Pellett, Frank C. (Frank Chapman), 1879-1951

Frank C. Pellett was born on July 12, 1879 on a farm three miles northeast of Atlantic, Iowa. He was the son of Ambrose and Ellen Chapman Pellett. He attended rural school but later he was forced to leave school because of poor health.

In 1902 he moved to the small Ozark town of Salem, Missouri. He was much interested in the extensive stands of native pine timber and the wild life found therein. Here he operated a fruit farm and read law in the office of Hon. A. D. Gustin. He was admitted to the Missouri bar in 1905 and practiced law in Salem for two years. He could not develop sufficient interest to continue his effort in legal work but decided to dedicate his life to those things which he loved so much--nature, wildlife, birds, plants, and bees. His home farm near Atlantic was set aside over forty years ago as a wildlife preserve to foster native plants and native wildlife. This farm, in later years, developed into the Honey Plant Test Garden which he developed in conjunction with the American Bee Journal.

In 1912 he was appointed State Apiary Inspector of Iowa which office he held for five years. In 1915 he became associated with the American Bee Journal as Field Editor and later Associate Editor until his death.

Mr. Pellett was made an honorary vice-president of the Apis Club of England and an honorary member of the Bee Kingdom League of Egypt. He was a long time honorary member of the Rotary Club of Atlantic and the Kiwanis Club of Hamilton, Illinois, and the Tri Beta of Carthage, Illinois. He was listed in Who's Who in American, Who's Who in English Literature, and American Men [sic] of Science. In 1947 he received the National Skelly Award for Superior Achievement in Agriculture. The National Association of State Garden Clubs Award was presented with a special medal by the Iowa State Horticultural Society. He was a fellow of the Iowa State Horticultural Society, the Iowa Academy of Science, and the Royal Horticultural Society of England. He was also a fellow of the American Association of Advanced Science, and the American Association of Economic Entomologists.

Mr. Pellett was the author of thirteen books on beekeeping, honey plants, birds and flowers of the wild, horticulture, and other nature subjects. He was co-author of several other books, including his chapters in the 1946 and 1949 editions of The Hive and Honeybee. His greatest contribution to beekeeping is his book American Honey Plants.

He was an early contributor to the program of the Iowa Academy of Science. The first contribution appeared in the printed proceedings of the Academy for the meeting held at Grinnell, Iowa, on April 29 and 30, 1910. This was entitled "Mammals of Iowa, A Preliminary Annotated Catalogue of Recent Mammals of Iowa." Separates followed on "Nest Boxes for the Woodpecker," "Food Habits of the Skunk," "Life History and Habits of Polistes Metricus, Say," "The Harvest Mouse of Iowa," and "Butterflies of Chance Occurrence in Cass County." These titles indicate the wide variety of interest of Frank C. Pellett and his ability to make himself fairly familiar with each of these fields which now employ specialists. It has well been said that Frank Pellett was of the "old school" of naturalists.