Maurice Cole Tanquary

Last updated
Maurice Cole Tanquary
Maurice Cole Tanquary (2).jpg
Tanquary in 1913
Born(1881-11-26)November 26, 1881
DiedOctober 25, 1944(1944-10-25) (aged 62)
NationalityAmerican
Education A.B., M.A., PhD
Alma mater University of Illinois
Known for Crocker Land Expedition
SpouseJosephine Perry Tanquary
ChildrenRev. Jean Tanquary, Joyce Tanquary Presthus, and Margaret Tanquary Corwin
Scientific career
Fields Entomology
Zoology
Apiculture
Institutions Illinois Department of Agriculture
Minnesota Department of Agriculture
Kansas State Agricultural College
Texas Department of Agriculture
University of Minnesota

Maurice Cole Tanquary (November 26, 1881 - October 25, 1944) was a professor of entomology, a member of the Crocker Land Expedition and is considered to be a pioneer in modern beekeeping. [1]

Contents

Early life

Tanquary was the son of Thomas J. and Florence A. Tanquary. [2] He was born and raised in Lawrenceville, Illinois, grew up on a farm and attended local public schools. He furthered his education at Vincennes University, where he played an active role in the Tau Phi Delta society, contributing to its initial constitution and by-laws. [3] In 1903, he graduated from Vincennes University and subsequently taught at Lawrence County's public schools for four years. Pursuing higher education, he sought degrees at the University of Illinois, obtaining his AB in 1907, MA in 1908, and PhD in 1912. During his time at the University of Illinois, Tanquary worked as a part-time assistant to the State Entomologist of Illinois between 1908 and 1909. He also undertook summer studies at Harvard University in 1910 and served as a field agent for the State Entomologist of Minnesota in 1911. [4] Notably, Tanquary played an active role in campus life, founding the Ionian Literary Society and becoming a charter member of the Acacia fraternity. He served as the national treasurer of Acacia from 1908 to 1909. [5]

After earning his doctorate he became a professor of agriculture at Kansas State Agricultural College in 1913 where he was given leave to join the Crocker Land Expedition as a zoologist later that year. [6] [7]

Crocker Land Expedition

As the zoologist for the expedition, Tanquary was not involved in the final push to find the island from the village of Etah in northern Greenland. Instead, he and fellow Illinois alumnus Walter Elmer Ekblaw were stationed at a Danish trading post 120 miles to the south. They became stranded there after Ekblaw was struck with snow blindness and almost ran out of food in 1914. They were rescued just in time in August and returned to Etah.

In December 1914 Tanquary and Donald Baxter MacMillan set off by dogsled for southern Greenland in an attempt to send out word that Crocker Land did not exist and that they would need a rescue ship in 1915. During the trip they became lost for ten days in temperatures as low as -50F. Running low on provisions, they had to eat several of their dogs. As luck would have it, they happened upon an Eskimo settlement. MacMillan decided to return to Etah and have Tanquary complete the journey with a Danish trader and an Eskimo guide. After making it to the mail station in southern Greenland, Tanquary made the 400 mile trip back to Etah. Along the way, Tanquary removed his boots and pieces of raw, bleeding skin and flesh fell off his rotting toes. Despite the frostbite, Tanquary managed to drive his dog team to Etah, where his big toes were amputated. Ekblaw described Tanquary's dash back to Etah as "the grittiest exploit of the expedition."

Tanquary's message for help was received and a rescue ship was sent. [8] Unfortunately, the ship became entrapped in ice and Tanquary had to make another trip to the southern tip of the island. The trip began on December 16, 1915, from Etah and ended on April 20, 1916. He was able to catch a ride on a ship going to Copenhagen, Denmark which he reached on May 20, 1916. He promptly cabled New York asking for a second relief ship to be sent to the party and he made arrangements for his return to the U.S.. The second rescue ship, sent in the summer of 1916, also became stuck in the ice and the expedition was not rescued until 1917. [5]

Journals from Tanquary, Walter Ekblaw, Donald and Mirriam MacMillan are available online at the George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives website. Digitization of materials at Bowdoin College related to the Crocker Land Expedition funded by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation in 2016. [9]

