30 September 1783 – 24 July 1863
Born: Methuen, Massachusetts.
Died: Marietta, Ohio.
Occupation: Physician. Naturalist. Historian. Practiced medicine, Marietta, Ohio. Member of the Ohio Legislature, 1810-1811.
Education: M.D., Medical Society of Massachusetts, 1805. President Cleveland Medical Society.
Collection Deposition: He presented his valuable scientific library and collections in natural history and conchology to Marietta college.
Research Interests: Freshwater mollusks.
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.
Remarks: He labored on a farm, and after receiving an academic education studied medicine with Dr. Kittridge of Andover, and received his medical degree in 1805. He began to practise in New Hampshire, but removed to Ohio in 1806, and settled at Belpre. In 1808 he went to Marietta, where he practised with success. In 1837 he was a member of the geological survey. For nearly forty years he contributed to “Silliman’s Journal” on meteorology, geology, and paleontology.
Partial Bibliography
Hildreth, S.P. 1828. Observations on, and descriptions of the shells found in the waters of the Muskingum River, Little Muskingum, and Duck Creek, in the vicinity of Marietta, Ohio. American Journal of Science and Arts 14(2):276-291 + 2 plates. [Reprinted in Sterkiana 1962. 8:39-48]
Hildreth, S.P. 1837. Miscellaneous observations made during a tour in May, 1835, to the Falls of the Cayahoga, near Lake Erie: extracted from the diary of a naturalist. American Journal of Science and Arts 31(1):1-84.
Hildreth, S.P. 1837. Meteorological journal, for the year 1836, kept at Marietta, Ohio. American Journal of Science and Arts 32(1):95-98.
Hildreth, S.P. Undated. Catalogue of fresh-water shells found near Marietta, Ohio. unpaginated.