Biographies of Putnam Museum Herbarium Collectors

Kentucky to Missouri to Illinois: Education and death.

Though details of Rebecca Merritt Smith Austin's childhood are scant, we know she was born in Cumberland county, Kentucky in March 1832 to Andrew and Mary Smith (Ancestry 2020b). In about 1837 the family of 10 moved to Platte County, Missouri and within two months of their arrival Rebecca's mother perished. Soon after Mary's passing, additional family disruption was caused by the deaths of two of Rebecca's older sisters and the Smith nuclear family broke down. During the following years, Rebecca was cared for and received the basic elements of an education from various members of her extended family (Hail 1919, Warner 1995).

In 1848, at the age of 14, Rebecca found her way to Illinois with friends and attended free public school for a year in the Putnam county town of Magnolia. Following a year of public education Rebecca continued her studies at Granville Academy (see Granville, Illinois. p. 91), where her curriculum included coursework in astronomy, botany, chemistry, Latin, and human physiology.

Ms. Smith's field botany career began to take shape in or around her time at Granville Academy, when she made a 50 species collection of Putnam Count plants. It was also then that the determined and enterprising side of Rebecca emerged, as she began teaching during the summer months in rural schools around Magnolia and, when time permitted, continued her education at Granville (Austin 1918 & 1877a, Hail 1919, Jepsen 1934, Warner 1995).

Teaching, marriage, & children.
For approximately four years (age 16 through 20) Rebecca taught in various rural schools near Magnolia and it was there that she met Dr. Alva Leonard. They were married in June 1852 and the couple moved to Peoria, Illinois, where Alva established a medical office, with Rebecca aiding him in his practice. Their son, Byron, was born in 1855, but tragedy struck a year later, when Dr. Leonard became ill and died in August or September. A week after Alva's death (September 6, 1856) the Leonard couple's daughter, Mary Alvie, was born (Austin 1918, Hail 1919, Mansfield 1918, Warner 1995).

1857 proved to be a challenging year for Rebecca Leonard, as illness took the life of her infant son, Byron, and she was financially decimated by that year's economic panic (see Kennedy 2001). Facing impoverishment, Rebecca returned to teaching in Illinois and there she remained until 1859, a year when she and Mary moved to Livingston, Tennessee to live with relatives of Rebecca's mother (Austin 1918, Hail 1919, Jepsen 1934, Warner 1995).

As a Tennessean, Rebecca served as administrator/teacher in a Livingston school and during her 18 months in the "Volunteer State", she made two important discoveries. First, the flora of the area had great appeal and Rebecca assembled a collection of the region's plants, as she had done in Illinois. Second, she learned her political leanings did not coincide with those of her relatives and other members of the community. At least some of her kin were slave owners and involuntary servitude was something she did not support.

Rebecca's departure from Livingston was hastened by the presidential election of 1860. Apparently her glee over the outcome of the election and her shouts of "Hurrah for Lincoln!" did not mesh neatly with the viewpoints held by her neighbors and relatives. Evidently death threats were made, so in 1860 Rebecca and Mary put their slave owning relatives behind them and left for the more abolitionist friendly state of Kansas (Austin 1918, Warner 1995).

Kansas, teaching, farming, & the Civil War.

It's uncertain how they chose the location, but Rebecca and Mary settled in (or near) the short-term capital of Kansas, Minneola (Hail 1919, Place 1936, Jepsen Herbarium Archives 2020, Lambertson 1986, Warner 1995). Minneola (approximate location and Google Street View here) was essentially a "smoke and mirrors" community established to feed desires for political power and financial gain (Holloway 1868, Place 1936, Lambertson 1986).

Civil shenanigans aside, Rebecca found employment teaching school and earned enough money (roughly $150.00 per month or ~$4400/month in today's dollars) to support her family of two (Cordier 1988, Webster 2021). It appears that some of Rebecca's community involvement centered on the Douglas County Agricultural and Mechanical Society, which came into existence shortly before she arrived in the area. Rebecca served on awards committees that judged fruits (like peaches, apples, raspberries, and grapes) and root crops (like sugar beets, rutabagas, and onions) at the Society's harvest season county fair (Driggs 1860, Lowman 1861, Thacher & Thacher 1860).

