George William Featherstonhaugh (1780-1866)

He was born in London and grew up in North Yorkshire, England, where he collected fossils. In 1806, having failed in commerce, he travelled to America to study Native American languages. On marrying his first wife, Sarah Duane, he settled there and established the first New York Board of Agriculture and campaigned for a railroad to connect the Hudson River with the Mohawk River that was opened in 1831. He was appointed the first U.S. government geologist in 1834 and surveyed the land between the Missouri and Red Rivers, acquired in the recent Louisiana Purchase. He made a year long journey, taking in Baltimore, St Louis, Arkansas, Wisconsin and the Mississippi River before reporting his findings to the Topographical Bureau. In 1838 he returned to England and was appointed British Consul to France. He spent much of his later life writing accounts of his travels, which were published as "Excursion through the Slave States" (1844) and "A Canoe Voyage up the Minnay Sotar" (1847). He died in France and he was buried in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.