Garrick Mallery
Encyclopedia
Garrick Mallery was an American ethnologist.
in 1638. Some of his ancestors were military officers in the colonial service, and at a later period others of them served in the Revolutionary War. With the easy indifference of those days as to the matter of spelling, the name was sometimes written Mallery and at other times Mallory. The name of Garrick had no association with the famous actor of that name, but was a very old family praenomen, having been at one time spelled Gayreck.
The father of our late fellow-member was Judge Garrick Mallery, who was born April 17, 1784, and graduated at Yale College
in 1808. He was a member of the Pennsylvania legislature from 1827 to 1830, and was distinguished for the zeal with which he promoted the reform of the prison discipline of the State. In 1831 he was appointed judge of the third judicial district, composed of the counties of Berks, Northampton, and Lehigh. He resigned from the bench in 1836 and removed to Philadelphia, where he practiced in his profession as a lawyer for many years. In the latter part of his career Judge Mallery held the office of master in chancery of the supreme court of Pennsylvania. He died in Philadelphia on the 6th of July, 1866.
Judge Mallery was distinguished as a jurist and was a man of broad views and cultivated mind. His high character and many accomplishments had a marked influence on the early training of his son Garrick. The mother of the latter, the second wife of the judge, was descended from John Harris, the founder of Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, and from William Maclay, the first United States Senator from that State. The elevating influences of these historic antecedents were not without their effect upon the generous mind of the young man. The inheritance of family traditions and the "cumulative humanities of some generations," as Dr. Holmes aptly phrased it, may take rank in a lower degree with the lessons of history learned at school.
. In the same year he was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia and commenced the practice of his profession in that city. He devoted some of his leisure time to editorial and literary work, and was steadily advancing in professional standing when the War of the Rebellion broke out in 1861.
In 1870 Colonel Mallery was married to Miss Helen W. Wyckoff, daughter of the Rev. A. Voorhis WyckofF, whose ancestors were among the early Dutch settlers of New York. Through her mother this lady was descended from Colonel Richard Townley
, who came to this country with Lord Howard, governor of Virginia from 1684 to 1688. Colonel Townley married Lady Elizabeth Carteret, widow of Sir Philip Carteret, first governor of the province of New Jersey. Mrs. Mallery survives her husband, but there were no children.
The Bureau of American Ethnology
was organized in 1874, and some time after the director, Major J. W. Powell, invited Colonel Mallery to pursue his investigations in connection with that institution. The first result was the publication, in 1880, of a pamphlet of 72 pages, with 33 figures, entitled "Introduction to the Study of Sign-language among the North American Indians as Illustrating the Gesture-speech of Mankind." This was intended rather as a manual for students, and in the same year followed a quarto volume of 329 pages, "A Collection of Gesture Signs and Signals of the North American Indians, with some comparisons." The latter work was distributed to collaborators only. In 1881 Colonel Mallery's second important contribution was published in the first annual report of the Bureau of Ethnology (later the Bureau of American Ethnology), namely, "Sign-language among North American Indians Compared with that among other People and Deaf-mutes." This treatise comprised 290 pages and was illustrated with 13 plates, a map, and 285 figures. While intended by its author as a preliminary report only, it at once took high rank, both at home and abroad, as an authoritative exposition upon an almost entirely new subject of anthropology., Mallery's next publication appeared in the Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1886 (1887), under the title, "Pictographs of the North American Indians; a preliminary paper." It consisted of 256 pages, illustrated with 83 plates and 209 figures. This important work, the result of the parallel line of research in which its author had been engaged, met with immediate recognition and praise. Finally, the Tenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, published in 1893 (1894), was devoted to Mallery's completed work on one of his subjects of investigation. It was entitled, "Picture-writing of the American Indians," filling 807 quarto pages, with 54 plates and 1,290 figures. This volume, with its opulence of illustration, is a noble testimony to the tireless industry, ingenious research, and power of philosophical comparison of its writer.
In addition to the foregoing important and valuable series of writings, Mallery was the author of many erudite critical essays. In the Anthropological Society of this city, of which he was one of the founders and afterward president, some of these were read. Of these shorter ethnological writings may be mentioned "Manners and Meals," 1888; "Customs of Courtesy," 1890; "Greetings and Gestures," 1891. An essay entitled "Israelite and Indian; a parallel in planes of culture," 1889, which was published in the Popular Science Monthly, attracted much attention from its bold and ingenious comparison of two such widely dissimilar races, and a rather sharp controversy was the consequence.
