Frederick Albion Ober

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Frederick Albion Ober (born February 13, 1849 in Beverly , Massachusetts , † May 31, 1913 in Hackensack , New Jersey ) was an American naturalist and author.

Life

As a boy, Ober showed an interest in natural history. He collected almost all of the birds in New England and noted their behavior. After a general education he worked as a shoemaker from 1862 to 1866. He then enrolled at the Massachusetts Agricultural College . However, due to lack of financial resources, he left college after a short time. From 1867 to 1870 he worked in a drugstore. Then he worked again as a shoemaker.

In 1872 he gave up his business to go hunting in Florida. In 1874 he explored Lake Okeechobee , about which he published a description of the lake and its shores in periodicals . From 1876 to 1878 he made ornithological excursions to the Lesser Antilles , where he discovered 22 new bird taxa. Two of them - the small Antillean Flycatcher ( Myiarchus oberi ) and the Montserrat Oriole ( Icterus oberi ) - were in 1877 and 1880 by George Newbold Lawrence named in his honor.

Driven by the desire to see the traces of early American civilization, Ober traveled through Mexico in 1881. During this and two other excursions he collected the material for several books. After his return he prepared lectures for his travels on behalf of scientific societies. He later gave a series of popular lectures using a magic lantern to project his photographic representations . These lectures, which were originally given at the Lowell Institute in Boston , were titled "Mexico, Historical and Picturesque", "Ancient Cities of Mexico", "The Mexican Indian", "Adventures in the West Indies" and "Through" Florida with Gun and Camera ". During his 30-year career as an author, Ober published over 40 works, including mainly travel books, but also books about birds and biographical works about Amerigo Vespucci , Hernán Cortés and Israel Putnam . In 1904 he was one of the founders of the Explorers Club .

Works (selection)

"Old Put" the patriot
  • 1880: Camps in the Caribbees: The Adventures of a Naturalist in the Lesser Antilles
  • 1884: Mexican resources: a guide to and through Mexico
  • 1888: A Boy's Adventures in the West Indies
  • 1895: Josephine, empress of the French
  • 1897: Under the Cuban Flag: Or, The Cacique's Treasure
  • 1898: Crusoe's Island; a bird-hunter's story
  • 1900: The Storied West Indies
  • 1901: The last of the Arawaks: a story of adventure on the Island of San Domingo
  • 1903: The Navy Boys' Cruise with Columbus or The Adventures of Two Boys Who Sailed with the Great Admiral in His Discovery of America
  • 1904: Our West Indian neighbors: the islands of the Caribbean Sea, “America's Mediterranean”: their picturesque features, fascinating history, and attractions for the traveler, nature-lover, settler and pleasure seeker
  • 1904: “Old Put” the patriot
  • 1905: Hernando Cortés, Conqueror of Mexico
  • 1906: Vasco Nuñez de Balboa
  • 1906: Pizarro and the conquest of Peru
  • 1906: Ferdinand De Soto and the invasion of Florida
  • 1907: Heroes of American History: Amerigo Vespucci
  • 1908: A Guide to the West Indies and Bermudas: With Maps and Many Illustrations
  • 1910: Mexico, Central America, and West Indies

Web links

Commons : Frederick Albion Ober  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Ober, Frederic Albion . In: James Grant Wilson, John Fiske (Eds.): Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography . tape 4 : Lodge - Pickens . D. Appleton and Company, New York 1888, p. 549 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).
  2. ^ "Old Put" The Patriot . In: Project Gutenberg .
personal data
SURNAME Ober, Frederick Albion
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American naturalist and author
DATE OF BIRTH February 13, 1849
PLACE OF BIRTH Beverly , Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH May 31, 1913
Place of death Hackensack , New Jersey