Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 05.djvu/330

 HOLDER

HOLDER

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Woodliouse, Capt. Robert Fowler, and settled in Sandwicli, Mass., where he establislietl the first society of Friends in America, and aided pecu- niarily in the erection of the iirst Friends' meet- ing-house. His first ancestor in America on the maternal side was Edward Gove, son of Jolm Gove, of Lon- don, who settled in Cliarlestown, Mass., in 1647, and in Hamp- ton. N.H., in 1605, where he was leader of the famous assem- bly dissolved by Gov- ernor Cranfield, his estate seized by the Crown, and he im- prisoned three years in the Tower of Lon- don. He was par- ' ' ' doned in 1686 and liis

estates restored by James IL Charles F. Holder attended the Friends' school, Providence, R.I., and Allen's English and Classical school, "West Newton, Mass., and was appointed by Presi- dent Grant midshipman in the U.S. Naval academy, class of 1869, but resigned before grad- uation. He spent five years on the Florida Reef ■with his father, who was studying the growth of corals; was assistant curator at the American Museum of Natural History, New York, 1870-75; consulting naturalist of the New York aquarium, 1876- 77; and finished the initial equipment of the institution by the aid of a large steamer, stocking it with thousands of fresh and salt water fishes in a single day. After retiring in 1877 he devoted himself to literature and especially to the popularization of natural histoi'v for young people. He removed to Pasadena, Cal., in 1885, for the benefit of his health, and there founded the Pasadena Academy of Sciences, 1888, and was elected president of the Pasadena board of education, a trustee of the free library and trustee of Throop university. He was also elected to the chair of zoology at Throop university, but did not accept the position. He .served as trustee of the Los Angeles state normal college, 1890-94; founded the Valley Hunt club and was its presi- dent in 1889; founded the Tuna club for the pro- tection of game fishes of the .state of California, and was its president in 1898; edited, with ex- Governor Lionel A. Sheldon, the Los Angeles Daihj Tribune in 1889; founded the Californian Illustrated Magazine in San Francisco in 1891; and edited it three years, then returned to Pasa- dena and devoted himself to the production of books. In 1899, acting upon his suggestion, the Banning Brothers of Los Angeles erected at

Santa Catalina Island the first large aquarium and zoological station on the Pacific coast. Un- der Ins direction this was stocked with the re- markable semi-tropic fauna of the region, which was tluis made available to students and teachers of zoology in the schools and colleges of Cali- fornia. He was elected a fellow of the New York Academj' of Sciences, and a member of the Linna^an society and of the National Geograph- ic society. He is the author of: Elements of Zoology (1885); Tlte Ivory King (1886); Natural History of the Elephant (18^7); Living Lights (1888): Marvels of Animal Life (1889): Along the Florida Reef (1890); A Strange Company (1891); Southern California (1892); The Pasadena High- lands (1893); Economic Development of Southern California (1893); Life of Louis Agassiz (1893); Natural History Tales (1894); Life of Charles Darwin (1895); Louis Agassiz, His Life and Work (1896); Angling (1897); Santa Catalina, Its Sports and Antiquities (1897); Nature Stories (1898); Stories of Animal Life (ISdd); The Treas- ure Divers (1899), and many contributions to magazines.

HOLDER, Joseph Bassett, naturalist, autlior, arid surgeon, was born at Ljnn, Mass., Oct. 26, 1824; son of Aaron Lummus and Rachael (Bassett) Holder, and grandson of Richard and Marj- (Breed) Holder. He was educated at the Friends school. Providence, R.I., and at Harvard medical school. While a student at Harvai-d he was assistant demonstrator of anatomy for Dr. Samuel Parkham, and with a company of dis- tinguished surgeons and scientific men, among whom was Agassiz, observed the first application of Morton's " Letheon," or ether. Dr. Holder was city physician of Lj'nn; founded the Lynn Natural History society and museum, and made the first list of birds and plants of Essex county, Mass. He was married, Dec. 4, 1849, to Emily Augusta Cove, of Lynn, Mass., and had one son, Charles F. Holder (q. v. ). In 1859 his friends, Lou- is Agassiz, of Cambridge, and Spencer F. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution, induced him to go to the Florida reef to observe the growth of cor- als, which resulted in his notable discovery that corals grew much more rapiilly than was gener- ally supposed. At the breaking out of the civil war he entered the army and became surgeon of the military prison at the Dry Tortugas, and devoted seven years to official and philanthro])ic work at this post, successfully fighting yellow fever and saving hundreds of lives. In 1868 he was ordered to the artillerj- school at Fort Mon- roe, Va., and in 1870 resigned from the army and Joined Prof. A. S. Bickmore in organizing the American Museum of Natural History, Central Park, New York, and was its curator of inverte- brate zoology at the time of his death. He was a