Within a couple of years she met James Thomas Austin and, evidently, the two enjoyed each other's company, because in 1862 they were married in Prairie City, Kansas (approximate location and Google Street View here). It's unclear to what degree Rebecca taught school during the first few years of their marriage, but the Austins apparently farmed in several northeast Kansas locations — in the vicinity of Minneola, Lawrence, and Leavenworth (Hail 1918 & 1919, Warner 1995).

The Civil War disrupted their family life as James served in the conflict during 1863 and/or 1864. Though his military enlistment lasted for less than a year, James was involved in the repulsion of Confederate General Sterling Price's "Missouri Expedition" (see Phillips 2021) and ferrying people across battlelines from Missouri to Kansas. James was honorably discharged in late 1864 (Deuel & Richards 1918, Hail 1918, Mansfield 1918).

Perhaps farming generated too little income or Rebecca's teaching salary was insufficient, regardless of the reason, with encouragement from her brothers (Alfred and Morris Smith), Rebecca and J.T. were lured to the goldfields of California's Sierra Nevada. On December 25th of 1864 the family left Kansas via rail to New York City and from there they boarded the sidewheel steamer North Star, which took them to Panama. After crossing the isthmus, the SS Golden Age took the family north along the Pacific Coast to San Francisco, where they arrived in February 1865 (Austin 1918, Hail 1918, Kemble 1938, Mansfield 1918). [Rebecca Austin's memory may have been faulty as to their arrival date in San Francisco. "J L Austin, wife and ch [sic]" were listed as passengers aboard the "Golden Age", when it reached dock on January 29, 1865 (MacCrellish & Woodward 1865).]

From San Francisco to Black Hawk Creek to Davis Creek to Chico.

James and Rebecca Austin left San Francisco and moved about 160 miles northeast of the city's coast to Plumas county. On or about Rebecca's 33rd birthday (March 10, 1865) they settled at the Badger Hill mine district (about here) in the Black Hawk Creek region of northern California's Sierra Nevada Mountains. Whether he and Rebecca's brothers (Alfred & Morris) engaged in some form of placer, hydraulic, or hardrock mining, they probably, like most gold prospectors, enjoyed varying degrees of success (Hail 1918, Jepsen 1934, Warner 1995).

The Austins remained in the Plumas county area from 1865 through 1883, a time period during which they raised three children. Mary, the eldest, who was born in Illinois in 1856 to Rebecca and her first husband, Dr. Alva Leonard. Two months after their arrival in California, Rebecca gave birth to her second daughter, Josephine, and three years later (1868), James Oliver Austin, was born (Ancestry 2020a, Adrianna 2011, Flesh To Bones 2018, Taylor 2010, Warner 1995). In the mining camp region, J.T. split his time between work, family, and community activities. He held various positions in Plumas Lodge #88 of the I.O.O.F. (Charles 1869, Ward 1873a) and he served as a juror in at least two legal proceedings (Charles 1870, Ward 1873b).

The family actually lived in several different Plumas County locations — American Valley, Big Meadows, Butterfly Valley, Crescent Mills — evidently because of financial losses in mining ventures and J.T.'s movements from job to job. Regardless of where they called home, in addition to caring for her own family, Rebecca's existence was a challenge as she wore many hats to help raise money for the family. When James and other family members were away at the mines, she took in boarders, cooked meals for the miners, and did laundry for area laborers (Austin 1918, Brown 2020, Warner 1995). In 1872 the family purchased a large portion of Butterfly Valley near Quincy (Hail 1918) in an effort to turn away from gold mining and/or to improve their financial stability via farming and livestock ranching.

