Lemuel Shattuck

Lemuel Shattuck
Born	15 October 1793
Died	17 January 1859  (aged 65)
Occupation	Statistician
Parent(s)	John Shattuck

Lemuel Shattuck (15 October 1793, in Ashby, Massachusetts – 17 January 1859, in Boston, Massachusetts) was an American educator, politician, historian, bookseller, and publisher.

Biography

Shattuck taught at Troy and Albany, and from 1818 to 1821, he was at the frontier outpost of Detroit, where he taught at a Lancasterian school affiliated with the Catholepistemiad, which later became known as the University of Michigan.

Shattuck became a merchant as a bookseller and publisher in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1823 and was elected as a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1831. He was a member of the Boston City Council and served for several years as a representative in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. In 1844, he co-founded the New England Historic Genealogical Society, serving as its vice president for five years. He was also a member of various similar societies.

At the age of 46, Shattuck retired from business to devote himself to his other interests. His research for his 1835 book on Concord history pointed up to him the neglect of vital records. This was one of his motivations for joining others to found the American Statistical Association in 1839. He also promoted legislation that required a better system for the registration of vital information. This law was passed in 1842. His work on a Boston census in 1845 resulted in him being summoned as a consultant for the 1850 United States census. His Report on the Sanitary Condition of Massachusetts in 1850 on a sanitary survey of Massachusetts was later praised as amazingly farsighted. His role in designing and implementing the Boston Census of 1845 took him to Washington to help design federal models based on the same. His Report of the Sanitary Commission of Massachusetts in 1850 has been described as a prophetic document in its anticipation of public health developments.

In 1825, he married Clarissa Baxter, and he was survived by three children.

Recognition

Lemuel Shattuck's name as it appears on the Frieze of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Lemuel Shattuck is remembered at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine where his name appears on the school's frieze. The names of 23 pioneers of public health and tropical medicine were chosen to be honored when the School was built in 1929.

Lemuel Shattuck Hospital in Boston is named after him.

Shattuck Street in Boston, the street on which Harvard Medical School sits, is also named after Lemuel Shattuck.

Works

• History of Concord, Mass. (Boston, 1835)
• Vital Statistics of Boston (1841)
• The Census of Boston (1845)
• Report on the Sanitary Condition of Massachusetts (1850)
• Memorials of the Descendants of William Shattuck (1855)

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). "Shattuck, Lemuel" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.