Henry Shimer

thumb|Henry Shimer '''Henry Shimer''' (September 21, 1828 – July 28, 1895) was a naturalist and physician in Mount Carroll, Illinois. He was also a teacher at the Mount Carroll Seminary, which later became Shimer College; he was the husband of the seminary's founder, Frances Shimer.

On July 28, 1895,<ref name="aes"/> Shimer committed suicide, either with a revolver<ref name="nyt_henry">{{cite news|date=1895-07-31|title=Noted Entomologist Kills Himself|work=New York Times|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E03EED7103AE533A25752C3A9619C94649ED7CF}}</ref> or by hanging.<ref name="breakingshimer"/> He had amended his will five days previously to leave his entire fortune to his wife, leaving his mother and sister destitute.<ref name="breakingshimer"/>

==Biography== left|thumb

===Early life=== Shimer was born on September 21, 1828, in West Vincent Township, Pennsylvania.<ref name="aes">{{cite journal|journal=Entomological News|volume=6|date=December 1895|title=Henry Shimer, A.M., M.D.|issue=10|page=10|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RpAUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA305}}</ref> He worked as a stone mason in his youth and took up teaching at the age of 18.<ref name="jeriah">{{cite book|author=Jeriah Bonham|chapter=Henry Shimer, A.M., M.D.|url=https://archive.org/details/fiftyyearsrecol00bonhgoog|pages=[https://archive.org/details/fiftyyearsrecol00bonhgoog/page/n524 493] ff|title=Fifty Years' Recollections|publisher=J. W. Franks & Sons|year=1883}}</ref> In March 1854, Shimer left Pennsylvania and traveled west to Mount Carroll, Illinois after a failed love affair.<ref name="jeriah"/><ref name="breakingshimer"/> He may have done work on the construction or expansion of the Mount Carroll Seminary, for which the owners were unable to pay him.<ref name="bigideas">{{cite news|author=Harold Henderson|title=Big Ideas: Tiny Shimer College has survived for 135 years on great books, high hopes, and very little money.|work=Chicago Reader|date=1988-06-16|url=http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/big-ideas/Content?oid=872366|accessdate=2010-04-16|archive-date=2010-06-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100603051810/http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/big-ideas/Content?oid=872366|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Marriage=== On December 22, 1857, Shimer and Frances Ann Wood, the co-principal of the Mount Carroll Seminary, were married.<ref name="jeriah"/> Frances "Frank" was a trans-gender woman who had earlier had a relationship with Cinderella Gregory which continued after her marriage. The marriage with Shimer was widely reputed to be a marriage of convenience.<ref name="breakingshimer">{{cite news|work=Chicago Daily Tribune|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/428586311.html?dids=428586311:428586311&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026110145/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/428586311.html?dids=428586311:428586311&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 26, 2012|title=Trying to Break the Shimer Will|date=1896-06-30|page=2}}</ref><ref name="bigideas"/> Shortly after the marriage, Shimer went to study medicine and when he returned they had separate rooms.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cleves |first=Rachel Hope |date=2018 |title=Six Ways of Looking at a Trans Man? The Life of Frank Shimer (1826-1901) |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44862429 |journal=Journal of the History of Sexuality |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=32–62 |issn=1043-4070}}</ref>

===Vocations=== Shimer subsequently left for Chicago to study medicine. He graduated from the Chicago Medical College on March 1, 1866.<ref name="jeriah"/> Shimer also obtained a Master of Arts from the University of Chicago by examination.<ref name="aes"/>

He was a prolific entomologist and published widely, describing a number of novel species and genera.<ref name="aes"/><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shimer |first=Henry |date=1867 |title=Description of a New Species of Cecidomyia |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25076179 |journal=Transactions of the American Entomological Society (1867-1877) |volume=1 |pages=281–283 |doi=10.2307/25076179 |issn=0886-1145|url-access=subscription }}</ref> He also served for a time as the assistant State Entomologist of Illinois.<ref name="aes"/> In addition, he was an expert taxidermist, and had a collection of over 1000 mounted birds.<ref name="jeriah"/> His collections were provided to the seminary for educational purposes.<ref name="jeriah"/>

In the 1880s, Shimer became wealthy by speculating on real estate in Iowa, allegedly inspired by a dream.<ref name="breakingshimer"/> At the time of his death his estate was worth approximately $200,000.<ref name="breakingshimer"/>

===Travels=== Shimer traveled widely within the United States, stopping along the way to work as a stone mason. He sometimes covered more than a thousand miles on foot.<ref name="jeriah"/> He is said to have worn boots at all times.<ref name="breakingshimer"/>

===Death=== On July 28, 1895,<ref name="aes"/> Henry Shimer committed suicide, he was found hanging with a revolver<ref name="nyt_henry"/> nearby with one chamber having been fired.<ref name="breakingshimer"/> He had amended his will five days previously to leave his entire fortune to his wife, leaving his mother and sister destitute.<ref name="breakingshimer"/> In a highly publicized trial, the will was successfully contested.<ref name="bigideas"/>

==Published works==

*1865, "Description of the Imago and Larva of a New Species of Chrysopa", ''Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Philadelphia'' *1867, "Description of a New Species of Aleyrodes", ''Transactions of the American Entomological Society'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=YVoUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA281] *1867, "Description of a New Species of Cecidomyia", ''Transactions of the American Entomological Society'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=YVoUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA281] *1867, "On a New Genus of Aphidae", ''Transactions of the American Entomological Society'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=YVoUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA283] *1867, "Notes on the Apple Bark Louse (''Lepidosaphes conchiformis''), with a Description of a supposed new Acarus" *1867, "Notes on ''Micropus (Lygarus) leucopterus'' Say ('The chinch bug')", ''Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia'' *1867, "Additional Note on the Chinch-Bug", ''Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia'' *1867, "On a new genus in Homoptera (Section Monomera)", ''Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia'' *1868, "Descriptions of two Acarians bred from White Maple", ''Transactions of the American Entomological Society'' *1868, "Notes on ''Chermes pinicorticis'' (white pine louse)", ''Transactions of the American Entomological Society'' *1868, "A Summer's Study of the Hickory Galls, with Descriptions of supposed New Species bred therefrom", ''Transactions of the American Entomological Society'' *1868, "The Wavy-Striped Flea Beetle", ''The American Naturalist'' *1869, "Insects Injurious to the Potato", ''The American Naturalist'' *1872, "Additional Notes on the Striped Squash Beetle", ''The American Naturalist'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=qm4WAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA217] *1891, "Consciousness in Protoplasm", ''The Microscope'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=1rYfAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA353]

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.CRMS31 Guide to Henry Shimer, Epidemic Diseases 1866] at the [https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/scrc/ University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shimer, Henry}} Category:1828 births Category:1895 deaths Category:1895 suicides Category:19th-century American educators Category:19th-century American naturalists Category:19th-century American medical doctors Category:19th-century American non-fiction writers Category:People from Chester County, Pennsylvania Category:People from Mount Carroll, Illinois Category:Shimer College faculty Category:Feinberg School of Medicine alumni Category:University of Chicago alumni Category:American entomologists Category:Writers from Chicago Category:Writers from Pennsylvania