Ellen Powell Thompson

Ellen Louella (Nellie) Powell Thompson (1840–1911) was an American naturalist and botanist, and an active advocate for women's suffrage.

Ellen Powell Thompson
Ellen Powell Thompson, c.1900
Born1840
Died1911
NationalityAmerican
EducationWheaton College

Life

Ellen Louella (Nellie) Powell Thompson was born in New York to parents of English origin.[1] Her siblings included John Wesley Powell, best known for explorations of the American West and leadership of the early US Geological Survey. Another brother was William P Powell, superintendent of Washington DC public schools. She had several sisters, one of whom was the wife of Congressman Davis of Kansas, and mother of Arthur Powell Davis, scientist.[2]

In the mid-1850s, Thompson attended Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. She taught school from the age of 16.[3]

On July 8, 1862 in Wheaton, Illinois, she married professor and geographer Almon Harris Thompson, a colleague and friend of her brother John. After the wedding, Thompson continued her work as a teacher, and took her husband's position as superintendent of schools when he entered the army. She spent her 1863 summer vacation at Cairo, Illinois, caring for sick and wounded soldiers from the American Civil War.[3]

Thompson accompanied her husband on expeditions to map the western United States. During this period, she made friends with members of a number of Indian tribes, learning the language of the "Pah Utes" and studying their customs.[3] Thompson was a founding member of the Women's Anthropological Society of America, Washington DC.[4]

The Thompsons had no children.

Thompson died of heart failure, at home while "engaged in household duties", on March 12, 1911.[5] She is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.[6]

Powell family: Back row, left to right: Ellen Powell Thompson, William Bramwell Powell, William (Billy) P. Powell, Almon Harris Thompson. Front row: John Wesley Powell and Mary Powell Wheeler. Topeka, Kansas, circa 1900.

Botany

Thompson joined John Wesley Powell's second Colorado River expedition during their 1872 winter camp near Kanab, Utah, serving as botanist. Her husband Almon Harris Thompson was second in command. She collected plants primarily in the Kanab area, although collecting excursions were also made through southern Utah and northern Arizona.[7] She collected 385 specimens,[8] 15 of which would become type specimens for new taxa.[9]

Every three months, she sent her collections (dried pressed plants) to Dr Asa Gray at Harvard. Many of her specimens reside at the Gray Herbarium,[10] part of Harvard University Herbaria. Some were deposited in the United States National Herbarium in Washington D.C.,[11] and others in scattered herbaria across the country.

Thompson also liked to paint, and her home was decorated with many botanical illustrations.[12]

Botanical legacy

Thompson is commemorated in the names of the following plant taxa, which were described as new to science based on specimens she collected in 1872 on John Wesley Powell's second Colorado River expedition:[9]

  • Astragalus mollissimus thompsonieae (Astragalus thompsoniae) – Thompson's woolly milkvetch
  • Eriogonum thompsoniae thompsoniae – Thompson's buckwheat
  • Penstemon thompsoniae (Penstemon pumilus thompsoniae) – Thompson's penstemon
  • Peteria thompsoniae – Thompson's spine-noded milkvetch
  • Psorothamnus thompsoniae (Parosela thompsoniae) – Thompson's Dalea

Additional plant taxa described as new to science based on specimens she collected on the 1872 expedition include the following:[9]

  • Androstephium breviflorum – Pink Funnel Lily
  • Astragalus ampullarius – Gumbo Milk-vetch
  • Calochortus aureus (Calochortus nuttallii aureus) – Golden Mariposa Lily
  • Calochortus flexuosus – Winding Mariposa Lily
  • Chylismia multijuga (Oenothera multijuga) – Froststem Suncup
  • Dalea flavescens (Petalostemon flavescens) – Canyonlands Prairieclover
  • Erigeron utahensis (Erigeron stenophyllus tetrapleuris) – Utah Fleabane
  • Fendlerella utahensis (Whipplea utahensis) – Utah Fendlerbush, Yerba Desierto
  • Mirabilis glabra (Oxybaphus glaber) – Smooth Four-o'clock
  • Psathyrotes pilifera – Hairybeast Turtleback
  • Psilostrophe sparsiflora (Riddellia tagetina sparsiflora) – Greenstem Paperflower

Political activism

Thompson was active in the Suffragette movement in the 1890s, and was known across the United States as a colleague of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Thompson was elected President of the Women's District Suffrage Association on October 10, 1895,[13] and again in 1897.[14] She was also a founding member of the Equal Suffrage Association of the District of Columbia.[15]

In 1900, Thompson was the chair of the national convention, which ended with a celebration of Susan Anthony's 80th birthday, and retirement from the Presidency of the National Association. Thompson was active in securing a gift of $200 for Anthony.[16]

References
  1. This info is harvested from her death certificate. "District of Columbia Deaths, 1874-1961," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F7T2-J61 : accessed 10 February 2019), Ellen Powell Thompson, 12 Mar 1911, District of Columbia, United States; citing reference ID cn 197713, District Records Center, Washington D.C.; FHL microfilm 2,115,391..
  2. Helen H. Tindall, "Ellen Powell Thompson" in The Woman's Journal (Boston, MA, United States), Saturday, April 1, 1911, Vol. XLII, Issue 13, p.99
  3. "District Representative" in Evening Star (Washington, District of Columbia), February 16, 1898, p 7.
  4. Ellen Powell Thompson, Folk-lore from Ireland, The Journal of American Folklore, vol 6, no 23, pp 259-268; see also Women's Anthropological Society of America, Washington, D.C. Organization and Historical Sketch of the Women's Anthropological Society of America. Pub. by the Society, 1889.
  5. The Washington Times, March 13, 1911, p 2; see also The Eureka Herald and Greenwood County Republican, March 30, 1911, p 5.
  6. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49325077/ellen-thompson
  7. Smith, Beatrice Scheer. 1994. The 1872 diary and plant collections of Ellen Powell Thompson. Utah Historical Quarterly 62:104-131.
  8. Thompson, Ellen Powell. Plant list: Utah. Harvard University Botany Libraries. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/136874#/summary Biodiversity Heritage Library Field Notes Project.
  9. Welsh, SL. 1982. Utah plant types—historical perspective 1840 to 1981—annotated list, and bibliography. Great Basin Naturalist 42:129-189.
  10. "Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries".
  11. "Botany | Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History".
  12. Helen H. Tindall, "Ellen Powell Thompson" in The Woman's Journal (Boston, MA, United States), Saturday, April 1, 1911, Vol. XLII, Issue 13, p.99
  13. Evening Star (Washington, District of Columbia), October 11, 1895, p 16.
  14. "Multiple News Items." Woman's Tribune, 23 Oct. 1897, p. 82.
  15. "Equal Suffrage" in Evening Star (Washington, District of Columbia), December 23, 1898, p 9.
  16. Stanton, E. Cady., Harper, I. Husted., Gage, M. Joslyn., Anthony, Susan B. (18811922). History of woman suffrage. Rochester, N. Y.: Susan B. Anthony. p 568.
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