Colonel Mallery was at one time president of the Literary Society of Washington, and his graceful essays read at its meetings proved his wide acquaintance with the literature of his own and other countries. He was for many years a member of the general committee of this Society and in 1888 was its president. His address on retiring from office had for its subject "Philosophy and Specialties." In it he insisted upon the importance of acquiring a correct and even elegant style of writing in scientific papers. His own compositions were marked by ease and grace, and by great care in selecting words and terms which should be accurate in expressing the meaning intended.
Colonel Mallery died, after a short illness, at his residence on N street in this city, on October 24, 1894. He will be long remembered in this Society for his warm interest in its welfare and for his kindly disposition and genial manners.
Ancestry
His family was of English origin, he himself being in direct descent from Peter Mallery, who landed at BostonBoston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
in 1638. Some of his ancestors were military officers in the colonial service, and at a later period others of them served in the Revolutionary War. With the easy indifference of those days as to the matter of spelling, the name was sometimes written Mallery and at other times Mallory. The name of Garrick had no association with the famous actor of that name, but was a very old family praenomen, having been at one time spelled Gayreck.
The father of our late fellow-member was Judge Garrick Mallery, who was born April 17, 1784, and graduated at Yale College
Yale College
Yale College was the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887. The name now refers to the undergraduate part of the university. Each undergraduate student is assigned to one of 12 residential colleges.-Residential colleges:...
in 1808. He was a member of the Pennsylvania legislature from 1827 to 1830, and was distinguished for the zeal with which he promoted the reform of the prison discipline of the State. In 1831 he was appointed judge of the third judicial district, composed of the counties of Berks, Northampton, and Lehigh. He resigned from the bench in 1836 and removed to Philadelphia, where he practiced in his profession as a lawyer for many years. In the latter part of his career Judge Mallery held the office of master in chancery of the supreme court of Pennsylvania. He died in Philadelphia on the 6th of July, 1866.
Judge Mallery was distinguished as a jurist and was a man of broad views and cultivated mind. His high character and many accomplishments had a marked influence on the early training of his son Garrick. The mother of the latter, the second wife of the judge, was descended from John Harris, the founder of Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, and from William Maclay, the first United States Senator from that State. The elevating influences of these historic antecedents were not without their effect upon the generous mind of the young man. The inheritance of family traditions and the "cumulative humanities of some generations," as Dr. Holmes aptly phrased it, may take rank in a lower degree with the lessons of history learned at school.
Education
Young Mallery received an excellent early education and, when the time came, was prepared by a private tutor for his entrance into his father's alma mater, Yale College, where he matriculated in his fifteenth year. His collegiate career was creditable to his abilities and industry, and he obtained more than one prize in languages and mathematics. He graduated in 1850. In 1853 he received the degree of LL. B. from the University of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
. In the same year he was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia and commenced the practice of his profession in that city. He devoted some of his leisure time to editorial and literary work, and was steadily advancing in professional standing when the War of the Rebellion broke out in 1861.
Military career
Mallery, with the enthusiastic patriotism which characterized him through life, at once entered the volunteer army of the United States, and on the 4th of June was appointed captain in the Seventy-first Pennsylvania infantry. In the battle of Peach Orchard, Virginia, which took place June 30, 1862, Captain Mallery was very severely wounded and, being left on the battle-field unable to move, he was captured and sent to Libby prison, in Richmond. Upon being exchanged some time later he was sent to his home in Philadelphia, and upon his recovery returned to the field, and in February, 1863, was commissioned as lieutenant-colonel of the Thirteenth Pennsylvania cavalry. Colonel Mallery did excellent service throughout the remainder of the war, not only with his command but in various positions of importance to which he was assigned. He had speedily mastered the intricacies of military law, and his legal training, excellent judgment, and resolute courage were recognized and made serviceable by those in high command. While the military occupation of the Commonwealth of Virginia yet continued, Colonel Mallery was appointed judge advocate of the first military district. He subsequently acted as secretary of state and adjutant general of Virginia, which latter appointment continued until February 15, 1870. Colonel Mallery was honorably mustered out of the volunteer service in November, 1866, and at the same time accepted a commission in the regular army as captain, with an assignment to the Forty-third infantry. He received the brevet commissions of major, lieutenant-colonel, and colonel (the last in the volunteer service) for "gallant and meritorious services during the war." He was on duty in the office of the Chief Signal Officer of the Army for nearly six years, but his old wounds rendering him unfit for field duty, he was retired at his own request in 1879.In 1870 Colonel Mallery was married to Miss Helen W. Wyckoff, daughter of the Rev. A. Voorhis WyckofF, whose ancestors were among the early Dutch settlers of New York. Through her mother this lady was descended from Colonel Richard Townley
Richard Townley
Colonel Richard Townley was born in England probably at Astlam Manor in Littleton . He was the 8th son of Nicholas Townley of Littleton and Joanne White. He emigrated to the New World in the suite of Lord Effingham Howard, Governor of Virginia in 1683...
