William Butts Mershon, American lumberman, retired. Member 3d Regiment Michigan National Guard, 6 years; Member American Ornithologists’ Union, Michigan Forestry Association.
Background
Mershon was born on January 16, 1856 to Augustus Hull Mershon and his wife Helen (born Johnson). Mersom started the William B. Mershon and Company in Saginaw that manufactured bandsaw blades which his father was attributed with inventing.
Education
Saginaw High School to 17.
Career
He led a number of businesses and served as Mayor of Saginaw, Michigan. The book on the passenger pigeon was published several years after the last of this once endemic bird was last killed (in 1900) and before the last died in captivity in an American zoo. In 1909, the American Ornithologist"s Union offered a prize for any wild bird or nest found but to no avail.
The book contains contributions by a number of writers.
Merson kept two huts, one local and another in Canada. His visits to each of these annually with his friends was the basis of his second book
His papers were given to the state in 1944 and consist of over 40 feet of material.
Mershon was a member of the national guard, the parks and recreation committee and was mayor of Saginaw in 1894/5. Foreign two years he was a state forester and he was an associate life member of the American Ornithologists" Union and here his interests enabled him to gather together the material from a number of sources to publish a volume on the passenger pigeon in 1907. He was a member of Michigan"s tax commission in 1912.
Connections
Married Catherine Morse, January 9, 1889. Children: William