The Austins remained in the Butterfly Valley/Quincy area of Plumas County until 1883, when J.T., Rebecca, and Robert Austin (J.T.'s father) bought a 320-acre ranch in the vicinity of Davis Creek (Goose Lake valley, Modoc County, California) near the California-Oregon state line (Deuel & Richards 1918, Hail 1918, Mansfield 1918). When Robert arrived on the scene is unknown at this time, but he, James, and Rebecca bought the southern half of section 18 in township 45 a mile or so west of Davis Creek (Jensen 1908, Metsker Maps 1958, Smith 1887).

On the Goose Lake valley property they raised and sold small grain (barley and perhaps other cereals), fruits (strawberries, raspberries and others), and cattle (Hail 1893b, Sloss 1904; Sloss & Lighty 1901, 1902a&b, 1903). James served as a local Justice of the Peace, county supervisor, and an election judge (Hail 1892, Hallsted 1887, Sloss & Lighty 1902c), while Rebecca was the region's de facto physician.

Medical help from Fort Bidwell (on a straight line trajectory) was only 15 miles away , but the most likely path to follow was a circuitous, lengthy, and time consuming route through the Warner Mountains via Fandango Pass. A trip to Alturas to fetch a physician required no mountain crossing, but it was about 20 miles away to the southwest. So, relying upon the medical skills she'd learned from her first husband, Rebecca Austin was frequently called upon to attend to the sick or injured citizens near Davis Creek (Creese 1998, Hail 1893a, Mansfield 1918).

The Austin family remained in northwestern California until the summer of 1908, at which time they sold the Davis Creek property (Hail 1908) and moved to Chico in the Sacramento Valley about 50 miles (as the crow flies) southwest of their one-time home in Butterfly Valley (Hail 1918). They remained in their Chico residence on the edge of the Sierra Nevada foothills, until James T. Austin died a couple of months short of his 81st birthday in September 1918; six months later Rebecca perished just after her 87th birthday in March 1919 (Hail 1918 & 1919).

Rebecca M. Austin - Botanist.

Rebecca began collecting plants in Putnam County, Illinois (Austin 1877a, Warner 1995), probably in the vicinity of Magnolia and her interest in botany continued, when she moved to Tennessee (likely near Livingston). According to her recollections, Rebecca collected about 50 species in each state (Austin 1918), but evidence of those early botanical forays are absent from the iDigBio and SEINet databases — Rebecca's earliest collections documented in those plant inventories date from her initial work in California.

Rebecca began dabbling in California botany in 1866, but her plant-based endeavors weren't significantly kindled until 1872. The family (Rebecca, James, Mary, Josie, & Oliver) were living in the Black Hawk Creek mining district, when by pure happenstance botanist/bookseller J.G. Lemmon visited the camp.

It seems that book merchant J.G. Lemmon was working a circuit through towns and mining camps of the Sierra Nevada, when in the Black Hawk camp he happened across a unique pitcher plant leaf pressed in the pages of an "almanac". The leaf piqued Lemmon's botanical curiosity and he asked person after person where the plant could be found! None knew. Then he started pumping the children in the camp for information and he stumbled across "little Mamie Austin" [Rebecca and James' daughter, Josie?]. According to Lemmon, Mamie told him that "Uncle Rice brought it down from Butterfly!" (Jepsen 1934, Lemmon 1876).

That chance encounter led Lemmon to the Austin home and according to Rebecca: "Prof. Lemmon came to our home peddling books, and when he saw a small cabinet which I had made out of a soap box in which I had some insects, mineral and plant specimens, he took off his hat and waving it over his head gave three cheers for the woman who was cooking for miners and trying to study nature under such adverse circumstances. I thought he was off his balance ... (Austin 1918)." But that chance encounter turned out to be the beginning of a long term (though occasional) relationship from which both J.G. and Rebecca benefited. "He visited us every summer for several years on his collecting trips, and he and Mrs. Pulsifer Ames helped me greatly in my [botanical] work (Austin 1918)."

