William Francis Ganong
Encyclopedia
William Francis Ganong, M.A., Ph.D., LL.D., F.R.S.C., (19 February 1864 - 7 September 1941) was a Canadian
botanist
, historian
and cartographer
. His botany career was spent mainly as a professor at Smith College
in Northampton, Massachusetts
. In his private life he contributed to the historical and geographical understanding of his native New Brunswick
.
), New Brunswick
, in 1864, the eldest of seven children. He is the brother of Susie
, Arthur, Edwin
, and Kit Ganong Whidden. At the age of seven, the family moved to St. Stephen
where his father, James Harvey Ganong
and uncle Gilbert Ganong
established the now-famous Ganong Brothers candy factory. It was expected that young William would enter the family business when he came of age, but early on, he showed an interest in the natural world. These interests extended to botany, reading, maps, and exploring the countryside. He also showed a talent for languages. Through his life he would come to have at least a working knowledge of French
, German
, Maliseet and Mi'kmaq
. He was an early naturalist and by the age of seventeen, he had first-hand knowledge of numerous rivers and coastal areas of New Brunswick as well as the flora and fauna of the province. His explorations would continue throughout his life, both on his own and with one or more companions including Arthur H. Pierce, Mauran I. Furbish and George Upham Hay. He frequently prepared his own maps of these explorations.
He attended the University of New Brunswick
where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1884 and his Masters degree in 1886. The next year, he went to Boston where in 1887, he received an A.B. from Harvard University
. He obtained a doctorate in biology from the University of Munich in 1894 and published two papers in the German language. It was probably at Harvard that he met Jean Murray Carmen, sister of his friend and fellow Harvard student, New Brunswick poet Bliss Carman
. They married in 1888. The marriage lasted thirty-two years until her death in 1920. They had no children.
at Smith. Ganong and his head gardener, Edward J. Canning, were responsible for developing the Garden, which had been laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted
in 1893. Ganong and Canning expanded and revised Olmsted's planting specifications to make the entire campus an arboretum
, and they reworked the herbaceous beds as a "systematics garden" after the Engler-Prantl classification system. The outdoor environment at Smith thus became (and remains) a place of learning for students of botany and horticulture
.
By authoring several books including The Teaching Botanist, A Laboratory Manual for Plant Physiology, The Living Plant, and A Textbook of Botany for Colleges, Ganong was able to establish and maintain an international reputation in botany. Under his administration, Smith's Botany department reached a peak in student enrollment, size of staff, and number of courses. He ensured that the range and quality of equipment available to students was high, and the department was able to attain a positive academic reputation. Enrollment in the introductory elective class peaked at 182 in 1926. Dr. Ganong retired from Smith College in 1932.
He was elected President of the Botanical Society of America in 1907.
, site of Champlain's
first settlement in North America in 1604.
He acquired a working knowledge of the Maliseet and Mi’kmaq languages, and with that understanding and consultation with linguists and native historians, he undertook an investigation of the aboriginal place names in the Maritime Provinces, publishing a series of six articles in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada between 1911 and 1928. In 1889 he presented a paper on the cartography of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence from the 1530s to 1604. Later, in the 1930s, he published an additional nine articles in the Transactions on what he termed the crucial maps in the early cartography and place-nomenclature of the region. The articles were drawn together and published in book form by the University of Toronto Press in 1964. His work on place-nomenclature is still widely referenced. In his explorations, he also had a chance to name several geographical features in the largely unexplored central and northern parts of New Brunswick, including Mount Carleton
, the highest summit in the province, which he named after the first Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, Thomas Carleton
. Another mountain to the north of Mount Carleton was named for Ganong in 1901 by his friend and naturalist Mauran Furbish.
As a scientist, Ganong brought a special quality to the study of New Brunswick history, which featured an emphasis on map-based studies and in determining the exact location of key historic sites. He actually went to the places he wrote about. As a translator and editor of the 17th-century Acadia
n narratives of Nicolas Denys
and Father Chrétien Le Clercq
he became a foremost scholar of the Acadian period. He frequently contributed articles on Samuel de Champlain to publications of the New Brunswick Historical Society, the New Brunswick Magazine and Acadiensis. In addition to document-based research and translation, Ganong prepared maps, took photographs and gave slide presentations. He often collaborated with others. One frequent collaborator was Dr. John Clarence Webster
, for whom he prepared numerous maps and other contributions. He also took a great interest in the international border between New Brunswick and Maine. Because of this interest and expertise he was asked to take part in the cross-border tercentennial celebrations on the St. Croix River
in 1904. In 1918, Ganong completed the translation of Volume III of Champlain's Voyages, part of a major publication of Champlain's writings by the Champlain Society.
