Individual Details

William Parker Foulke

( - 1868)

an eminent man; he studied law, and for a while practised his profession, and later abandoned it in order to devote himself to philanthropic and scientific work. The late Fred. A. Packard speaks of Mr. Foulke as a member of the Pennsylvania Society for Alleviating the Miseries in Public Prisons, and of the years of work devoted to its interests.

Events

EventOct 1858
Event1860
Death1868

Families

Notes

Event

He was an interested member of the Academy of Natural Sciences, and one of the prominent objects in its cabinets is the skeleton of an immense lizard of an extinct type, which was presented by him in October, 1858. This fossil was found in the marl beds near Haddonfield, New Jersey, and was classified by Dr. Joseph Leidy and named Hydrosaurus Foulkii. He was also a valued member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and the American Philosophical Society.

Event

He was also active in the promotion of the Arctic expedition of 1860 under Dr. Isaac I. Hayes who gave the name Port Foulke to the winter harbor of the explorers in North Greenland.