Shattuck, Lemuel

Shattuck, Lemuel (1793–1859) statistician, public health reformer; born in Ashby, Mass. Initially a schoolteacher in New York and Michigan, where he organized the state's first Sunday School in Detroit, he returned to Massachusetts and in 1839 helped found the American Statistical Association. He was instrumental in ensuring accurate recording of births, marriages, and deaths in Massachusetts (1842). He revolutionized census-taking and assisted the federal government in its 1850 census. His Report (1850) from the Massachusetts sanitary commission is recognized as the inspiration for future developments in public health works and measures in the U.S.A.