Eugene Schieffelin
{{Short description|American amateur ornithologist}}
{{infobox person
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1827|01|29}}
| birth_place = New York City, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1906|08|15|1827|01|29}}
| death_place = Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.
| spouse = Catherine Tonnelé Hall
| children =
| relations = Samuel Schieffelin (brother)
Bradhurst Schieffelin (brother)
}}
Eugene Schieffelin (January 29, 1827 – August 15, 1906) was an American amateur ornithologist who belonged to the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society and the New York Zoological Society. In 1877, he became chairman of the American Acclimatization Society and joined their efforts to introduce non-native species to North America for economic and cultural reasons. His 1890 release of European starlings in Central Park resulted in the first successful starling nesting in North America to be observed by naturalists.
In the decades after his death, Schiefflin was recast as being solely responsible for the introduction of starlings, and in 1948, Edwin Way Teale claimed (without evidence) that he had been motivated by a desire to introduce all of Shakespeare's birds to North America.
Early life
Schieffelin was born in New York City on January 29, 1827.{{cite book |last1=Matthews |first1=John |title=Matthews' American Armoury and Blue Book |date=1907 |publisher=Crest Publishing Company |page=175 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8Q8wAAAAYAAJ |access-date=5 February 2019 |language=en}} He was the seventh son of Henry Hamilton Schieffelin (1783–1865) and Maria Theresa (née Bradhurst) Schieffelin (1786–1872).{{cite book|last1=Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York|title=The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York: History, Customs, Record of Events, Constitution, Certain Genealogies, and Other Matters of Interest. V. 1-|date=1905|page=[https://archive.org/details/saintnicholassoc01sain/page/n147 142]|url=https://archive.org/details/saintnicholassoc01sain|access-date=18 January 2018|language=en}} His father, a prominent lawyer, was named in honor of Governor Henry Hamilton for whom his grandfather Jacob Schieffelin served as secretary for during the American Revolutionary War.{{cite web|title=Hamilton, Henry, d. 1796. Henry Hamilton papers: Guide.|url=https://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~hou00126|website=oasis.lib.harvard.edu|publisher=Harvard University|access-date=18 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703084716/http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~hou00126|archive-date=3 July 2018|url-status=dead}} Among his siblings was author Samuel Schieffelin,{{cite news|title=Samuel Bradhurst Schieffelin Dead|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1900/09/14/102503955.html?pageNumber=5|access-date=18 January 2018|work=The New York Times|date=September 14, 1900|language=en}} and Bradhurst Schieffelin, a supporter of the People's Party.{{sfn|Wilson|Fiske|1900}} The Schieffelin family was one of the oldest families in Manhattan.{{cite book|last1=Reynolds|first1=Cuyler|title=Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River Valley: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Building of a Nation|date=1914|publisher=Lewis Historical Publishing Company|page=[https://archive.org/details/genealogicalfami00reyn/page/1299 1299]|url=https://archive.org/details/genealogicalfami00reyn|access-date=18 January 2018|language=en}}
Starling release
Schieffelin belonged to the American Acclimatization Society, a group that aimed to help exchange plants and animals from one part of the world to another.{{cite news |title=American Acclimatization Society |work=The New York Times |date=November 15, 1877 |page=2}} In the 19th century, such acclimatization societies were fashionable and supported by the scientific knowledge and beliefs of that era, as the effect that non-native species could have on the local ecosystem was not yet known.
