Botanist entomologist scientist
William Dandridge Peck was born on May 8, 1763 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States. His father was John Peck and his mother, who died when he was seven, was Hannah (Jackson). At the commencement of the siege of Boston in 1776, the family removed to Braintree, Massachussets, and later to Lancaster.
William Dandridge Peck enrolled at Harvard College, and in 1782 received the degree of bachelor of arts.
William Dandridge Peck entered the accounting house of a prominent merchant and was destined for commercial pursuits. His father, a naval architect of talent and the designer of ships of war for the government, felt that he was not adequately paid and retired in disgust to a small farm at Kittery, Maine. His son speedily followed him there, and for nearly twenty years led a secluded life, busily engaged, however, in making observations in zoology and collecting insects, aquatic plants, and fishes. He made rare trips to Boston and to Portsmouth, but his fame grew, although in a restricted circle. His friends raised a subscription to establish a professorship in natural history in Harvard College and in 1805 Peck was elected thereto. Though at first strongly resisting all solicitations, he eventually accepted the position.
William Dandridge Peck was then sent to Europe to visit the different scientific establishments in England, France, and the North European countries, largely to gain information which would be helpful in the establishment of a botanic garden in Cambridge. During this trip he purchased many books for the library of the new department, and brought back many specimens of natural history. He was a man of great ability in a number of directions: he constructed his first microscope; he was an artist and made exquisite drawings; he was a classical scholar. In 1812 William Dandridge Peck was one of the incorporators of the American Antiquarian Society. Peck was probably the first teacher of entomology in the United States and probably the first writer of scientific attainment to enter the field of economic entomology.
William Dandridge Peck wrote "The Description and History of the Canker-Worm", for which he received a gold medal from the Massachusetts Agricultural Society. In 1799 he published Natural History of the Slug-Worm, for which he also received a gold medal, and a premium of fifty dollars. In this paper he described the first egg-parasite noticed in the United States. He wrote about the bark-beetles of the pear and of the pine and about the lepidopterous borers in locust trees. His last paper dealt with insects that affect the oaks and cherries. In 1818 William Dandridge Peck published a catalogue of the foreign and American plants in the Botanic Garden, Cambridge. He died on October 3, 1822.
William Dandridge Peck was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was also a founding member of the American Antiquarian Society.
William Dandridge had a son, also named William Dandridge Peck (1812–1876), who was a physician and state legislator.
