Daniel Cady Eaton papers

Daniel Cady Eaton, botanist, was born at Fort Gratiot, Michigan, September 12, 1834 the son of Amos Beebe Eaton and Elizabeth (Selden) Eaton. He was the grandson of Amos Eaton, a botanist. Eaton developed an interest in botany through the influence both of his grandfather, and his father, who took an active interest in the subject, though he was a military man by profession. In 1853 Eaton began the study of botany at Yale, specializing in cryptogamous plants. He graduated from Yale in 1857 and spent the next three years studying botany with Asa Gray at Harvard, specializing in the study of ferns. In 1864 Eaton was appointed professor of botany in Yale College, a position he held until his death. He married Caroline Ketcham of New York City on February 13, 1866. Among Eaton's most important published works are the section on ferns in Chapman's Flora of the Southern United States (1860) and The Ferns of North America (1877-1880). He also prepared an extensive genealogical study entitled John Eaton of Dedham, Mass. Eaton died in New Haven June 29, 1895.

The Daniel Cady Eaton Papers are divided into three series: "Correspondence," "Writings," and "Special Files." "Correspondence" consists almost entirely of letters of a scientific nature from both professional and amateur botanists. Of primary importance is the correspondence with the cryptogamic botanist William Gilson Farlow (242 letters), with the Harvard botanists Asa Gray (342 letters) and Sereno Watson (88 letters), and with John Torrey (31 letters). Other correspondents of note include: Leo Lesquereux, paleobotanist, Charles Christopher Parry, first botanist in the U. S. Department of Agriculture, William Starling Sullivant, bryologist, George Lincoln Goodale, Gray's successor at Harvard, Charles Horton Peck, mycologist, and George Vasey, expert on grasses.

The "Writings" series contains both printed material and manuscripts, each divided into two sections: "Writings" (of Daniel Cady Eaton) and "Writings of Others." A fragment of Eaton's book, The Ferns of North America, appears in "Writings" section. Among the "Writings of Others" are two published articles by Asa Gray, one manuscript of William Henry Brewer and one of Leo Lesquereux.

The "Special Files" contain genealogical material, including a copy of Eaton's work John Eaton of Dedham, Mass., and printed material.

Additional biographical material may be found in the Dictionary of American Biography.