Harry Yandell Benedict was an academic administrator, astronomer, mathematician and evidently a bird enthusiast as there are eggs collected by him in Pember’s and Williams’ collections. Though his obituaries mention nothing about ornithology.
Harry was born in Louisville, Kentucky on November 14, 1869, to Joseph Benedict (1839-1895) and Adele Peters (1845-1894). Adele, Harry and his brother, Carl, moved to Texas in 1877 to land acquired by her grandfather sometime between 1836 and 1846. Her father joined them on the journey.
Harry attended school eight months of the year and his mother, who was well-educated, taught him at home. His parents divorced in 1883.
He entered the University of Texas at age 19 for civil engineering and met another bird enthusiast, Charles D. Oldright (1872-1896).
In the 1891 Ornithologist & Oologist journal (vol.16, no.2), Harry and Charles announced the preparation of a catalog of Texas birds. Information gathered from ornithologists, the catalog would include a list of the birds, their distribution, and a bibliography of Texas ornithology. It was set to be published in 1892, but it never happened. In 1893, Charles left for a 2-year study in Germany and Harry for a job at the University of Virginia after graduating. Charles returned to Texas in 1895 to work in the biology department of the University and unexpectedly died of diphtheria in January 1896.
Harry received his M.A. in 1893 and a Ph.D. from Harvard in mathematical astronomy in 1898. He returned to Texas in 1899 as an instructor in mathematics at the University. He married Ada Stone in 1900, and they had two sons.
In later years he served as Dean of the College Arts & Sciences and then became the 10th president of the University of Texas (1927-1937). Harry Benedict died suddenly on May 10, 1937.
Ultimately, the catalog of Texas birds was published in 1974 by Harry Oberholser as “The Bird Life of Texas” who had been encouraged by Benedict. He also encouraged George F. Simmons who took Oldright’s list of birds and published “Birds of the Austin Region” in 1925.
Harry’s brother Carl Peters Benedict (1874-1947) was a rancher and collected eggs in his youth (age 15/16). He wrote a book “A Tenderfoot Kid on Gyp Water” published in 1943.
We couldn’t find any ornithological information relating to Carl, but Pember has two sets of eggs (1889) and Williams has two sets (1889 & 1890).
Sources: FindaGrave.com, Ancestry.com, Biodiversitylibrary.org, Internet Archives, Texas Ornithological Society