Personal life

Tanquary married Josephine Perry of Manhattan, KS on his return from the expedition. They had a child named Jean who was born in April 1917. [5]

Professional life

He returned to Kansas State Agricultural College in 1916 as an assistant professor before becoming as associate professor in 1919. Later in 1919, he became the chief of entomology at the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and was named Texas' state entomologist. [6]

In 1920 he made a trip to Mexico to study the pink bollworm which infested cotton crops. [5]

Tanquary was interested in apiculture and resigned in 1923 to enter professional beekeeping in North Dakota. He joined the University of Minnesota College of Agriculture as an entomologist in 1928 and remained there until 1944. While in Minnesota he devoted much of his time to the study of bees. He was also known as a good teacher who could apply experimental ability to practical manner. [6]

Tanquary's family donated his photographs, lantern slides and journals to The Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum, Bowdoin College, in 2006.

Tanquary Fiord on Ellesmere Island is named for him. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Peary</span> American Arctic explorer (1856–1920)

Robert Edwin Peary Sr. was an American explorer and officer in the United States Navy who made several expeditions to the Arctic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for, in April 1909, leading an expedition that claimed to be the first to have reached the geographic North Pole.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawrenceville, Illinois</span> City in Illinois, United States

Lawrenceville is a city in and the county seat of Lawrence County, Illinois, United States, located along the Embarras River. The population was 4,348 at the 2010 census. Lawrenceville is located in southeast Illinois, northwest of Vincennes, Indiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donald Baxter MacMillan</span> American explorer and sailor

Donald Baxter MacMillan was an American explorer, sailor, researcher and lecturer who made over 30 expeditions to the Arctic during his 46-year career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyrus Thomas</span> American entomologist

Cyrus Thomas was an American ethnologist and entomologist prominent in the late 19th century and noted for his studies of the natural history of the American West.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fata Morgana (mirage)</span> Optical phenomenon

A Fata Morgana is a complex form of superior mirage visible in a narrow band right above the horizon. The term Fata Morgana is the Italian translation of "Morgan the Fairy". These mirages are often seen in the Italian Strait of Messina, and were described as fairy castles in the air or false land conjured by her magic.

<i>Bowdoin</i> (Arctic schooner)

Bowdoin is a historic schooner built in 1921 in East Boothbay, Maine, at the Hodgdon Brothers Shipyard. Designed by William H. Hand, Jr. under the direction of explorer Donald B. MacMillan, the gaff-rigged vessel is the only American schooner built specifically for Arctic exploration. She has made 29 trips above the Arctic Circle in her life, three since she was acquired by the Maine Maritime Academy as a sail training ship in 1988. She is currently owned by the Academy, located in Castine, Maine, and is named for Bowdoin College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MacGregor Arctic Expedition</span>

The MacGregor Arctic Expedition was a privately funded expedition which set out to reoccupy Fort Conger, Ellesmere Island, Canada, a site within flying distance of the North Pole. The expedition, which took place from July 1, 1937, to October 3, 1938, had four main objectives: To collect weather data; to make a magnetic survey; to photograph the aurora borealis and study its effects upon radio transmission; and to explore the area northwest of Ellesmere Island, in order to clear up the questions about Crocker Land, which Robert Peary placed on the map more than 30 years earlier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eugene Amandus Schwarz</span> American entomologist

Eugene Amandus Schwarz was a German-American entomologist who specialized in the study of beetles (Coleoptera). He was a popular and influential employee of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for more than fifty years.

Schooner <i>A.W. Greely</i>

A.W. Greely was a three-masted wooden schooner that became known for her role in the MacGregor Arctic Expedition, a privately funded expedition to the North Pole between July 1, 1937, and October 3, 1938.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crocker Land Expedition</span> Research expedition

The Crocker Land Expedition took place in 1913. Its purpose was to investigate the existence of Crocker Land, a huge island supposedly sighted by the explorer Robert Peary from the top of Cape Colgate in 1906. It is now believed that Peary fraudulently invented the island.