William F. Ganong’s efforts also formed a substantial basis for the establishment of the New Brunswick Museum
and archives.
Ganong's second marriage was to Anna Hobbet from Iowa. The couple had two children, William Francis Ganong, Jr.
, a renowned physiologist, and Ann Ganong Seidler, professor of speech theory (now retired) and children's author. Ganong died at his summer home outside Saint John in 1941. He was 77.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
botanist
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
, historian
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and cartographer
Cartography
Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:*Set the map's...
. His botany career was spent mainly as a professor at Smith College
Smith College
Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...
in Northampton, Massachusetts
Northampton, Massachusetts
The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of Northampton's central neighborhoods, was 28,549...
. In his private life he contributed to the historical and geographical understanding of his native New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
.
Early life and education
He was born in Carleton (now West Saint JohnSaint John, New Brunswick
City of Saint John , or commonly Saint John, is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the first incorporated city in Canada. The city is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 74,043...
), New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
, in 1864, the eldest of seven children. He is the brother of Susie
Susan B. Ganong
Susan Brittain Ganong B.Sc., LLD was a widely respected Canadian educator and proprietor of the Netherwood School for girls in the Province of New Brunswick....
, Arthur, Edwin
J. Edwin Ganong
James Edwin Ganong was a Canadian businessman. Known as Edwin, he was born in Boston, Massachusetts where his Canadian parents had relatives. The son of James H. Ganong and Susan E. Brittain, he is the brother of Susie, Kit , Arthur, and William.His family returned to their native New Brunswick...
, and Kit Ganong Whidden. At the age of seven, the family moved to St. Stephen
St. Stephen, New Brunswick
St. Stephen is a Canadian town in Charlotte County, New Brunswick, situated on the east bank of the St. Croix River at .-Climate:...
where his father, James Harvey Ganong
James H. Ganong
James Harvey Ganong was a Canadian businessman in St. Stephen, New Brunswick who co-founded Ganong Bros. chocolate making company in 1873 and the St. Croix Soap Manufacturing Co. in 1878....
and uncle Gilbert Ganong
Gilbert Ganong
Gilbert White Ganong was a Canadian politician, the 14th Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick and co-founder of Ganong Bros. Limited, candy makers in the town of St...
established the now-famous Ganong Brothers candy factory. It was expected that young William would enter the family business when he came of age, but early on, he showed an interest in the natural world. These interests extended to botany, reading, maps, and exploring the countryside. He also showed a talent for languages. Through his life he would come to have at least a working knowledge of French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Maliseet and Mi'kmaq
Mi'kmaq language
The Mi'kmaq language is an Eastern Algonquian language spoken by nearly 9,100 Mi'kmaq in Canada and the United States out of a total ethnic Mi'kmaq population of roughly 20,000. The word Mi'kmaq is a plural word meaning 'my friends' ; the adjectival form is Míkmaw...
. He was an early naturalist and by the age of seventeen, he had first-hand knowledge of numerous rivers and coastal areas of New Brunswick as well as the flora and fauna of the province. His explorations would continue throughout his life, both on his own and with one or more companions including Arthur H. Pierce, Mauran I. Furbish and George Upham Hay. He frequently prepared his own maps of these explorations.
He attended the University of New Brunswick
University of New Brunswick
The University of New Brunswick is a Canadian university located in the province of New Brunswick. UNB is the oldest English language university in Canada and among the first public universities in North America. The university has two main campuses: the original campus founded in 1785 in...
where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1884 and his Masters degree in 1886. The next year, he went to Boston where in 1887, he received an A.B. from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. He obtained a doctorate in biology from the University of Munich in 1894 and published two papers in the German language. It was probably at Harvard that he met Jean Murray Carmen, sister of his friend and fellow Harvard student, New Brunswick poet Bliss Carman
Bliss Carman
Bliss Carman FRSC was a Canadian poet who lived most of his life in the United States, where he achieved international fame. He was acclaimed as Canada's poet laureate during his later years....
. They married in 1888. The marriage lasted thirty-two years until her death in 1920. They had no children.
