William Maclure (1763-1840), the “Father of American Geology,” was born in Ayr, Scotland, and after acquiring a fortune in London, he came in 1796 to the United States. Having studied geology in Europe he was attracted by the imposing scale of the geological structure of his adopted country, and in the course of some years made many journeys across the eastern states. He recorded his geological observations on a map, and in 1809 communicated his researches to the American Philosophical Society. In 1817, having extended his knowledge during the intervening eight years he presented his map to the Society, and it was then published. This was the first geological survey of the United States, and it was carried out unsustained by government aid or patronage. It was also chiefly through Maclure’s aid that the new Academy of Sciences in Philadelphia was built and endowed. Dr. Archibald Bruce (1777-1818), the first scientific mineralogist in America, and founder of the American Mineralogical Magazine (1810), was born in New York city, son of Dr. William Bruce, head of the medical department of the British Armies. Henry Darwin Rogers (1808-66), born in Philadelphia of Ulster Scot parentage, Professor of Geology and Mineralogy in the University of Pennsylvania, State Geologist of Pennsylvania, published important works on the geology of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He removed to Edinburgh in 1855 and three years later became Professor of Natural History in the University of Glasgow. His elder brother, William Barton Rogers (1804-1882), was also a distinguished physicist and geologist. David Dale Owen (1807-60), born in Lanarkshire, was brought to the United States by his father in 1823. In 1848 he took charge of the Geological Survey of Wisconsin and Iowa, and that of Minnesota in 1852. His brother, Richard Owen (1810-90), also born in Lanarkshire, had a distinguished career in this country as a geologist. J. Peter Lesley (1819-1903), also of Scottish descent, was another distinguished geologist who by his researches and surveys in Pennsylvania, vastly aided in the economic development of that state. Persifor Frazer (1844-1909), son of John Fries Frazer and great-grandson of Lieutenant-Colonel Persifor Frazer of Revolutionary times, was author of the Geological Survey of Pennsylvania (5 vols.) William John McGee (1853-1912), geologist and anthropologist, claimed descent from the MacGregors. He was Geologist of the United States Geological Survey from 1883 to 1893, Ethnologist in Charge of the Bureau of Ethnology