With two young children under her care — Mary turned 16, Josie was 7, & Oliver was 4 in 1872 — Rebecca's primary concerns were with managing the household and being a contributing breadwinner for the family, as such she even returned to the teaching profession at Meadow Valley school for a period (Hail 1910, Ward 1872, Warner 1995). She had family responsibilities, yet her botany infection was severe; Rebecca became a dedicated collector of the local flora and emerged as an astute student of natural history. She even parlayed her plant collecting contagion into a successful specimens-for-profit venture and a long-term plant exchange project.

Through her correspondence with a variety of botanists, Rebecca marketed her California plant collections and exchanged plants with other botanists. "... Have about two horse wagon load [sic] of plants to send this winter. Want to sell some as I have more than I care to exchange. If you have any friends who wish to buy, they may have them at the rate of five dollars per 100 (Austin 1877b)." "... I have quite a collection of choice California seeds & bulbs, which I would like to dispose of for a small compensation. I also have dried specimens of about two hundred species some of which I would like to exchange for different ones. ... (Austin 1875b)." "... I have about one hundred species of Mrs. Ames Placer Co[.] plants in duplicates, and you may select from a list which I will send any that you may desire ... (Austin 1879b)."

But Rebecca Austin's plant collecting was neither a simple plan for economic gain, nor an occasional avocation for passing the time. Rebecca's own words best express her deep-seated desire to contribute to natural science, "If I can only sell plants & seeds enough to buy books, pay postage, &c, I shall be able to go on with the work which I have begun and which I so much desire to accomplish something in (Austin 1876a)." In spite of her many other responsibilities, Rebecca accomplished her goal and became a noted student of the flora of California.

Botanizing California.

When she began botanizing California, plant identification for Rebecca Austin was a challenge. She lacked a hand lens and had only Alphonso Wood's (1845) "Class-book of Botany", which contained a "Flora of the U. States. Particularly of New England and New-York." Though somewhat hamstrung by the lack of equipment and her ill-suited reference material, Ms. Austin persisted. She welcomed help from and was encouraged by California botanists like John G. Lemmon and Mary Pulsifer Ames (Austin 1918, Fragnoli 2016, Warner 1995), whose friendships led to professional associations with other important botanists.

Perhaps of particular importance to Rebecca was her introduction to botanist and printer, Harry Patterson in Oquawka, Illinois. Harry was an affable gent, who made friends easily and was acquainted with many prominent plant professionals through his business, which included the printing of herbarium labels. Harry seemed to know who was doing what and how to put plant collectors in contact with people interested in expanding personal and/or institutional herbaria — a perfect arrangement to introduce Rebecca, the plant seller, to a variety of plant buyers (Austin 1876b, Kibbe 1953, Warner 1995).

Through Lemmon, Patterson, and others, Rebecca and her botanical efforts became known to prominent botanists in the eastern U.S. She collected plants for and exchanged specimens with the likes of Asa Gray, Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, George E. Davenport, Sereno Watson, William Canby, Cyrus Pringle, and other leaders in the field (Austin 1879a, Biodiversity Heritage Library 2020, Kibbe 1953). They in turn identified plants for her, requested specimens from her, and exchanged information with her. In fact, Asa Gray and British botanist Joseph Hooker botanized parts of California in 1877, but the party did not find its way to Plumas County, which greatly disappointed Rebecca as she would have dearly loved to have met the gentlemen and to have done field work with them (Austin 1877c). Though she cultivated an acquaintanceship with many botanists, it seems that William Canby, Mary Pulsifer Ames, and J.G. Lemmon were her closest botanical associates and confidants (Warner 1995). Lemmon and Ames helped with the California flora and Canby was particularly interested in her work with carnivorous plants.

Judging from the information available via the iDigBio, Jepson Herbarium, SEINet, and Smithsonian Institution databases, Rebecca had two lengthy periods during which she completed most of her plant collecting: 1874-1885 and 1893-1899. Those data show that until 1879, Ms. Austin confined the vast majority of her plant collecting to Plumas county. Perhaps prior to then, her two youngest children were not old enough to take along on botanical excursions or to be left with a caretaker. At any rate, Rebecca collected about 1600 plants during that 1874-1885 period and her numbers peaked in 1879 (286 collections).