Career in Botany
After graduating from Harvard, Ganong was appointed an assistant instructor in botany there. He stayed at Harvard for a few years until May 1894, when he accepted an appointment as Professor of Botany at Smith College. It was a position he would fill for 36 years. He was also director of the Botanic GardenThe Botanic Garden of Smith College
The Botanic Garden of Smith College is located on the campus of Smith College, in Northampton, Massachusetts, USA. It consists of a fine selection of woody trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants, and an excellent collection of warm-weather plants in a set of historic conservatories...
at Smith. Ganong and his head gardener, Edward J. Canning, were responsible for developing the Garden, which had been laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted was an American journalist, social critic, public administrator, and landscape designer. He is popularly considered to be the father of American landscape architecture, although many scholars have bestowed that title upon Andrew Jackson Downing...
in 1893. Ganong and Canning expanded and revised Olmsted's planting specifications to make the entire campus an arboretum
Arboretum
An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...
, and they reworked the herbaceous beds as a "systematics garden" after the Engler-Prantl classification system. The outdoor environment at Smith thus became (and remains) a place of learning for students of botany and horticulture
Horticulture
Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...
.
He was elected President of the Botanical Society of America in 1907.
Historian and Cartographer
Ganong undertook historical work during his teaching career. In summers, he would return to New Brunswick to study and document the historical geography of the province. Among his surveys were St. Croix IslandSaint Croix Island, Maine
Saint Croix Island , long known to locals as Dochet Island, is a small uninhabited island in Maine near the mouth of the Saint Croix River that forms part of the International Boundary separating Maine from New Brunswick....
, site of Champlain's
Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain , "The Father of New France", was a French navigator, cartographer, draughtsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He founded New France and Quebec City on July 3, 1608....
first settlement in North America in 1604.
He acquired a working knowledge of the Maliseet and Mi’kmaq languages, and with that understanding and consultation with linguists and native historians, he undertook an investigation of the aboriginal place names in the Maritime Provinces, publishing a series of six articles in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada between 1911 and 1928. In 1889 he presented a paper on the cartography of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence from the 1530s to 1604. Later, in the 1930s, he published an additional nine articles in the Transactions on what he termed the crucial maps in the early cartography and place-nomenclature of the region. The articles were drawn together and published in book form by the University of Toronto Press in 1964. His work on place-nomenclature is still widely referenced. In his explorations, he also had a chance to name several geographical features in the largely unexplored central and northern parts of New Brunswick, including Mount Carleton
Mount Carleton
Mount Carleton, in Mount Carleton Provincial Park, is the highest elevation in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, and is also the highest peak in the Canadian Maritime Provinces. It is one of the highlights of the Canadian portion of the International Appalachian Trail...
, the highest summit in the province, which he named after the first Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, Thomas Carleton
Lieutenant-Governors of New Brunswick
The following is a list of the Lieutenant Governors of New Brunswick. Though the present day office of the lieutenant governor in New Brunswick came into being only upon the province's entry into Canadian Confederation in 1867, the post is a continuation from the first governorship of New Brunswick...
. Another mountain to the north of Mount Carleton was named for Ganong in 1901 by his friend and naturalist Mauran Furbish.
As a scientist, Ganong brought a special quality to the study of New Brunswick history, which featured an emphasis on map-based studies and in determining the exact location of key historic sites. He actually went to the places he wrote about. As a translator and editor of the 17th-century Acadia
Acadia
Acadia was the name given to lands in a portion of the French colonial empire of New France, in northeastern North America that included parts of eastern Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and modern-day Maine. At the end of the 16th century, France claimed territory stretching as far south as...
n narratives of Nicolas Denys
Nicolas Denys
.Nicolas Denys was a French aristocrat who became an explorer, colonizer, soldier and leader in New France. Today, he is perhaps best known for founding settlements at St. Pierre , Ste...
and Father Chrétien Le Clercq
Chrétien Le Clercq
Father Chrétien Le Clercq , a Franciscan Récollet, and a zealous Roman Catholic missionary to the Mi'kmaq on the Gaspé peninsula in the mid-17th century, was also a distinguished historiographer of Nouvelle France who wrote two early histories and adapted an apparently native mnemonic glyph system...
he became a foremost scholar of the Acadian period. He frequently contributed articles on Samuel de Champlain to publications of the New Brunswick Historical Society, the New Brunswick Magazine and Acadiensis. In addition to document-based research and translation, Ganong prepared maps, took photographs and gave slide presentations. He often collaborated with others. One frequent collaborator was Dr. John Clarence Webster
John Clarence Webster
John Clarence Webster was a Canadian-born physician pioneering in Obstetrics and gynaecology who in retirement had a second career as an historian, specializing in the history of his native New Brunswick...