Cape Thomas Hubbard is a headland located in the northern Canadian territory of Nunavut. Projecting into the Arctic Ocean, it is situated on the northern tip of Axel Heiberg Island, 320 mi (510 km) from Etah, Greenland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Ekblaw</span>

Walter Elmer Ekblaw was an American college professor who served as geologist, ornithologist and botanist on the Crocker Land Expedition (1913-1917).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peary–MacMillan Arctic Museum</span>

The Peary–MacMillan Arctic Museum is a museum located in the John and Lile Gibbons Center for Arctic Studies at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Named after Arctic explorers and Bowdoin College graduates Robert E. Peary and Donald B. MacMillan, it is the only museum in the lower 48 states of the United States dedicated completely to Arctic Studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanquary Fiord</span> Fjord on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada

Tanquary Fiord is a fjord on the north coast of the Arctic Archipelago's Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. It is located in the Quttinirpaaq National Park and extends 48 km (30 mi) in a north-westerly direction from Greely Fiord.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apiary Laboratory</span> Building at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, US

The Apiary Laboratory, more often referred to as the Apiary, is a research laboratory at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Originally built for the study of honey bees and apiculture, today it is primarily used to study native pollinator species and the chemicals and pathogens impacting their populations. This academic building is unique in that it is credited as being the first in the United States to be erected exclusively for the teaching of beekeeping.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josephine Tilden</span> American phycologist

Josephine Elizabeth Tilden was an American expert on pacific algae. She was the first woman scientist employed by the University of Minnesota. Tilden established a research station in British Columbia which lasted only until 1906. When Tilden became an assistant Professor in 1903, she was the first female scientist employed by the University of Minnesota. In 1910, despite not having a doctorate, Tilden was promoted to full professor.

Edwin Cooper Van Dyke was an American physician and entomologist. A leading authority on beetles (Coleoptera) of the Pacific Coast of North America, he was also an expert on insect pests of forests and forest products. He became a professor of entomology at the University of California, Berkeley and worked on the curatorial staff at the California Academy of Sciences for almost fifty years.

Alfred Otto Gross was an instructor, ornithologist, and professor of biology at Bowdoin College. He went on two Arctic expeditions to study birds in the region. He studied numerous North American bird species including the ruffed grouse, snowy owl, and goshawk but is best known for his studies of the last populations of the now-extinct heath hen.

Miriam Norton Look MacMillan was an American sailor, author, lecturer, photographer, and explorer.

References

  1. "Maurice C. Tanquary". Archived from the original on 2010-06-25. Retrieved 2009-07-24. Maurice Tanquary taught entomology for several years at Kansas State Agricultural College before joining the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station in 1919 as chief of the division of entomology.
  2. "United States Census, 1900". National Archives and Records Administration.
  3. "First Constitution of Fraternity Uncovered in Memoribilia" (PDF). The Emerald of Sigma Pi. Vol. 69, no. 1. Spring 1981. pp. 3–4.
  4. Tanquary, Maurice C. (1912). Biological and Embryological Studies on Formidicae. University of Illinois. p. iv. Retrieved June 28, 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Sledging Through Greenland - An Alpha Alumnus in Crocker Land" (PDF). The Emerald of Sigma Pi. Vol. 8, no. 4. January 1922. pp. 217–220.
  6. 1 2 3 "Adytum on High: Maurice Cole Tanquary" (PDF). The Emerald of Sigma Pi. Vol. 31, no. 4. February 1945. pp. 141–142.
  7. "Dr. M.C. Tanquary, Entomologist, 62. Minnesota Professor, Pioneer in Modern Beekeeping, Dies. Served With MacMillan". New York Times . October 26, 1944. Retrieved 2009-07-24. He had been Professor of Entomology and Economic Zoology at the University of Minnesota for the last sixteen years. Dr. Maurice Cole Tanquary was born in Illinois.
  8. Freed, Stanley A. (June 2012). "Fate of the Crocker Land Expedition". NaturalHistoryMag.com.
  9. "George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives (Bowdoin Library - George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives)". library.bowdoin.edu. Retrieved 2016-11-16.
  10. MacMillan, Donald, Four Years in the White North, Harper Brothers Publishers, 1918, pg. 353.