In 1876 the Austins suffered a major financial loss due to mining problems and were forced to sell their land (Warner 1995). As mentioned above, in 1883 the family left Plumas county and purchased 320 acres of land near Davis Creek in Modoc county, California, where they made a living farming and raising cattle. Perhaps because Rebecca and James were busy making the new farm/ranch a profitable venture, from 1884 through 1892 Ms. Austin didn't do much plant collecting. But during the 1893 through 1899 period, Rebecca collected 60% more plants (˜2500 vs. ˜1600) in 40% less time (five years vs. 12 years), than she did during the 1874 through 1885 period! Her motivation? Who knows? From the turn of the century, until her death in 1919, Rebecca Merritt Austin more or less retired from plant collecting.

The Plants of Mt. Lassen - Rebecca's first major fieldtrip.

The family was living in the Big Meadows area (most of which now lies beneath the surface of Lake Almanor) of Plumas County, near the town of Prattville. On July 28, 1879 Rebecca, her husband, the two children (Josie - age 14 & Oliver - age 11), and a friend by the name of J.M. Emmert, set out on an excursion from Big Meadows to scale Mt. Lassen (a trip of about 25 miles NW as the crow flies). The company set out in a wagon with a two-horse team (plus a spare - horse, not wagon) and regarding their crossing of the North Fork of the Feather River Rebecca wrote: "I found but few specimens for my herbarium here, as the sheep and grasshoppers had eaten everything in the form of vegetation - except the trees. Did you ever see grasshoppers so thick that the ground resembled one brown, moving mass (Austin 1880)?" [Grasshoppers were indeed a common problem in 1878 & 1879 (Riley et al. 1880).]

The evening of the 28th the party relaxed and spent the night along a creek flowing through the southern end of Warner Valley. The children played and caught trout, while Rebecca botanized and found (& collected?) at least a dozen plant taxa. Among the plants she saw were a white form of western monkshood and a honeysuckle (pictured to the left).

The group continued northwest through Warner Valley and reached what Rebecca called "Hot Spring Valley" (the drainage of Hot Springs Creek). On July 29th they saw (& collected from?) large populations of Sierran Fumewort (Corydalis caseana), Twinflower Marsh Marigold (Caltha biflora), Shasta Hoary-aster (Dieteria canescens var. shastensis), and a variety of other plants.

On the 30th the group ventured about ½ mile south of Hot Springs Creek and visited "Lake Solfatera" (Boiling Springs Lake), which Rebecca described as being a sulphurous, circular depression surrounded by a dense white fir forest. She explored the southeast shore of the lake, where the "boiling caldrons of mud" varied from "inky black" to "white" to "delicate pink". They lingered a short while and then ventured away from the lake about a mile and a half southeast to Terminal Geyser.

En route to the geyser, Rebecca happened across a few specimens of Snow plant, a couple of Penstemons, a Delphinium, Sulfur Flower Buckwheat, and a few other plants as they continued southeast past the geyser into the small valley of Willow Lake. After botanizing the area in the vicinity of Willow Lake, they retraced their steps northwest into Hot Springs Creek valley, reached the end of the wagon road, and continued on into the upper sections of Kings Creek. The exact location of their campsite is unknown, but they bedded down that night at an elevation of ˜7200 feet (hopefully higher) and they probably were still several miles from their objective.

Their goal was to reach the peak of Mt. Lassen, so just before sunrise on July 31st the Austin family and Mr. Emmert broke camp and began negotiating the many switchbacks of the mountain road leading to the summit. As they alternated between hiking and riding — the wagon road had ended some miles back and there were only three horses for five people — they passed through hemlocks in the subalpine woodlands and continued higher into the alpine vegetation, where Rebecca spotted (& collected?) Drummond's anemone (Anemone drummondii), alpine bittercress (Cardamine bellidifolia), and Shasta buckwheat (Eriogonum pyrolifolium), among other plants.