, for whom he prepared numerous maps and other contributions. He also took a great interest in the international border between New Brunswick and Maine. Because of this interest and expertise he was asked to take part in the cross-border tercentennial celebrations on the St. Croix River
St. Croix River (Maine-New Brunswick)
The St. Croix River is a river in northeastern North America, in length, that forms part of the Canada – United States border between Maine and New Brunswick . The river rises in the Chiputneticook Lakes and flows south and southeast, between Calais and St. Stephen...
in 1904. In 1918, Ganong completed the translation of Volume III of Champlain's Voyages, part of a major publication of Champlain's writings by the Champlain Society.
William F. Ganong’s efforts also formed a substantial basis for the establishment of the New Brunswick Museum
New Brunswick Museum
The New Brunswick Museum, located in Saint John, New Brunswick is Canada's oldest continuing museum. The New Brunswick Museum was officially incorporated as the "Provincial Museum" in 1929 and received its current name in 1930, but its history goes back much further. Its lineage can be traced back...
and archives.
Ganong's second marriage was to Anna Hobbet from Iowa. The couple had two children, William Francis Ganong, Jr.
William Francis Ganong, Jr.
William Francis Ganong, Jr. was a Harvard-educated American physiologist, and was one of the first scientists to trace how the brain controls important internal functions of the body...
, a renowned physiologist, and Ann Ganong Seidler, professor of speech theory (now retired) and children's author. Ganong died at his summer home outside Saint John in 1941. He was 77.
Honours
- PhD, University of New Brunswick, 1898
- LLD, University of New Brunswick, 1920
- Fellow of the Royal Society of CanadaRoyal Society of CanadaThe Royal Society of Canada , may also operate under the more descriptive name RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada , is the oldest association of scientists and scholars in Canada...
- William Ganong Hall, Science Building on the Saint john Campus of the University of New Brunswick is named after him.
- Ganong Mountain in northern New Brunswick was named for him in 1901.
Botany
- The Teaching Botanist (Macmillan, 1899)
- A Laboratory Manual for Plant Physiology (1901)
- The Living Plant (1913)
- A textbook of botany for colleges (1917 and later editions)
History and geography (partial list)
- A Genealogy of the New Brunswick Branch of the Descendants of Thomas Ganong (1893)
- "A Monograph on the Place - Nomenclature of the Province of New Brunswick", in Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada (1896)
- "A Monograph of Historic Sites in the Province of New Brunswick", in Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, Section II (1899)
- "Additions and Corrections to Monographs on the Place - Nomenclature, Cartography, Historic Sites, Boundaries and Settlement - origins of the Province of New Brunswick", Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada (1906).
- "The Identity of Plants and Animals mentioned by the Early Voyages to Eastern Canada and Newfoundland" in Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada (1909)
- The Description and Natural History of the Coast of North America(Acadia) by Nicolas Denys Translator (Toronto, 1908)
- le Clercq: New Relation of Gaspesia Editor (Toronto, 1910)
- An Organization of the Scientific Investigation of the Indian Place-Nomenclature of the Maritime Provinces of Canada, (3 volumes 1911-13)
- "Ste. Croix (Dochet) Island A Monograph", from Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, Second series - 1902-1903, Volume VIII, Section II. Edited by Susan Brittain Ganong, B.Sc., LL.D., Monographic Series No. 3, The New Brunswick Museum, Saint John, N.B. (1945).
- The History of Miscou and Shippegan (1946)
- Champlain’s Island: An Expanded Edition of Ste. Croix (Dochet) Island (1945, Reprinted 2004) ISBN 0-919326-57-9
- The History of Caraquet and Pokemouche, Revised and Enlarged from the Author's Manuscript Notes, edited by Susan Brittain Ganong. (Historical Studies No.6. New Brunswick Museum (1948)
- The history of Miscou, Tracadie, Pokemouche, Caraquet, Tabusintac, [Shippegan], Neguac and Burnt Church: Settlements in the Province of New Brunswick
- Catalogue of the Maps in the Collection of the Geographic Board, (Ottawa: January, 1949)
- Crucial Maps in the Early Cartography and Place-nomenclature of the Atlantic Coast of Canada (Royal Society of Canada and the University of Toronto Press, 1964).
- A Monograph of the Evolution of the Boundaries of the Province of New Brunswick