, who came to this country with Lord Howard, governor of Virginia from 1684 to 1688. Colonel Townley married Lady Elizabeth Carteret, widow of Sir Philip Carteret, first governor of the province of New Jersey. Mrs. Mallery survives her husband, but there were no children.
Ethnology
At an early period in Colonel Mallery's career he became much interested in the Indian tribes with which he came in contact. His early reading had somewhat led him to the study of ethnology, and it was fortunate for himself and for the rising science of anthropology that he eagerly devoted himself to the researches offered by his surroundings. The ingenious Indian system of communication by signs and gestures attracted his attention, and he began to make a careful notification of them. This naturally led to the parallel investigation of their pictographs on rocks, skins, and bark, and he collected a large quantity of transcriptions of these interesting records. He foresaw that these customs would ultimately be lost and forgotten as the Indians were brought more and more under the control of the authorities and were deprived of their favorite pastimes of warlike enterprise and hunting. Events have already justified his wise foresight. Before Colonel Mallery began his researches it was, perhaps, generally supposed that the rude pictographs of the Indians, some of which were believed to be of pre-Columbian time, were unmeaning and half-childish devices. He was gradually convinced that gesture-speech and the cognate pictographs formed a complete system, involving mythology and history and having an important relation to spoken language.The Bureau of American Ethnology
Bureau of American Ethnology
The Bureau of American Ethnology was established in 1879 by an act of Congress for the purpose of transferring archives, records and materials relating to the Indians of North America from the Interior Department to the Smithsonian Institution...
was organized in 1874, and some time after the director, Major J. W. Powell, invited Colonel Mallery to pursue his investigations in connection with that institution. The first result was the publication, in 1880, of a pamphlet of 72 pages, with 33 figures, entitled "Introduction to the Study of Sign-language among the North American Indians as Illustrating the Gesture-speech of Mankind." This was intended rather as a manual for students, and in the same year followed a quarto volume of 329 pages, "A Collection of Gesture Signs and Signals of the North American Indians, with some comparisons." The latter work was distributed to collaborators only. In 1881 Colonel Mallery's second important contribution was published in the first annual report of the Bureau of Ethnology (later the Bureau of American Ethnology), namely, "Sign-language among North American Indians Compared with that among other People and Deaf-mutes." This treatise comprised 290 pages and was illustrated with 13 plates, a map, and 285 figures. While intended by its author as a preliminary report only, it at once took high rank, both at home and abroad, as an authoritative exposition upon an almost entirely new subject of anthropology., Mallery's next publication appeared in the Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1886 (1887), under the title, "Pictographs of the North American Indians; a preliminary paper." It consisted of 256 pages, illustrated with 83 plates and 209 figures. This important work, the result of the parallel line of research in which its author had been engaged, met with immediate recognition and praise. Finally, the Tenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, published in 1893 (1894), was devoted to Mallery's completed work on one of his subjects of investigation. It was entitled, "Picture-writing of the American Indians," filling 807 quarto pages, with 54 plates and 1,290 figures. This volume, with its opulence of illustration, is a noble testimony to the tireless industry, ingenious research, and power of philosophical comparison of its writer.
Death and legacy
At the time of his death Mallery was preparing a treatise on the sign-language of the American Indians, intended to be a companion work to the "Picture-writing" last published. This, unfortunately, was left unfinished; but it is understood that it will be completed and published by the care of the Bureau of American Ethnology.In addition to the foregoing important and valuable series of writings, Mallery was the author of many erudite critical essays. In the Anthropological Society of this city, of which he was one of the founders and afterward president, some of these were read. Of these shorter ethnological writings may be mentioned "Manners and Meals," 1888; "Customs of Courtesy," 1890; "Greetings and Gestures," 1891. An essay entitled "Israelite and Indian; a parallel in planes of culture," 1889, which was published in the Popular Science Monthly, attracted much attention from its bold and ingenious comparison of two such widely dissimilar races, and a rather sharp controversy was the consequence.
Colonel Mallery was at one time president of the Literary Society of Washington, and his graceful essays read at its meetings proved his wide acquaintance with the literature of his own and other countries. He was for many years a member of the general committee of this Society and in 1888 was its president. His address on retiring from office had for its subject "Philosophy and Specialties." In it he insisted upon the importance of acquiring a correct and even elegant style of writing in scientific papers. His own compositions were marked by ease and grace, and by great care in selecting words and terms which should be accurate in expressing the meaning intended.
Colonel Mallery died, after a short illness, at his residence on N street in this city, on October 24, 1894. He will be long remembered in this Society for his warm interest in its welfare and for his kindly disposition and genial manners.