William More Gabb was an American paleontologist.

Gabb was born and educated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the leading center of American science at the time. He graduated from Jefferson Grammar School at age thirteen and was admitted to the prestigious Central High School

Central High School (Philadelphia)

Central High School is a public secondary school in the Logan section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Central, the second-oldest continuously public high school in the United States , was founded in 1836 and is a four-year university preparatory magnet school...

 of Philadelphia. He distinguished himself in his studies and showed an interest in natural history

Natural history

Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...

, conchology

Conchology

Conchology is the scientific or amateur study of mollusc shells. Conchology is one aspect of malacology, the study of molluscs, however malacology studies molluscs as whole organisms, not just their shells. Conchology pre-dated malacology as a field of study. It includes the study of land and...

 and geology

Geology

Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

. He graduated in 1857 with a bachelor of arts degree.

Gabb chose to pursue a career in geology and sought the assistance of the notable geologist, James Hall

James Hall (paleontologist)

James Hall was an American geologist and paleontologist. He was a noted authority on stratigraphy and had an influential role in the development of American paleontology.-Early life:...

 in Albany, New York. For a time he became Hall’s student and assistant before returning to Philadelphia in 1860. There he became an active member of the Academy of Natural Sciences and then briefly joined a group of young scientists studying at the Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...

 in Washington D.C .

In 1861, Josiah Whitney

Josiah Whitney

Josiah Dwight Whitney was an American geologist, professor of geology at Harvard University , and chief of the California Geological Survey...

, chief of the California Geological Survey

California Geological Survey

Although it was not until 1880 that the California State Mining Bureau, predecessor to the California Geological Survey, was established, the "roots" of California's state geological survey date to an earlier time...

, was searching for a qualified paleontologist to assist with the survey. After much inquiry, Gabb was recommended as the best authority in American Cretaceous

Cretaceous

The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...

 paleontology and in 1862 he was appointed paleontologist to the survey. William H. Brewer, who led the field work for Whitney, described Gabb as “young, grassy green, but decidedly smart and well posted in his department--he will develop well with the hard knocks of camp.”

For the next several years Gabb did extensive work throughout California and beyond. In addition to field work, he classified the survey’s Cretaceous and Tertiary fossils and documented his findings in the survey reports, writing on paleontology in the first and second volumes of the Geological Survey of California (1864).

In 1863 he was sent to investigate the Cretaceous rocks of Oregon, Washington Territory and Vancouver Island, Canada. In 1864 he explored northern California and southeastern Oregon. The following year, 1865, was spent mainly in cataloging and describing the fossils collected by the survey. In 1866 he explored the Coast Ranges and in 1867 explored the White Mountains

White Mountains (California)

The White Mountains of California are a triangular fault block mountain range facing the Sierra Nevada across the upper Owens Valley. They extend for approximately as a greatly elevated plateau about wide on the south, narrowing to a point at the north, with elevations generally increasing...

 along the border between California and Nevada.

Also in 1867, an expedition was organized to explore Baja California

Baja California

Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...

 under the leadership of John Ross Browne

John Ross Browne

John Ross Browne , often called J. Ross Browne, date of birth sometimes given as 1917, was an Irish-born American traveler, artist and writer.-Biography:...

. Gabb participated in the survey which made important contributions to understanding the geology and geography of the peninsula.

Gabb then returned to the East in 1868 and gave a summary of his research in a speech to the National Academy of Sciences. After seeing to the publication of the second volume of California Paleontology, Gabb ended his participation in the California survey.

In 1868 the government of Santo Domingo

Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

 arranged through the Santo Domingo Land and Mining Company (a New York corporation) for a geological survey of their country. Gabb was hired by the corporation to perform this survey and remained on the island from 1869 till 1872. He published his findings in an extended memoir, On the Topography and Geology of Santo Domingo (1873).

In 1873 the government of Costa Rica

Costa Rica

Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....

 engaged Gabb to perform a survey of the geography, geology and resources in the little-known Talamanca Region. One of the principal supporters of this expedition was Minor C. Keith

Minor C. Keith

Minor Cooper Keith was a U.S. railroad, fruit, and shipping magnate whose business activities had a profound impact in Central America and in Colombia.- Early life :...

, who started the banana industry in Costa Rica and eventually co-founded the United Fruit Company

United Fruit Company

It had a deep and long-lasting impact on the economic and political development of several Latin American countries. Critics often accused it of exploitative neocolonialism and described it as the archetypal example of the influence of a multinational corporation on the internal politics of the...

.

During his three-year survey, Gabb also made extensive ethnological and natural history collections for the Smithsonian. He was assisted by Jose Zeledon

José Castulo Zeledón

José Castulo Zeledón was a Costa Rican ornithologist.He was the son of Don Manuel Zeledón, governor of the district of San José. José became interested in birds at an early age, and learnt about ornithology from the German naturalist and physician Alexander von Frantzius, when he was employed at...

, who was to become a well known Costa Rican ornithologist. While in Cost Rica, Gabb married an Indian woman, Victoria. They had one son, Guillermo, born in 1874 or 1875.

Gabb contracted a virulent form of malaria

Malaria

Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...

in Costa Rica. He returned to Philadelphia in 1876 and then traveled again to Santo Domingo with the intention of developing a promising mining claim. However, his declining health forced him back to Philadelphia, where he died on May 30, 1878. He was buried at Woodland Cemetery.