John Kirk Townsend was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 naturalist

Natural history

Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...

, ornithologist and collector.

Townsend was born in Philadelphia and trained as a physician and pharmacist. He developed an interest in natural history in general and bird collecting in particular. In 1833 he was invited by the botanist Thomas Nuttall

Thomas Nuttall

Thomas Nuttall was an English botanist and zoologist, who lived and worked in America from 1808 until 1841....

 to join him on Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth

Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth

Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth was an American inventor, ice harvester, and explorer and trader in the far west.-Early life:Wyeth was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Jacob and Elizabeth Wyeth...

's second expedition across the Rocky Mountains

Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...

 to the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

. Townsend collected a number of animals new to science. These included birds such as the Mountain Plover

Mountain Plover

The Mountain Plover is a medium-sized ground bird in the plover family . It is misnamed, as it lives on level land...

, Vaux's Swift

Vaux's Swift

Vaux's Swift is a small swift native to North America and northern South America. It was named for the American scientist William Sansom Vaux.-Description:...

, Chestnut-collared Longspur

Chestnut-collared Longspur

The Chestnut-collared Longspur, Calcarius ornatus, is a small ground-feeding bird from the family Calcariidae which also contains the longspurs.-Overview:...

, Black-throated Gray Warbler

Black-throated Gray Warbler

The Black-throated Gray Warbler is a songbird of the New World warbler family. It is 13 cm long and has black, grey, and white plumage. It breeds in western North America from British Columbia to New Mexico, and winters in Mexico and the southwestern United States...

, Townsend's Warbler

Townsend's Warbler

The Townsend's Warbler, Dendroica townsendi, is a small songbird of the New World warbler family.These birds have a yellow face with a black stripe across their cheeks, a thin pointed bill, white wing bars, olive upperparts with black streaks on their backs and flanks, and a white belly...

 and Sage Thrasher

Sage Thrasher

The Sage Thrasher is a medium-sized passerine bird from the family Mimidae, which also includes mockingbirds, tremblers and New World catbirds. It is the only member of the genus Oreoscoptes. This seems less close to the Caribbean thrashers, but rather to the mockingbirds instead .O...

, and a number of mammals such as the Douglas Squirrel

Douglas Squirrel

The Douglas Squirrel is a pine squirrel found in the Pacific coastal states and provinces of North America. It is sometimes known as the Chickaree or Pine Squirrel, but since Chickaree is also used for the American Red Squirrel and Pine Squirrel for the genus Tamiasciurus, these alternative names...

; several of these were described by Bachman

John Bachman

The Rev. John Bachman was an American Lutheran minister, social activist and naturalist who collaborated with J.J. Audubon to produce Viviparous Quadrapeds of North America and whose writings, particularly Unity of the Human Race, were influential in the development of the theory of evolution. He...

 (1839) from samples collected by Townsend..

Oregon

While at Wyeth’s Fort William

Fort William (Oregon)

Fort William was a fur trading outpost built by American Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth in 1834. It was located on the Columbia River on Wappatoo Island in what is now part of Portland, Oregon. It was the site of a murder and the first Euro-American trial in what is now the state of Oregon...

 in Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, Townsend served as the appointed magistrate to the first public trial by Europeans in Oregon.
This occurred when the post’s gunsmith, Thomas J. Hubbard

Thomas J. Hubbard

Thomas Jefferson Hubbard was an Oregon pioneer and politician who was acquitted of murder charges in the first American murder trial in what is now the state of Oregon. At the trial the murder was determined to be justifiable homicide....

, attacked and killed the fort’s tailor in an argument over a young native

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 girl. The gunsmith was acquitted by a jury when they ruled the death was justifiable homicide.

Legacy

On his return Townsend wrote The Narrative of a Journey across the Rocky Mountains to the Columbia River and a Visit to the Sandwich Islands (1839).

A number of mammals are named for Townsend, including Townsend's Ground Squirrel

Townsend's Ground Squirrel

The Townsend's ground squirrel is a species of rodent in the Sciuridae family. It is found in high desert shrublands in several areas of the United States.-Distribution:...

 (Spermophilus townsendii), Townsend's Chipmunk

Townsend's Chipmunk

Townsend's chipmunk is a species of rodent in the squirrel family Sciuridae. It lives in the forests of the Pacific Northwest of North America, from British Columbia through western Washington and Oregon. A large chipmunk, adults can be from nose to tail...

 (Tamias townsendii), Townsend's Pocket Gopher

Townsend's Pocket Gopher

Townsend's Pocket Gopher is a species of rodent in the family Geomyidae. It is endemic to the United States....

 (Thomomys townsendii), Townsend's Mole

Townsend's Mole

The Townsend's Mole, Scapanus townsendii, is the largest North American mole.It is found in open lowland areas and open wooded areas with moist soils along the Pacific coast from southwestern British Columbia to northwestern California...

 (Scapanus townsendii), Townsend's Vole

Townsend's Vole

Townsend's Vole is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae.It is found in British Columbia in Canada and in Washington and Oregon in the United States.Its natural habitat is temperate grassland.-References:...

 (Microtus townsendii), and the Whitetail Jackrabbit (Lepus townsendii).

Further reading

• Excursion to the Oregon by John Kirk Townsend
• Mearns, B. & R. John Kirk Townsend: Collector of Audubon’s Western Birds and Mammals (2007).