Wilson Flagg (1805–1884)

American naturalist, father of Isaac Flagg; born in Beverly, MA, on the 5th of November 1805; died in North Cambridge, MA, on the 6th of May 1884. For a time he wrote for the Boston Weekly Magazine and the Boston Post, on political subjects, and then turned his attention to the agricultural journals, especially Hovey’s Magazine of Horticulture. He also contributed at times to the Atlantic Monthly. From 1844 to 1848 he was employed in the Boston custom-house. In 1856 he settled in Cambridge, MA, and resided there until his death. He was the author of many valuable works on natural history, among which are Studies in the Field and Forest (1857); Birds and Seasons of New England (1875); and A Year with the Birds (1881). See also “Autumn Woods” and “The O’Lincoln Family.”