Sat, 4 Oct 1997 17:43:29

A number of DUTCHERs were avid and respected ornithologists. I have some information about this aspect of some of the Dutchers in my line and will attempt to post it here, a bit at a time as I get it typed. (Feel free to add these to the Dutcher web page.)

This first will be a transcript of a memorial pamphlet by the New Jersey Audubon Society for William Dutcher (January 20, 1846 in Piscataway, NJ - July 1, 1920 in Chevy Chase, MD). The pamphlet has a signed picture of him on the front cover. I suppose I could try scanning it (or a copy of it) to see if it would come through well enough to distribute at attachments to those who wanted. If my experiments work, I'll announce the availability. (I haven't seen much of that on geneaology lists so I assume it doesn't work well?)

William Dutcher's parents were the Reverend Jacob Conklin Dutcher (Tarrytwon, NY) and Margaretta Ayres (New Brunswick, NJ).

Typing these documents in (I have more) is obviously time consuming, but I don't mind at all - as long as others find them worth while. If list members would rather I not post this material (or just describe it and send it to those who express an interest), please let me know.

Here it is:

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WILLIAM DUTCHER

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IN MEMORIAM

It is peculiarly fitting that the New Jersey Audubon Society should pay reverent and affectionate tribute to the memory of the man who may be properly hailed as the father and originator of bird protection in America. Earlier attempts were made, but they lacked the systematized organization and business management, as well as the unfailing determination that was brought to this great work by William Dutcher, who carried organized bird protection through the period of extreme adversity and saw it established on a firm and permanent basis, before Providence saw fit to remove him from its helm.

Mr. Dutcher was born at Piscataway, New Jersey, January 20, 1846; his father being the Reverend Jacob Conklin Dutcher, of Tarrytown, New York and his mother, Margaretta Ayres, of New Brunswick, New Jersey. On his father¹s side he was a direct descendant of Captain William Dutcher of revolutionary fame, and also of Isaac Van Wart, one of the captors of the unfortunate Major Andre. On his mother¹s side he was a direct descendant of Edward Fuller, one of the Mayflower Pilgrims.

Such early education as Mr. Dutcher was able to obtain was secured in the common schools of the country of his day, but unfortunate circumstances compelled him to commence work for a livelihood when he was about the age of fourteen years. Up to the age of twenty he successfully conducted a small farm in the State of Massachusetts; subsequently he removed to New York and engaged in the business of life insurance, which he successfully continued for a period of over forty years, representing during that time only two companies.

Mr. Dutcher supplemented his rather meagre education by reading and association with educated people; both his reading ad association being very largely in the line of natural history subjects. He was always deeply interested in the life history of birds, and especially in their protection, from the economic as well as the aesthetic standpoint. He was a member of the original Committee for the Protection of Birds of the American Ornithologists¹ Union, and continued member or chairman of that Committee until the work was turned over to the Audubon Societies and later to the National Association of Audubon Societies.

Mr. Dutcher mad a special study of certain subjects in ornithology, prominent among which were the birds of Long Island and the history of the extinct Labrador Duck, publishing a valuable summary of the results of his research on the latter subject in the Auk. He was prominent in the councils of the American Ornithologists¹ Union, Treasurer of that organization for a number of years, and a regular contributor to its organ, the Auk. He made several summer trips to the coast of Maine, devoting a large part of his time on such occasions to studying and photographing the birds of that region. On these trips he was accompanied by his daughter, Mary, who was always during her life his intimate companion and chum.

The original Audubon Society movement, launched in 1886 by Field and Stream having fallen into decline in 1888, largely for lack of a financial basis, was succeeded by the organization of various State Audubon Societies and in 1901 a union of effort of the organizations was sought through the founding of the National Committee of Audubon Societies, which was incorporated in 1905, as the National Association of Audubon Societies.

This organized effort for national protection of birds came into being and was maintained through the lean and trying years of meagre financial support largely through the untiring efforts and buoyant faith of Mr. Dutcher, who contributed unstintingly of his time, effort and money, as far as he was able, always with no other recompense than a finally realized ideal.

In 1906 the long struggle to place the work on a secure and permanent financial basis was successfully rewarded. The will of its deceased benefactor, Albert Willcox, who had been attracted to its standard through a meeting with Mr. Dutcher, insured to the National Association of Audubon Societies that means would be always at hand to carry on the work to which its sponsor had so unselfishly devoted his life.

