caribbean subspecies of the hairy woodpecker, Picoides villosus maynardi, (1887)
- A Caribbean subspecies of the osprey, Pandion haliaetus ridgwayi, which he named for Robert Ridgway. (1887)
- A Bahamas subspecies of the common ground dove, Columbina passerina bahamensis, (1887)
- A subspecies of the grasshopper sparrow, Ammodramus savannarum australis, (1887)
- A Bahamas subspecies of the clapper rail, Rallus crepitans coryi, named for Charles B. Cory. (1887)
- A Jamaican subspecies of the common ground dove, Columbina passerina jamaicensis, (1888)
- A subspecies of the downy woodpecker, Picoides pubescens fumidus, (1889)
- A Florida subspecies of red-winged blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus floridanus, (1895)
- A Bahamas subspecies of the American oystercatcher, Haematopus palliatus prattii, (1899)
- The Florida pine warbler, Setophaga pinus florida, a subspecies of the pine warbler, (1906)
Mammals:
- The Bahaman raccoon, Procyon lotor maynardi, (1898)
Butterflies:
- A Florida subspecies of the Strymon istapa (also known as the mallow scrub-hairstreak), Strymon istapa modesta, (1873)
- A Caribbean subspecies of the Gulf fritillary, Agraulis vanillae insularis, (1889)
Lizards:
- Pholidoscelis maynardi (1888)[9]
- Anolis maynardii (1888)[9]
Mollusks:
- Cerion nanus (1889)