Rebecca was an obstacle to progress, when it came to the group's objective to reach Mt. Lassen's summit. "The ascent with me was slow, as I had to examine every plant and place some of each kind in my portfolio. Voices far up the heights were calling me to hasten, and as one after another of our party reached the top, I could see hats waving and hear them cheering, so I knew that a grand view awaited me. But I must not pass by these lesser treasures around me. ... A little more climbing, and I stood on the summit. Here the air is so pure and life-giving, the scene so grand, that I felt like a new being. I was silent, for words could never paint the grand beauty which my eyes beheld."

"The day was waning, and soon it was time for us to begin our backward march, but before leaving I collected all the plants I could find at an elevation of more than ten thousand feet. They were: Draba aurea [sic], Smelouskia calycina [sic], Spraguea umbellata, Polygonum Shastense, and one, which I took to be a Rumex [perhaps alpine mountain sorrel], was above all others." Eventually the group left the summit, carefully picked their way downslope, and made it to Hot Spring Valley before sunset. After a restful night in Hot Spring Valley, they continued a few more miles to the southeast and revisited Willow Lake, where they spent the day (photo of Willow Lake) — the children fished, the men hunted, Rebecca undoubtedly botanized the sphagnum mats floating along the shore, and everyone relaxed.

"We reached home on the second of August, having been gone seven days, and felt well repaid for the toils of our trip, by the large amount of health and happiness we brought home with us, to say nothing of the rare plants I secured, which will afford me pleasant employment in arranging and studying during the long winter evenings which are close by, and in distributing to my many friends, who, I know, will receive a portion of my own happiness (Austin 1880)."

The flora of Modoc county, California.

As mentioned above, Rebecca Austin's peak plant collecting years occurred when she was living near Davis Creek in Modoc county. Information gleaned from various online databases shows that only a handful of people collected plants in Modoc county prior to Rebecca Austin — most notable among them were J.G. Lemmon and Sara Plummer. Rebecca was unquestionably the first person to botanize the county extensively. But she didn't do it alone.

Whether afoot, on horseback, or riding in a wagon, Rebecca was frequently accompanied by her younger daughter, Josie (Warner 1995) and she even enlisted the help of her grandson, Chester Bruce. Chester recalled a field trip through a particularly rugged area of severe rockfaces, when Rebecca looped a harness around his midsection "and held fast while he went down the cliff after a fern which she could see growing on the escarpment" (Reed 1941).

Rebecca published neither a flora nor even a checklist of plants from Modoc county, but she did collect specimens from a variety of locations and habitats in the area. All-in-all Rebecca obtained at least 1250 specimens from Modoc county and more from various parts of adjacent Oregon (see iDigBio, Jepson Herbarium, SEINet, and Smithsonian Institution databases).

Rebecca's special interests: Cobra Lilies, Snow Plants, and Sundews.

Again, Ms. Austin completed a bit of plant collecting in California as early as 1866, but she didn't embrace the pursuit enthusiastically until later. Her serendipitous meeting at Black Hawk Creek in 1872 with John G. Lemmon exposed their shared interest in natural history, which matured into a mutually beneficial relationship (Austin 1918, Lemmon 1876, Warner 1995). It may have been Lemmon's exuberance at seeing the unique California pitcherplant for the first time that served as a catalyst to direct Rebecca's botanical interests towards the study of Darlingtonia.

Rebecca's dedication to botany became more intense in 1874, when the Austin family left Black Hawk Creek and settled on a ranch in Butterfly Valley — the collection locality for the pitcher plant leaf that piqued Lemmon's interest. It was there that Rebecca's studies in natural history and carnivorous plants truly blossomed. California pitcherplant (Darlingtonia californica), which came to hold Rebecca's attention, was first collected in 1842 by J.D. Brackenridge, a member of the Wilkes Expedition, when the explorers passed near Mt. Shasta in what is now northern California. In naming the plant, John Torrey chose to honor William Darlington for his work on the flora of Chester County, Pennsylvania (Torrey 1854 & 1874). Torrey and Darlington aside, it seems that J.G. Lemmon was instrumental in cementing Rebecca Austin's relationship with California pitcherplant.

