Charles Torrey Simpson was a naturalist, responsible for many classifications and discoveries in both flora and fauna, and author of many scientific articles. Simpson was born near Tiskilwa, Illinois on June 3, 1946. At seventeen, he enlisted as a private in company F of the 57th Ill. infantry for the Civil War. In 1870 he enlisted in the US navy and served three years on the "Shenandoah" on the European station, where he made collections of natural history material. In 1882 he moved to Bradenton, Fla., where he conducted a building and contracting business and studied botany. In 1889 he went to the Smithsonian institution, department of mollusks, and remained on the institution's staff until 1902. In 1903 he established his home on Biscayne Bay, near Miami, Fla., and devoted his studies to the flora and fauna of south Florida. He had a collection of 20,000 species of shells, of which he personally collected 4,000. Simpson introduced a number of foreign plants into this country and aided in developing other species indigenous to Florida and the tropics. From 1914 on he was a collaborator with the U.S. department of agriculture. In 1923 he was awarded the Meyer medal for plant introduction by the American Genetic Association and in 1927 Miami University conferred on him the honorary degree of Sc.D. Simpson died at Miami, Fla., December 17, 1932.
Calvin Shedd was born in Tewksbury, Massachusetts in 1826. A devoted husband and father, Shedd enlisted in the New Hampshire Volunteers, Seventh Regiment in 1861, at the age of thirty-five, and served with conviction and dedication for two years. Shedd mustered into service as a private with Company C, on November 6, 1861. He was appointed sergeant on November 15, 1861, and achieved the rank of first sergeant on July 4, 1862. Shedd was promoted to second lieutenant, Company A, on July 23, 1862, and discharged with a disability on December 31, 1863. Shedd returned to New England and then traveled to Illinois and Indiana to support his family in the years after the Civil War. He eventually returned to New England and died in Tewksbury, Massachusetts on June 11, 1891 at the age of sixty-five. Much of Shedd's life remains a mystery.
Abner T. Allen (1813-1901) moved from South Warren, Massachusetts to Chagrin Falls, Ohio in November 1838 with his brother Amasa I. Allen (1818?-1906). This was at the time that the railway opened between Worcester, Massachusetts and Springfield, Ohio. In New England, the Allens left behind his parents, Pardon and Ruth Allen, and siblings.
Abner T. Allen married Eunice Shepard (1814-1886) in September 1839. Amasa I. Allen wed Wealthy Holmes (1822?-1893) in 1851. They are considered pioneers of Chagrin Falls.
