Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Hildreth, Samuel Prescott

HILDRETH, Samuel Prescott, physician, b. in Methuen, Mass., 30 Sept., 1783; d. in Marietta, Ohio, 24 July, 1863. He was descended from Richard Hildreth, of Cambridge, England. He labored on a farm, and after receiving an academic education studied medicine with Dr. Kittridge of Andover, and received his medical degree in 1805. He began to practise in New Hampshire, but removed to Ohio in 1806, and settled at Belpre. In 1808 he went to Marietta, where he practised with success, also serving in the legislature in 1810-'11. In 1837 he was a member of the geological survey. He presented his valuable scientific library and collections in natural history and conchology to Marietta college. For nearly forty years he contributed to “Silliman's Journal” on meteorology, geology, and paleontology. His publications are “History of the Diseases and Climate of Southeastern Ohio,” printed in 1837 by the Cleveland medical society, of which he was president; “Pioneer History” (Cincinnati, 1848); “Lives of the Early Settlers of Ohio” (1852); “Contributions to the Early History of the North-West” (1864); and “Results of Meteorological Observations made at Marietta in 1826-'59,” reduced and discussed by Charles A. Schott (in “Smithsonian Institution Contributions to Knowledge,” 1870).