Thus Mr. Dutcher has seen the real fruition of his life-time work before a paralytic stroke on October 19, 1910, removed him from the realm of active labors. Recovering his physical health to a great extent, he was left without his power of speech and could walk but little. He retained the ability to read, however, maintained his life-time interest in bird protection and recognized and welcomed his friends. He was living in Plainfield, New Jersey, at the time of his affliction and continued to reside there until April 18, 1920, when he removed to Chevy Chase, Maryland, where about June 23, 1920 her suffered another stroke, which was succeeded by his death on July 1. He was buried in Hillside Cemetery, Plainfield, July 6. He is survived by a widow, Catherine Price Dutcher and a son, Col. Basil H. Dutcher; also a brother, Simeon A. Dutcher, and a sister, Mrs. Mary D. Fields.

Mr. Dutcher was a fellow of the following Societies: American Ornithologists¹ Union, New York Academy of Sciences, New York Zoological Society, The American Association for the Advancement of Science, The Royal Society for the Protections of Birds, Great Britain; also a member of the Linnaean Society of New York, the American Museum of Natural History, Zoological Society and the Sons of the American Revolution, the Mayflower descendants. He was President of the National Association of Audubon Societies from its organization until his death.

In the great work which he so patiently and painstakingly built up, and in the affection, admiration and esteem of his fellow-citizens of State and Nation, William Dutcher has left the most enduring of monuments.

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peter h elias, md

Dutcher ornithologists, part 2

Here is a second installment about my favorite Dutchers, the ones who were for the birds. (As they are direct line ancestors, I'm entitled to razz them a little, I think. Besides, I inherited their interest...before I knew of their interest.)

This abstract is from an article about Basil Hicks Dutcher, my grandfather. After an initial quote, I'll abstract the meat. The letters published in the article are well worth reading, giving a real flavor of the people and times involved. It makes me wish all my ancestors had saved packets of letters, or diaries. (How many of us are doing that for our descendants?)

Happy reading.

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Hume, Col. Edgar Erskine. ORNITHOLOGISTS of the UNITED STATES ARMY MEDICAL CORPS: THIRTY SIX BIOGRAPHIES. Baltimore. Johns Hopkins Press (1942). pp 105 - 129.

VI.

Basil Hicks Dutcher (1871 - 1922)

Colonel, Medical Corps, United States Army

³Son of a well known ornithologist, William Dutcher, and Catherine Price, his wife, Basil Hicks Dutcher was born at Bergen Point, New Jersey on 3 December 1871. He graduated (Ph. B) from the Columbia School of Mines in 1892 and received his M.D. from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York in 1895. At an early age he became interested in natural history, particularly ornithology, and accompanied his father on many collecting trips to Long Island and other points in the vicinity of New York. His daughter, Catherine, has still his old ledger, stamped with his name, in which from his eleventh to his nineteenth year, he kept a record of the nests he and his father found on Long Island. Measurements of both nests and eggs are given. When but nineteen years of age he was appointed a field assistant in the Division of Ornithology of the United States Department of Agriculture and took part in the biological reconnaissance of Idaho under the direction of Dr. Clinton Hart Merriam in 1890. In the following summer he became a member of the Death Valley Expedition and for three months was in charge of the meteorological station in Big Cottonwood Meadows near Mount Whitney, California, at an altitude of about 10,000 feet. It will be recalled that at that period the Medical Department of the Army had charge of meteorological work in the United States.²

Dutcher received his medical degree in 1895 and then took and passed the examination for admission to the Medical Corps of the United States Army. He was commissioned Assistant Surgeon on 26 October 1896. His induction records describe him as: ³Age 24 11/12ths; 66 inches tall; weight 117 pounds; blue eyes; flaxen hair; fair complexion; and no physical defects noted.² He graduated at the Army Medical School in 1897. Subsequent promotions were as follows: Captain 26 October 1901; Major 23 April 1908; Lieutenant Colonel 1 July 1916; and Colonel 15 May, 1917.

A close friend and fellow naturalist for whom Dutcher worked as an assistant in the U.S. Biological Survey in 1890 (while an 18 year old college sophomore) named a species of meadow mouse Microtus dutcheri and designated the pocket mouse Perognathus merriami gilvus as the Dutcher Pocket Mouse in his honor.