In 1890, Schieffelin released 60 imported starlings from England into New York City's Central Park.{{Cite Central Park History|page=1}}{{cite web |title=Edenwald Playground Highlights |url=http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=11800 |website=www.nycgovparks.org |publisher=New York City Department of Parks and Recreation |access-date=5 February 2019}} He did the same with another 40 birds in 1891. According to an oft-repeated story, Schieffelin supposedly introduced starlings as part of a project to bring to the United States all the birds mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare.{{Cite book|last=Teale|first=Edwin|title=Days Without Time: Adventures of a Naturalist|publisher=Dodd, Mead|year=1948|location=New York|pages=17}}{{Cite book|last=Todd|first=Kim|title=Tinkering with Eden: A Natural History of Exotic Species in America|publisher=W. W. Norton|year=2002|location=New York|pages=136–38}}{{cite news |last1=Gup |first1=Ted |title=100 Years of the Starling |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/01/opinion/100-years-of-the-starling.html?src=pm |access-date=5 February 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=1 September 1990}} Some historians have cast doubt on this story, as no record of it exists until the 1940s.{{Cite journal|last=Ritvo|first=Harriet|date=2012|title=Going Forth and Multiplying: Animal Acclimatization and Invasion|journal=Environmental History|volume=17|pages=2012|doi=10.1093/envhis/emr155}}{{Cite journal|last=Coates|first=Peter|date=2005|title=Eastenders Go West: English Sparrows, Immigrants, and the Nature of Fear|journal=Journal of American Studies|volume=39|issue=3|pages=432|doi=10.1017/S0021875805000605|s2cid=145780623}}{{cite journal |last1=Fugate |first1=Lauren |last2=Miller |first2=John MacNeill |title=Shakespeare's Starlings: Literary History and the Fictions of Invasiveness |journal=Environmental Humanities |date=November 1, 2021 |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=301–322 |doi=10.1215/22011919-9320167 |s2cid=243468840 |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/environmental-humanities/article/13/2/301/234995/Shakespeare-s-StarlingsLiterary-History-and-the |access-date=November 26, 2021 |issn=2201-1919|doi-access=free }} He may have also been trying to control the same pests that had been annoying him thirty years earlier, when he sponsored the introduction of the house sparrow to North America.{{cite book |last1=Tenner |first1=Edward |title=Why Things Bite Back |date=1997 |publisher=Vintage Books |location=New York, New York |pages=152–155}}
Schieffelin's efforts were part of multiple releases of starlings in the United States, ranging from the mid-1870s through the mid-1890s. The successful spread of starlings has come at the expense of many native birds that compete with the starling for nest holes in trees.[http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/European_Starling/lifehistory "European Starling"] Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 2 July 2011 The starlings have also had negative impact on the US economy and ecosystem.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27055030|title=Shakespeare's birds cause US trouble|first=Jane|last=O'Brien|work=BBC News|date=24 April 2014}} European starlings are now considered an invasive species in the United States.[https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/profile/european-starling "Invasive Species: European Starling"] National Invasive Species Information Center. Retrieved 2 July 2011
His attempts to introduce bullfinches, chaffinches, nightingales, and skylarks were not successful.
Personal life
Schieffelin was married to Catherine Tonnelé Hall (d. 1910). Catherine was a daughter of Valentine Gill Hall, an Irish immigrant, and Susan (née Tonnelé) Hall and the sister of Valentine Hall Jr., a banker and merchant who was the grandfather of Eleanor Roosevelt. Catherine's uncle was John Tonnelé Jr., the farmer and politician who was a member of the New Jersey State Legislature.{{cite book |last1=Owen |first1=Samuel |title=The New-York Legal Observer |date=1847 |publisher=Samuel Owen |page=[https://archive.org/details/newyorklegalobs02owengoog/page/n272 264] |url=https://archive.org/details/newyorklegalobs02owengoog |access-date=14 June 2018 |language=en}}
Schieffelin died at the Hartshorn villa in Newport, Rhode Island on August 15, 1906.{{cite news |title=EUGENE SCHIEFFELIN DEAD. Succumbs to Paralysis at Newport After an Illness of Three Weeks. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1906/08/16/101845370.pdf |access-date=5 February 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=August 16, 1906}}
References
{{Reflist}}
=Works cited=
- {{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Schieffelin, Samuel Bradhurst|year=1900}}
External links
- [https://read.dukeupress.edu/environmental-humanities/article/13/2/301/234995/Shakespeare-s-StarlingsLiterary-History-and-the Shakespeare's Starlings: Literary History and the Fictions of Invasiveness]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20061014184748/http://greenmuseum.org/content/work_index/img_id-623__prev_size-0__artist_id-104__work_id-151.html GreenMuseum.org], “I'll Have a Starling” installation.
- [http://www.state.tn.us/environment/tn_consv/archive/starlings.htm Tennessee State Department of Environment and Conservation], Origins of the European Starling in the United States, By David Ian Withers.
- [http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Avian_Invaders.html Stanford University], Birds of Stanford - Essays, Avian Invaders, by Paul R. Ehrlich, David S. Dobkin, and Darryl Wheye.
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