Hoxie, W. J. (Walter John), 1848-1934

Walter John Hoxie was born in Rochester, New York, graduated from Putnam Free School, served for a short time in the Astronomical Division of the U.S. Coast Survey, and then became a school teacher. He taught, in chronological sequence, at Tyng Academy, Tyngsboro, Massachusetts; Bridgewater Normal School, Bridgewater, Massachusetts; Plantation School and the Normal School for Freedmen, both on Lady's Island, South Carolina; Boston Farm School, Boston harbor, and various other places in Massachusetts. He removed to Frogmore, South Carolina on St. Helena's Island in 1879, and to Savannah, Georgia, in 1901, where he lived until 1927. Hoxie then moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, where he spent the remainder of his life with his daughter. He was a recognized authority on birds and spent some months in 1888 collecting specimens in Florida for the U.S. Biological Survey. Hoxie's home near Savannah was at Bona Bella. He formed a nature group for young girls, many of whom became members of the first Girl Scout troop when it was organized by Juliette Gordon Low. He wrote the first Girl Scout Handbook, titled "How Girls Can Help Their County." He has been called the foremost naturalist in the South and wrote over 500 articles for newspapers and magazines.

W. J. Hoxie was an ornithologist of Beaufort, S.C., and St. Petersburg, Fla.