Rex Beach (kneeling
at left) helps his classmates in Dr. Barrows' survey class in
1894.
Dr. Barrows was a professor of mathamatics and survey and also
a
Charter Trustee [of Rollins College].
From left to right:
Rex Beach, Fred Ensminger, Ruth Ford, Albert Barrows, Fitz Frank,
Dr. Barrows, and Walter Fairchild.
Date Original (ca.) 1894
The University of North Carolina Herbarium
has catalogued about two dozen plants collected by Nathan Barrows,
who signed his herbarium labels "N. Barrows, M.D." All
were collected in Winter Park, Florida, in 1894 - 1895. Many of
Barrows' specimens were in the Jesup Herbarium of Dartmouth College
which were given to NCU in 2002 as a gift. As only about 10% of
the Herbarium's specimens are databased, it is likely that more
will be found.
Nathan Barrows was born in Hartford, Connecticut
on 20 February 1830. He was the eldest son of Rev. Elijah Porter
Barrows and Sophia M. Lee Barrows. He earned an A.B. degree from
the Western Reserve College (Hudson, Ohio) in 1850 and an A.M.
in 1853 from the same institution. He graduated with an M.D. from
Cleveland Medical College, Western Reserve University in 1855.
The topic of his medical thesis was "The Study of the Natural
Sciences Necessary to the Physician".
Upon graduating from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at
Columbia University in New York City in 1857, he was house surgeon
in Belleview Hospital in that city. He moved to Falmouth, Massachusetts
in 1859 and practiced medicine there until 1864. While in Falmouth
in 1862, he married Susan Haines, and together they had five children,
of whom only Porter and Albert reached adulthood. "After
six years devoted to medical practice he gave it up altogether,
for the more congenial work of teaching, and to this Profession
he gave the remainder of his life" (3, pg. 3). This is confirmed
by Jennifer Nieves of the Dittrick Medical History Center of Case
Western Reserve University, who reports that Barrows does not
appear in the Polk Medical and Surgical Directories
from 1874 through 1890.
From 1865 to 1880 Barrows was teacher and
principal of several academies in New England, including Philips
Academy (Andover, Massachusetts), Kendall Free Academy and Hartford
High School (Connecticut). He was the organizer and first principal
of Stephens High School in Claremont, New Hampshire. In 1882 he
moved to Orange City, Florida to farm fruit (3).
In 1884 the First Annual Meeting
of the Congregational Association of Florida appointed Dr. Barrows,
Rev. J.A. Ball, and Rev. A. B. Dilley to a committee to explore
founding a college in central Florida (1, p. 6). Rollins College
was established in Winter Park, Florida in 1885, and Nathan Barrows
was one of the Charter Trustees. "Charges for the three-term
academic year of thirty-two weeks were: Tuition, $18 per term,
Board, $48 (later reduced to $36), Furnished Room with Light,
$12; total for the year, $234." (1, p. 13).
Nathan Barrows taught at Rollins College
from its beginning in 1885. Barrows, Lewis A. Austin, J.H. Ford,
and Annie Morton were appointed full, permanent professors in
1888 at an annual salary of $1,000 (with a promise of $1,200 if
the finances of the college permitted). Barrows taught mathematics,
served as Assistant Treasurer, and was the secretary of the Board
of Trustees at Rollins College. "He was also an amateur naturalist
who led the students on many expeditions into the Florida wilderness."
(2, pg. 24) He was involved in a "shipwreck experience off
Tybee [Georgia] in 1892" , and experienced ill health afterward
(3, pg. 5). Barrows retired from Rollins College in 1895, and
died on 3 March 1900 in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts.
Why Barrows collected plants, and how they
came to be in the Jesup Herbarium of Dartmouth College is not
known. It is intriguing that Charles
Henry Hitchcock, a professor of geology at Dartmouth College,
collected plants in Winter Park, Florida in the 1890's. Given
both Barrows' and Hitchcock's wide interests in science and natural
history, it is possible that they were friends or professional
acquaintances, and that Hitchcock persuaded Barrows to deposit
his herbarium specimens at Dartmouth.
Undated image of Nathan Barrows from "In
Memoriam of Nathan Barrows" digitized by Central Florida
Memory (3).
SOURCES
1. The first seven years of Rollins College.
Rollins College Bulletin, vol. LI, no. 1, December 1955. http://archives.rollins.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/students&CISOPTR=192&CISOSHOW=173&REC=10
accessed on 8 May 2007.
2. Lane, Jack C. (1980 ) Rollins College:
A Pictorial History. Rose Printing Company, Inc., Tallahassee,
Florida.
http://www.cfmemory.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/cfm&CISOPTR=37644&REC=1
accessed on 9 May 2007.
3. In Memoriam of Dr. Nathan Barrows. Undated,
ca. 1900.
http://www.cfmemory.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/cfm&CISOPTR=32019&REC=16
accessed on 9 May 2007.
