James Wilmer Dallam

1818–1847 (age 29)

naturalist

Biography

James Wilmer Dallam devoted his short life to natural history along the Gulf Coast, exploring the shorelines of Matagorda and collecting birds, insects, and shells that so often escaped the attention of other early American scholars.

He kept careful notes and communicated with learned societies, presenting sketches of Texas communities and coastal ecosystems that remain among the earliest records of the region's living diversity.