Mr. Lemmon was acquainted with William Canby, a successful businessman and botanist in Wilmington, Delaware (Rose 1904). Canby's interest in carnivorous plants led him to request information from Lemmon regarding the California pitcherplant (Cobra Lily) and Lemmon responded with herbarium specimens and field observations (Canby 1874). Lemmon introduced Canby to Rebecca Austin and Ms. Austin became a long-distance student and colleague of Canby's. Rebecca shared her observations on the natural history of Darlingtonia; he, in turn, helped Rebecca improve her knowledge of botanical science and experimental design (Warner 1995).

Whether in letters to William Canby, Asa Gray, J.G. Lemmon or in publications of her own, Rebecca documented a variety of new discoveries about the life history of Darlingtonia. She described the location of the glands that produce "the sweet secretion, or lure, on the new leaves of Darlingtonia". As a result of observing the plants during rainstorms, she was convinced the fluid in the pitchers was produced by the plant and did not enter from the outside. She "found that by feeding the new leaves beef, mutton, eggs or bread that the digestive liquid in the tubes [leaves] was greatly increased." She investigated, but could not identify, the little white larvae [they were midge larvae (Naeem 1988)] that populated the fluid in the leaves and found that they remained active even "when the thermometer was a little below zero and the liquid in the tubes [the leaves] was frozen down to the insect mass [the indigestible insect parts]." Based upon her own field work, Rebecca wrote to William Canby "that the insects captured [by Darlingtonia and Drosera leaves] were used to nourish the plants in some way." Rebecca's discoveries with regard to Darlingtonia have been described by many authors (Ames 1880, Austin 1875a, 1878a&b, 1918; Gray 1876; Jepsen 1934, Jones 1932), but perhaps the most thorough and interesting account is that of Warner (1995).

Though she focused on the cobra lily, Rebecca also studied snow plant (Sarcodes sanguinea) and sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) in California's Sierra Nevada. Rebecca expressed her interest in snow plant in a letter to Massachusetts businessman/botanist George Davenport, "... I shall endeavour to study the physiology of our wonderful "snow plant" (Sarcodes Sanguinae [sic]) to some extent this season. How I wish it were possible to cultivate it in your eastern gardens. I have never seen any [sic] thing in the vegetable kingdom more beautiful, or wonderful. ... (Austin 1876a)." She published a brief account of the plant's life history in 1883 and studied the plant's root structure to decide that Sarcodes was not an annual as claimed by another author, but was in fact an herbaceous perennial (Austin 1883).

When it comes to sundew, Jones (1932) quoted her as having written, "My notes on Drosera rotundifolia were published in our county paper." In fact, the August 14, 1875 edition of "The Plumas National" newspaper includes an article titled "Notes on Carnivorous Plants" (Dee - No. 2. 1875), which matches quite closely the account mentioned by Rebecca. The report begins, "DROSERA ROTUNDIFOLIA is the botanical name of the little round-leaved Sun Dew.", and goes on to describe the plant's habitat, its general appearance, and its responses to being fed various things like egg, bread, sugar, salt, radish, and lettuce.

The experiments described and the results reported by "Dee - No. 2" are remarkably similar to the data collected by Ms. Austin and reported by Mary Pulsifer Ames (1880). The write-up by "Dee - No. 2", also closely matches the notes recorded by Rebecca, when she was working on Drosera with Ms. Ames (Warner 1995). Though the identity of "Dee - No. 2" is a mystery, it seems likely the newspaper report authored by her/him summarizes the observations on Sundew made by Rebecca Austin. It's anybody's guess why no actual identifiable person took credit for the article and how "Dee" was affiliated with Rebecca, if at all.

Regardless, a dozen Drosera collections attributed to R.M. Austin may be accessed via the iDigBio, Jepson Herbarium, SEINet, and Smithsonian Institution databases.

Rebecca wasn't the only botanist in the family.

