George Perkins Marsh
George Perkins Marsh (
March 15,
1801 –
July 23,
1882), an
American diplomat and
philologist, is considered by some to be America's first
environmentalist. [
1] The
Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in Vermont takes its name, in part, from Marsh.
Born in
Woodstock, Vermont to a prominent family, (his father had been a U.S. Senator,) Marsh graduated from
Dartmouth College with highest honors in 1820, was admitted to the bar in 1825, and practised law in
Burlington, Vermont; he also devoted himself to philological studies. In 1835 he was appointed to the
Executive Council of Vermont, and from 1843 to 1849 was a
Whig representative in Congress. In 1849
President Taylor appointed Marsh
United States minister resident in
Turkey. In 1852–1853, he discharged a mission to
Greece in connection with the imprisonment of an American missionary, Dr. Jonas King (1792-1869). He returned to Vermont in 1854, and in 1857 was a member of the state railway commission. In 1861,
President Lincoln appointed Marsh the first United States minister to the kingdom of Italy; he died in that office at
Vallombrosa. He is buried at the
Protestant cemetery in
Rome.
Marsh was an able linguist, able to both speak and write fluently in Scandinavian and half a dozen other European languages. He was a remarkable philologist for his day, and a scholar of great breadth, knowing much of military science, engraving and physics, as well as
Icelandic, which was his specialty. He wrote many articles for Johnson's
Universal Cyclopaedia, and contributed many reviews and letters to the Nation. His chief published works are:
A Compendious Grammar of the Old Northern or Icelandic Language (1838), compiled and translated from the grammars of
RaskThe Camel, his Organization, Habits, and Uses, with Reference to his Introduction into the United States (1856)
Lectures on the English Language (1860)
The Origin and History of the English Language (1862; revised ed., 1885)
Man and Nature (1865)The last-named work was translated into
Italian in 1872, and, largely rewritten, was issued in 1874 under the title
The Earth as Modified by Human Action; a revised edition was published in 1885. He also published a work on Mediaeval and Modern Saints and Miracles (1876).
Man and Nature constituted an early work of
ecology, and played a role in the creation of the
Adirondack State Park. Marsh argued that
deforestation could lead to
desertification. Referring to the clearing of once-lush lands surrounding the
Mediterranean, he asserted "the operation of causes set in action by man has brought the face of the earth to a desolation almost as complete as that of the moon."
His second wife, Caroline (Crane) Marsh (1816-1901), whom he married in 1839, published
Wolfe of the Knoll and other Poems (1860), and the
Life and Letters of George Perkins Marsh (New York, 1888). This last work was left incomplete, the second volume never having been published. She also translated from the German of
Johann C. Biernatzki (1795-1840),
The Hallig; or the Sheepfold in the Waters (1856). (See "
Hallig").
*David Lowenthal.
George Perkins Marsh: Prophet of Conservation. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000.
*Jane and Will Curtis and Frank Lieberman.
The World of George Perkins Marsh. Woodstock, VT: Countryman Press, 1982.
*Marcus Hall, ed.
The Nature of G.P. Marsh: Tradition and Historical Judgement. Special issue of
Environment and History, 10:2 (May 2004).
*
The George Perkins Marsh Institute at Clark University*
Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park
