McGill Libraries
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Velie, J. W. (Jacob Wilbur), 1829-1908
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1829-1908
History
Dr. Jacob Wilbur Velie was born on February 9, 1829, in Amsterdam, New York.
He was a dentist and naturalist. He was raised and educated at Hammondsport, New York and graduated from the Geneva Medical College. He left Hammondsport and his medical practice in 1854 to move to Rock Island, Illinois, where he worked as a dentist for eleven years. He then moved to Bath, New York, and ran a drug store. He was interested in natural history as a boy, and after achieving financial independence, he gave up his profession to devote himself to natural history. In 1870, he moved to Chicago to teach at the Chicago Academy of Sciences. He also served as secretary, librarian, and curator of the Chicago Academy of Sciences from 1870 to 1893. He moved to St. Joseph, Michigan, in 1892.
In 1860, he married Adelia Noble (1832–1883). He died on October 21, 1908, in Saint Joseph, Michigan.