Parry, C. C. (Charles Christopher), 1823-1890

Botanist and physician. Parry was born in Admington, Gloucestershire, England on August 28, 1823. When he was nine years old, his family moved from England to Washington County, New York. Parry earned an A.B. degree from Union College in 1842, then attended Columbia College as a graduate student, falling under the influence there of the botanist John Torrey. Earning an M.D. degree from Columbia in 1846, Parry settled in Davenport, Iowa, the same year and established a medical practice. Botanical studies rather than medicine proved to be his main interest, however. Parry served under David Dale Owen in 1848 in the geological survey of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota. In 1849 he was appointed botanist to the United States-Mexican boundary survey and worked in this capacity for three years. For the rest of his life, Parry spent his summers in botanical expeditions in western states like Colorado, Utah, and California, on his own or as botanist to an organized survey. He was the first person to hold the position of botanist in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, spending the years 1869-1871 at the Smithsonian Institution. Parry published his botanical papers in a wide variety of scientific journals and newspapers. In 1853 he married Sarah M. Dalzell, who died in 1858. The next year he married Emily R. Preston, who survived him. Parry died in his home in Davenport on February 20, 1890. Parry's herbarium and many of his personal papers and books were purchased by Iowa State University in 1894.