Samuel Stehman Haldeman

Samuel Stehman Haldeman (August 12, 1812 – September 10, 1880) was an American naturalist and philologist.

During a long and varied career he studied, published, and lectured on geology, conchology, entomology and philology. He once confided, "I never pursue one branch of science more than ten years, but lay it aside and go into new fields."

Early life and education

Haldeman was born in Locust Grove, Pennsylvania on August 12, 1812, the oldest of seven children of Henry Haldeman and Frances Stehman Haldeman. Locust Grove was the family estate on the Susquehanna River, twenty miles below Harrisburg. His father was a prosperous businessman and his mother was an accomplished musician who died when Haldeman was twelve years old. In 1826, he was sent to Harrisburg to attend school at the Classical Academy, run by John M. Keagy. After two years in the academy, he enrolled at Dickinson College where his interest in natural history was encouraged by his professor, Henry Darwin Rogers, who would later become a distinguished geologist. Two years after entering Dickinson, the college was forced to close temporarily and Peck left without earning a diploma.

Career

After leaving school, Haldeman took over management of his father's new sawmill and became a silent partner with two of his brothers who started an iron manufacturing business in the area. He eventually became an authority on smelting iron. However, he was always drawn to science and often neglected the family businesses in pursuit of these interests. He later said, "I developed a taste for rainy weather and impassable roads; then I could remain undisturbed in the perusal of my books." In 1833–1834, he attended lectures in the medical department at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in order to better prepare himself for the study of natural history.