William Henry Edwards

Who was William Henry Edwards?

William Henry Edwards was an important entomologist in the United States.

Edwards was born in Hunter, Greene County, New York. He is remembered for his trip to the Amazon in 1846, that he recorded in his book A Voyage Up the River Amazon, with a residency at Pará, that inspired Alfred Russel Wallace and Henry Walter Bates to make their famous trip to the region; Para is modern Belem. Edwards published the first major study of "The Butterflies of North America". He was an observer of the American Civil War and a correspondent of Darwin. He died at his home "Bellefleur" in Coalburg, West Virginia. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.