Edward William Nelson (May 8, 1855 – May 19, 1934) was an Americannaturalist andethnologist. A collector of specimens and field naturalist of repute, he became a member of several expeditions to survey the fauna and flora. He was part of a team with Clinton Hart Merriam that took part in the Death Valley Expedition. He also explored theYosemite Valley. A number of vertebrate species are named after him.
Nelson was born inManchester, New Hampshire, on May 8, 1855, the first son of William and Martha (née Wells) Nelson. Nelson and his brother then lived with his maternal grandparents in the Adirondacks when his father joined the Union Army and mother went to Baltimore as a nurse. Here he fell in love with the wilderness. Nelson moved to Chicago after his father was killed in the Civil War and his mother established a dressmaking business.
In 1871, his large insect collection was lost in theChicago Fire and the family was left homeless.[1] This was the time that he moved focus from insects to birds. He went to Cook County Normal School from 1872 to 1875 where the principal, W. W. Wentworth encouraged him. Nelson also metHenry Henshaw andEdward Drinker Cope who helped him develop his interests in birds.[2]
In 1877. Nelson joined theU.S. Army Signal Corps.Spencer Fullerton Baird was responsible for selecting Signal Officers for the remoter stations, and would choose men with scientific training who were prepared to study the local flora and fauna. Baird sent Nelson toSt. Michael, Alaska.[2] Nelson was the naturalist on boardUSRC Thomas Corwin, which sailed toWrangel Island in search of theJeannette expedition in 1881. Nelson published his findings in theReport upon Natural History Collections Made in Alaska between the Years 1877–1881 (1887). He also published his ethnological findings inThe Eskimo about Bering Strait (1900).
In 1890 Nelson accepted an appointment as a special field agent withthe Death Valley Expedition underClinton Hart Merriam, chief of the Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy,United States Department of Agriculture. After this expedition he was ordered to conduct a field survey inMexico, and Nelson remained in the country for the next fourteen years. Nelson continued to work for theBureau of Biological Survey until 1929, being chief of the bureau from 1916 to 1927.[2]
Thedesert bighorn sheep andNelson's milksnake were named in his honor. Theholotype of the milksnake was collected by Nelson andEdward Alphonso Goldman on July 18, 1897. He worked with Goldman for ten years surveying Mexicanterrestrial vertebrates.Nelson's sparrow (Ammospiza nelsoni) (formerly Nelson's sharp-tailed sparrow; formerly sharp-tailed sparrow) was also named for him.[3]Rodents named in his honor includeAmmospermophilus nelsoni,Chaetodipus nelsoni,Dicrostonyx nelsoni,Dipodomys nelsoni,Heteromys nelsoni,Megadontomys nelsoni,Neotoma nelsoni,Oryzomys nelsoni,Xenomys nelsoni, and the genusNelsonia. The shrewCryptotis nelsoni is also named after Nelson.
In addition toNelson's milk snake, four other reptiles are named in his honor:Nelson's anole,Nelson's tree lizard,Nelson's spiny lizard, andNelson's spotted box turtle.[4] He was the president of theAmerican Society of Mammalogists from 1921 to 1923.[5] He also served as president of theAmerican Ornithologists' Union and theBiological Society of Washington. He never married.[2]
In 1895, botanists J.M.Coult. & Rose publishedNeonelsonia, amonotypic genus offlowering plant from South America, belonging to the familyApiaceae.[6] Then in 1973, botanists H.Rob. & Brettell publishedNelsonianthus, a genus offlowering plants from Mexico and Guatemala belonging to the familyAsteraceae, also named in Nelson's honour.[7]
