Naturalist. Not much has been recorded about Hannah English Williams\u2019s early life. Her birth date, birthplace, and parents\u2019 names are unknown. She lived in Charleston. Williams was the first female in the American British colonies to gather plant and animal specimens for scientific collections. Her work aided the cataloging of many of South Carolina\u2019s natural resources and contributed to advancing botanical and zoological awareness and understanding in that colony and in England, where people were intrigued by the unfamiliar organisms indigenous to the New World.<\/p>\n
Using vessels under the command of the South Carolina shipmaster Major William Halstead, Williams shipped specimens to James Petiver of the Royal Society in London. Williams and Petiver corresponded from 1701 to 1713, and he listed those items he wished her to procure when she joined his network of collectors. Petiver encouraged her interest in natural history, declaring Williams the \u201cdiscoverer\u201d of unique butterflies and describing her as \u201cmy generous benefactress.\u201d He instructed Williams how to preserve specimens for shipping, with \u201ceach stuck on a pin or in a little viall drowned in Rum or Brandy.\u201d Petiver described Williams\u2019s contributions in his published serial booklets entitled Musei Petiveriani Centuria Prima Rariora Naturae.<\/em><\/p>\n A February 6, 1704, letter from Williams to Petiver accompanied a shipment of \u201cSome of Our Vipers and Severall Sorts of Snakes Scorpions and Lizzards\u201d in addition to shells, a bee nest, and a \u201cfew Other Insex.\u201d She promised to send \u201csome Mockin birds and Red birds\u201d in the spring because, \u201cIf I should send you any Now the Could would Kill them.\u201d She also enclosed a \u201cWesto Kings Tobacco pipe and a Queens Petticoat made off Moss\u201d and asked for newspapers and \u201cmedisons.\u201d Williams\u2019s son met Petiver in England to discuss collections his mother had been gathering until she heard false reports of Petiver\u2019s death.<\/p>\n Petiver expressed his respect for Williams by naming some butterfly species for her. In 1767 Petiver\u2019s Gazophylacium Naturae et Artis <\/em>included illustrations of Williams\u2019s orange girdled Carolina butterfly (also called the viceroy, which mimics monarch butterflies), Williams\u2019s yellow tipt Carolina butterfly (popularly called dog\u2019s head), and Williams\u2019s selvedge-eyed Carolina butterfly (known as creole pearly eye).<\/p>\n Sources do not specify when Williams settled in South Carolina. With her first husband, believed to have been named Mathew English, she gave birth to two children. When her first husband died, as \u201cHannah English, Widow\u201d she was warranted five hundred acres located in the proximity of Stony Point in November 1692. She then married a neighboring planter, William Williams. Three years later, as \u201cMrs. Hannah English alias Williams\u201d she doubled her land holdings when she acquired an additional five hundred acres north of the Ashley River at Stony Point. Williams collected plants, shells, insects, birds, and reptiles on her property.<\/p>\n Williams asked Petiver for medical advice and pharmaceuticals because \u201cI am Very much Troubled with the splene.\u201d Records indicate that Williams was buried on December 16, 1722, in St. Philip\u2019s Churchyard, Charleston.<\/p>\n \u201cAn Account of Animals and Shells Sent from Carolina to Mr. James Petiver, F.R.S.\u201d Philosophical Transactions <\/em>[of the Royal Society of London] 24 (1704\u20131705): 1952\u201360.<\/p>\n Smith, Beatrice Scheer. \u201cHannah English Williams: America\u2019s First Woman Natural History Collector.\u201d South Carolina Historical Magazine <\/em>87 (April 1986): 83\u201392.<\/p>\n Stearns, Raymond P. \u201cJames Petiver, Promoter of Natural Science, c. 1663\u20131718.\u201d Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, <\/em>n.s., 62 (October 1952): 243\u2013365.<\/p>\n \u2013\u2013\u2013. Science in the British Colonies of America. <\/em>Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1970.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Naturalist. Not much has been recorded about Hannah English Williams\u2019s early life. Her birth date, birthplace, and parents\u2019 names are unknown. She lived in Charleston. Williams was the first female in the American British colonies to gather plant and animal specimens for scientific collections. Her work aided the cataloging of many of South Carolina\u2019s natural […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":-1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","class_list":["post-12255","entry","type-entry","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","ecms-a-z","ecms-charleston-county","ecms-colonial-period-1670-1764","ecms-encyclopedia","ecms-lowcountry","ecms-science-and-medicine","ecms-w","ecms-women"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n