This biography reprints a number of letter between Bailey and Dutcher, including descriptions of naturalist field research and observations about the life and people in the Philippines where Dutcher served. These letters are fascinating reading.

The biography includes a summary of the ³station list² from his service record.
*Army Medicaal School from 4 November 1896 to 13 March 1897
*20 March to 14 December 1897 served at Fort Leavenworth, KS
*December 1897 to December 1898 served at Fort Grant, AZ
*13 July 1899 sailed on the transport ship ³City of Para² for Manila;

served as Assistant Surgeon on the voyage.

*12 August 1899 to 16 January 1900 was Regimental Surgeon of 20th Infantry at Fort Santiago, Manila and surgeon of Bilibid Prison and attending surgeon of the 14th Infantry.
*12 October 1899 participated in a skirmish at Cavite Viejo, Luzon and at San Francisco de Malabon.
*January to 3 April 1900 on duty with 47th Infantry at Bulusan, then returned to Fort Santiago
*July to November 25, 1900 Surgeon to the 24th Infantry at Pangasinan, Luzon
*October to 11 July 1901 ill and in hospitals in Manila and at Nagasaki, Japan and sailed on transport Meade for San Francisco
*August 1901 to 26 September 1904 at Fort Hancock, NJ and Sandy Hook Proving Grounds
*26 September 1904 to 16 November 1905 at Fort Apache, AZ
*17 November 1905 to 12 June 1906 at Washington Barracks of Columbia, and at Boston, pursuing course at the London School of Tropical Medicine; graduated with distinction.
*June 1906 sailed from San Francisco on transport Sheridan, arriving Manila on 1 August 1906
*August 1906 to August 1908 on duty in Philippines at Javo, Leyte; Camp Bumpus; Warwick Barracks; Iloilo; Manila
*15 August to 12 September 1908 en route Manila to San Francisco
*4 November 1908 to 19 September 1912 on duty at Plattsburgh Barracks, NY
*11 October 1912 to 14 August 1913 at Fort Sam Houston, TX
*Until 23 June 1917 post Surgeon at San Juan, Puerto Rico
*Until 30 November 1917 at Camp ES Otis, Canal Zone.

During WWI, Dutcher served briefly in the Office of the Surgeon General (Gorgas) and was then assigned as commanding officer of Base Hospital 37. On 18 May 1918 sailed for Europe with this hospital, stationed first at Plymouth and then at Brest. On 1 November 1918 assigned to Base Section Number 5, American Expeditionary Forces. Returned to the United States March 1919 and assigned to duty at Fort Dix, NJ. Transferred to Fort Hamilton, NY in January 1920.

Dutcher was decorated with the ŒPalmes Academiques¹ (grade of Officer of Public Instruction) by the French Government.

Dutcher retired from active duty 6 February 1920 based on disability in the line of duty and settled at 6 Grafton Street, Chevy Chase, MD where he lived until his death at Walter Reed General Hospital (16 January 1922). He was buried Lot 4580, Southern Section, National Cemetery, Arlington.

Pictures in the biography include him sitting with his father William Dutcher (1846-1920) on the porch of the Westminster Hotel at Alexandria Bay, Thousand Islands, NY at age 16 (the caption incorrectly states the location is Long Island). The pair are preparing a taxidermy specimen of a loon, which is one of two loons prepared by Dutcher and in the collection of the American Museum of Natural History. The other illustration is an upper body photograph of Dutcher in his uniform with the rank of Colonel.

Publications by Dutcher include:

³Bird Notes from Little Gull Island, New York,² The Auk, April 1889, vi, number 2, 124-131.
³Mammals of Mount Katahdin, Maine,² Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 1903, 63-71.

Brief excerpts from his publications appear in the biography.

Dutcher¹s first wife was Maude Helen Walker of Rome, NY. She died 1917, leaving two daughters: Catherine, born 1898 and Carolene, born 1903, both lived in Irvington, NY and died without issue. His second wife was Nina Diez, born in Germany but lived in NYC. This marriage resulted in two daughters, Mary Dutcher (born 1919) and Nina Dutcher (born 1920), both still living.

For more information, see the Audubon Society History page.