Elkanah Billings

{{Short description|Canadian paleontologist (1820–1876)}}

{{Infobox scientist

|name = Elkanah Billings

|image = Elkanah Billings (cropped).jpg

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|caption = Elkanah Billings

|birth_date = {{birth date|1820|5|5|mf=y}}

|birth_place = Rideau River

|death_date = {{death date and age|1876|6|14|1820|5|5|mf=y}}

|death_place = Montreal

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|nationality = Canadian

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|field = paleontology

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Elkanah Billings (May 5, 1820 – June 14, 1876) is often referred to as Canada's first paleontologist. Billings was born on a farm by the Rideau River outside Bytown (Ottawa), now known as Billings Estate. His parents were named Lamira Dow and Braddish Billings. His family included an older sister named Sabra and an older brother Maj Braddish Billings Jr, who practised as an architect and served in the North-West Rebellion. His younger siblings were Samuel, Sarah (known as Sally) and Charles.{{cite web|url=http://www.ottawa.ca/residents/heritage/museums/billings/virtual_exhibit/biographies/second/elkanah_en.html |title=Elkanah Billings, 1820-1876 |author=City of Ottawa |work=Billings Estate National Historic Site |access-date=19 April 2010 }}{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Billings was originally educated in law and in 1845, he was called to the Canadian bar. In 1856, he founded the journal the Canadian Naturalist (and Geologist). He continued to practise law until 1857, when he was hired to be the first paleontologist for Geological Survey of Canada (GSC). In his lifetime, he identified 1065 new species and 61 new genera, including Aspidella, the first documented fossil of the Ediacaran biota.{{cite journal |last1=Billings |first1=E. |title=On some fossils from the primordial rocks of Newfoundland |journal=The Canadian Naturalist and Quarterly Journal of Science |date=1872 |volume=6 |pages=465–479 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/32756#page/497/mode/1up |series=2nd series}} Aspidella terranovica is discussed on page 478.

{{cite book

|title=Trace Fossils: Concepts, Problems, Prospects

|author=William Miller

|pages=19–20

|year=2007

|publisher=Elsevier

|isbn=978-0-444-52949-7

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FLDKUSoFmHMC&pg=PA19

}}

He married Helen Walker Wilson in 1845. However, he was childless.