Hall, James

Hall, James, 1811–98, American geologist and paleontologist, b. Hingham, Mass., grad. Rensselaer School (later Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), 1832. An authority on stratigraphy and invertebrate paleontology, he joined the New York state geological survey in 1836 and in 1839 became state geologist for New York. He wrote Paleontology of New York (8 vol. in 13, 1847–94), a monumental report on the paleontology of the state; his work formed the basis for the later geological histories of North America. He also served briefly as state geologist for Iowa and Wisconsin and was director (1866–94) of the New York State Museum at Albany.

Bibliography

See studies by R. C. Randall (1964) and J. M. Clarke (1921, repr. 1973).

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Hall, James

(born Sept. 12, 1811, Hingham, Mass., U.S.—died Aug. 7, 1898, Bethlehem, N.H.) U.S. geologist and paleontologist. He made extensive explorations in the St. Lawrence valley while teaching at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1832–36). In 1836 he was appointed state geologist for the Geological Survey of New York; his studies culminated in the massive Geology of New York (part 4, 1843), a classic in U.S. geology that introduced the geosynclinal theory of mountain building. He was state geologist of Iowa (1855–58) and of Wisconsin (1857–60). He served as director of New York State's Museum of Natural History (1871–98). His major later work was the huge Paleontology of New York (13 vol., 1847–94).

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Hall, James (1793–1868) lawyer, author; born in Philadelphia. He saw combat in the War of 1812, then quit the army in 1818 after a dispute with his commanding officer. Settling in Shawneetown, Ill., he practiced law, was elected state treasurer (1828), and edited the Illinois Monthly Magazine (1830), an early midwestern literary journal. He moved to Cincinnati in 1832, and, while working as a banker there, he wrote a series of books on the early frontier, including The Romance of Western History (1857). He also collaborated with Thomas L. McKenney in writing History of the Indian Tribes of North America (1836–44; 1884).