Rebecca had three surviving children — Mary, Josephine, and Oliver. Mary Alvie Leonard was born in 1856 to Rebecca and her first husband, Dr. Alva Leonard, in Illinois. In 1865, just a couple of months after the Austin family had settled in Plumas County, California, James and Rebecca welcomed Josephine into the world. Finally, James Oliver Austin was born in Plumas county, California in 1868. All three children followed in their mother's footsteps and entered the field of education (at least for a few years), but only Oliver and Josie did any plant collecting (Ancestry 2020a, Adriana 2011, Austin 1918, Flesh to Bones 2018, Hail 1888).

One specimen of California Buckthorn (Rhamnus californica) present at the Putnam Museum & Science Center (Davenport, Iowa) was collected by Oliver in 1883. Among the specimens within the Consortium of California Herbaria are two flowering plants that Oliver Austin collected in Modoc County, California. One sheet is that of Slender Bog Orchid (Platanthera stricta Lindl.) collected in 1885 and the second is a specimen of sulphur-flower buckwheat (Eriogonum umbellatum var. modocense (Greene) S. Stokes) collected in 1884. Ames (1908) acknowledged an 1885 collection of Habenaria saccata (a synonym of Plantanthera stricta) made by Oliver Austin from Modoc county, California, which may well be a duplicate of the specimen of Slender Bog Orchid mentioned above. Oliver might have contributed more to the field of botany, but illness cut his life short in 1889 (Hail 1889).

Josephine, (Mrs. C.C. Bruce, following her marriage) collected about 120 plants in Modoc county, either alone or with her mother, but she did far more plant prospecting in Butte county near her home in Chico, California. She was a far more prolific collector than Oliver and was listed as the collector-of-record (as Mrs. C.C. Bruce) in a number of publications, such as Milliken (1904) and Eastwood (1903, 1905). Though Mansfield (1918) reported that Josie "devoted much time to gathering specimens for the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, D.C., collecting and mounting seventeen hundred specimens in one year", just under 100 appear in the Smithsonian's plant database. On the other hand, several hundred plant specimens collected in California, Oregon, and Washington list Mrs. C.C. Bruce as collector or co-collector (sometimes with her mother) in the iDigBio, SEINet, and other specimen databases.

A quick summary.

Rebecca Merritt Austin was one of the most important early botanists to study the native flora of northeastern California and one of only ninety-nine women to botanize California prior to the twentieth century (Rudolph 1990). She progressed from an untrained and poorly equipped beginner to a knowledgeable and well-respected expert, who was willing to share discoveries with and ask questions of more well-known scientists in California and beyond.

Rebecca withstood and overcame several personal difficulties prior to arriving in California. Once in the state, she was challenged with the daily stresses of raising children, being gainfully employed, caring for livestock, tending to the sick and injured, etc. Yet, Rebecca M. Austin persevered. She was one of a very few women in the United States prior to 1900 that collected and exchanged high-quality plant specimens with other botanists (Rudolph 1982). She shared her personal observations with others via correspondence and occasional publications — in so doing, Ms. Austin successfully made great contributions to the general knowledge of the region's flora and to the specific understanding of the natural history of the cobra lily, snow plant, and sundew in California's Sierra Nevada.

This short tribute to Rebecca's life and accomplishments came about, because a four-volume bound herbarium assembled by her holding 141 California specimens (1873-1892) is present in the herbarium of Davenport, Iowa's Putnam Museum & Science Center. Those 141 are but a small portion of the plant collections that are attributed to R. M. Austin and may be accessed from the Consortium of California Herbaria, the University and Jepson Herbaria, the Smithsonian Institution, the iDigBio, and the SEINet specimen portals.

Literature Cited.

Adriana. 2011. Josephine Cornelia Austin Bruce. [1865 - 1931]. Find a grave. Provo, Utah.

Ames, Mary E. Pulsifer. 1880. Notes on the flora of Plumas County. The California Horticulturist & Floral Magazine. 10(8):225-229.

Ames, Oakes. 1908. Orchidaceae: Illustrations and studies of the family Orchidaceae. Fascicle III. The Merrymount Press. Boston, Massachusetts. p. 99 of 288.

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