Shattuck lydia white biography
File:LYDIA WHITE SHATTUCK A woman of the century (page 657 crop).jpg
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Lydia Shattuck
American botanist, chemist, and educator (1822–1889)
Lydia White Shattuck (June 10, 1822 – November 2, 1889) was an American botanist, naturalist, chemist, and professor at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (now Mount Holyoke College).
Early life and education
Shattuck was born in 1822 in East Landoff (now Easton), New Hampshire to first cousins Betsey Fletcher and Timothy Shattuck, and she was the only one of their first five children to survive past infancy. When she was a young girl, her mother would take her on excursions through the woods, which inspired a love of nature, particularly wildflowers.
At fifteen, she completed local schooling and began teaching district schools. Over the next eleven years, she also studied at academies in Newbury, Vermont and Haverhill, New Hampshire for brief periods when not teaching. In 1848, at age twenty-six, she entered Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, from which she graduated in 1851 with honor. She was a student in the last class Mary Lyon taught and would watch over Lyon in her final days before her death in 1849.
Career
Immediately after her graduation in 1851, Shattuck became a professor of botany and chemistry at her alma mater. Initially, she would also teach subjects ranging from astronomy to geometry to physiology, but by 1887–1888 would exclusively teach botany. Her tenure overlapped with those of Cornelia Clapp (class of 1871) and Henrietta Hooker (class of 1873), both students of Shattuck who returned to teach at their alma mater. Shattuck helped guide the establishment of the Mount Holyoke College Botanic Garden in 1878 and would additionally collect, classify, and catalog seven thousand plants for its collection.[ SHATTUCK, Miss Lydia White, educator, born in East Landaff. now Easton, N. H.. 10th June, 1822 The Shattuck family was prominent in early New England days. Her Grandfather Shattuck went from eastern Massachusetts to New Hampshire in 1798. LYDIA WHITE SHATTUCK. Her father was Timothy Shattuck, who was married on 28th January, 1812, to Betsey Fletcher, of Acton, Miss. Lydia was their fifth child, and the first of their children to reach maturity. She grew up on a farm in the Berkshire Hills. In her youth she was an artist and a poet. At the age of fifteen she began to teach school, and after teaching eighteen terms she went to South Hadley, Mass., where she studied for a time. She next went to Haverhill, where she attended the academy for one term. She then taught in Center Harbor, N. H. She entered Mount Holyoke in 1848, and paid her own way through that school. She was graduated in 1851 and was engaged to remain in the seminary as a teacher. She was scientific in her tastes and made specialties of botany and chemistry. In 1887 she visited the Hawaiian Islands and made a study of the flora there. She was connected with the Penikese Island summer school in 1873. In 1869 she traveled in Europe. In 1876 she made an exhibition in the Centennial Exposition. Her whole life was spent in research and teaching. She died in South Hadley on 2nd November, 1889. .Woman of the Century/Lydia White Shattuck