1833 – 15 February 1902
Born: Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
Died: Magnetic City, North Carolina.
Occupation: Farmer; Teacher; Professor of Natural History, Cincinnati University 1870-84; Paleontologist; Conchologist; Business Manager, American and European Investment Company 1884-86; Roan Mt. Stell and Iron Co., N.C. 1886-
Education: Apparently received his high school and college degrees in Cleveland, Ohio.
Research Interests: Freshwater molluscs and fossils.
Travels: He organized five expeditions and according to G.W. Harper “as an organizer he had no superior. He was a very companionable man, could tell a story, sing a song or play his violin to drive away the blues, when the weather was unpropitious, and could cook a meal under the most unfavorable circumstances that would satisfy the most fastidious epicure.”
Remarks: Moved to Cincinnati, Ohio in 1861 where he was appointed principal of the Woodburn public school system. Worked in the public schools for nine years and then moved on to Cincinnati University where he was elected chair of natural history in 1870. Resigned his position in academia to accept a more lucrative position in the business world. His mineral collection was donated to Cincinnt University and his mollusk specimens can be found in many of the larger collections in the United States including CM, INHS, MCZ, UMMZ, and USNM. Donated a collection of small mammals of the Mt. Roan region to the Smithsonian.
Data from: Abbott, R.T., and M.E. Young (eds.). 1973. American Malacologists: A national register of professional and amateur malacologists and private shell collectors and biographies of early American mollusk workers born between 1618 and 1900. American Malacologists, Falls Church, Virginia. Consolidated/Drake Press, Philadelphia. 494 pp.
Other References: Harper, G.W. 1902. Albert G. Wetherby. Nautilus 16(1):10-12 + portrait.
Partial Bibliography
Harper, G.W., and A.G. Wetherby. 1876. Catalogue of the land and fresh water Mollusca, found in the immediate vicinity of Cincinnati, O. James Barclay Printing House, Cincinnati, Ohio. 1:1-5.
Wetherby, A.G. 1881. On the geographical distribution of certain fresh-water mollusks of North America, and the probable causes of their variation. Journal of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History 3:317-324; 4(2):156-166.
Wetherby, A.G. 1883. [Relation of mollusks to their shells]. Journal of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History 6(1):2.