Alexander Wilson

For more information on Alexander Wilson, visit Britannica.com.

(b Paisley, Strathclyde, 6 July 1766; d Philadelphia, PA, 23 Aug 1813). American draughtsman of Scottish birth. After an unsuccessful attempt to establish himself in the Paisley weaving trade and a failed start as a poet, he moved in 1794 to the USA. For about ten years he was a school teacher in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania, finally, in 1802, taking a post at a school at Gray's Ferry, PA, where he came to know William Bartram. Bartram encouraged Wilson's nascent interest in ornithology, which soon developed into an ambition to create a comprehensive illustrated book on North American birds, resulting in the American Ornithology (1808-14). Bartram also helped Wilson to learn to draw birds, offering him the use of his library so he could study illustrations of American birds by such 18th-century naturalists as Mark Catesby and George Edwards (1694-1773). Wilson also came to know Charles Willson Peale, in whose museum, an important research centre for Philadelphia naturalists, he drew many of the birds included in the American Ornithology from mounted specimens. He travelled extensively in search of new birds, encountering other naturalist-artists, including John Abbot (1751-c. 1840) and JOHN JAMES AUDUBON, along the way.

See the Abbreviations for further details.

The 13-volume American "Ornithology" of Alexander Wilson (1766-1813), Scottish-American ornithologist and poet, was the first great comprehensive descriptive and illustrated work on the birds of the eastern United States.

Alexander Wilson was born on July 6, 1766, in Paisley, Scotland, into a large, poor family. Apprenticed at the age of 13 in the weaving trade, he spent ten years as a weaver. He then began tramping about Scotland as a peddler and writing dialect poems, which he published in Poems (1790). Discouraged by poverty and by political persecution because of some satires he wrote, he emigrated to America in 1794.

Though entirely self-educated, Wilson supported himself as a teacher around Philadelphia. The turning point in his life came in 1802, when he took charge of a school at Gray's Ferry, near the home and gardens of William Bartram, the Philadelphia naturalist. Bartram helped channel Wilson's natural love of birds and the outdoors into systematic scientific endeavors. Wilson became convinced that no single work on American birds was free from defect, and he decided to produce a comprehensive illustrated work on the birds of the eastern United States.

Wilson spent 10 years gathering specimens and materials for his classic work, American Ornithology; the first seven volumes were published in 1808-1813, the others posthumously. In 1807 he secured a position as assistant editor with a Philadelphia publisher, which relieved him of the drudgery of teaching and undoubtedly made possible the completion of his massive work. In 1808, to assure publication of his masterpiece, Wilson traveled all over the eastern United States in search of 250 subscribers.

American Ornithology is noted for the elegance of the essays on individual birds and for the excellent illustrations, which Wilson did himself. Although skilled as an artist, he needed the help of Alexander Lawson to translate his drawings into the plates from which the illustrations were printed. American Ornithology was acclaimed by both American and European scientists as the best work on American birds, and it went through two subsequent editions.

Wilson's health broke down while he was preparing the eighth volume of American Ornithology for publication, and he died in Philadelphia on Aug. 23, 1813. His friend George Ord completed the eighth and ninth volumes from Wilson's manuscript notes and saw them through publication in 1814. Charles Lucien Bonaparte published the four final volumes in 1825-1833.

Further Reading

The best biography of Wilson is Robert Cantwell, Alexander Wilson, Naturalist and Pioneer (1961), which replaces the older work by James S. Wilson, Alexander Wilson, Poet-Naturalist (1906). Some general background can be found in William Dunlap, A History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States (1834; rev. ed. 1965).

Quotes:

"Think for thyself one good idea, but known to be thine own, is better than a thousand gleaned from fields by others sown."

For other people named Alexander Wilson, see Alexander Wilson (disambiguation).

Alexander Wilson
Alexander Wilson
Born	July 6, 1766 Paisley, Scotland
Died	August 23, 1813
Nationality	Scottish-American
Fields	naturalist

Alexander Wilson (July 6, 1766 – August 23, 1813) was a Scottish-American poet, ornithologist, naturalist and illustrator.

Wilson was born in Paisley, Scotland, the son of an illiterate distiller. In 1779 he was apprenticed as a weaver. His main interest at this time was in writing poetry, and his poems commenting on the unfair treatment of the weavers by their employers got him into trouble with the authorities. The "golden age of Renfrewshire song" is embodied in the persons of Wilson and Robert Tannahill. Robert Burns was eight years older than Tannahill. He was born near the Hammils, a broad if not steep waterfall in Paisley where the River Cart skirts Seedhill. It does indeed appear to be the case, as William Motherwell states, that a great amount of literary activity began in Paisley around this time.

Illustration from
"An American ornithology

In May 1794 Wilson left Scotland with his nephew to find a better life in America. Wilson obtained employment as a schoolteacher in Milestown, near Philadelphia. In 1801 he left Milestown and found a new teaching post in Gray's Ferry, Pennsylvania; Wilson took up residence in nearby Kingsessing. It was here that he met the famous naturalist William Bartram who developed Wilson's interest in ornithology. In 1802 Wilson decided to publish a book illustrating all the North American birds. With this in mind he traveled widely, watching and painting birds and collecting subscribers for his book. The result was the nine-volume American Ornithology (1808-1814), illustrating 268 species of birds, 26 of which had not previously been described. He died during the writing of the ninth volume, which was completed and published after his death by his friend George Ord. Wilson lies buried next to Ord at Gloria Dei Church cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Wilson is now regarded as the greatest American ornithologist prior to Audubon. It was his meeting with Audubon in Louisville, Kentucky in 1810 which probably inspired the younger man to produce a book of his own bird illustrations.

Several species of bird were named for Wilson, including Wilson's Storm-petrel, Wilson's Plover, Wilson's Phalarope and Wilson's Warbler. The warbler genus Wilsonia was also named for him by Charles Lucien Bonaparte.

The Wilson Journal of Ornithology is named after him.

References

• Biographies for Birdwatchers, Barbara & Richard Mearns ISBN 0-12-487422-3

External links

• Alexander Wilson, American Ornithologist Complete illustrations from the 9 vol. edition with critical biography.
• Alexander Wilson Cornell University, Mann Library
• Alexander Wilson at Find a Grave
•  "Wilson, Alexander". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. 

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)