The Keeper Of Nature Essay Research Paper

The Keeper Of Nature Essay, Research Paper

He.s not a king and he.s not a prince, he a human like you and I who went the distance to shift our perceptions of the world in a harmonious balance between man and nature. Henry David Thoreau was a young inquisitive boy who kept to himself and completed the task at hand. Henry was born into an upper lower class family who.s lives thrived on unity and sticking together. With inapirations held within, Henry David Thoreau.s compassionate trancendentalist style will forever reflect the man behind the writings.

Henry David Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817, in Concord, Massachusetts. Henry was the son of John and Cynthia Thoreau, and the third of four children. Henry was named after his paternal uncle, David Thoreau, who died just six weeks after Henry was born. However, Henry David Thoreau is not his legal name. Henry’s legal name is David Henry Thoreau. It wasn’t until after Thoreau had graduated from Harvard College that he unilaterally changed his name from David Henry to “Henry David Thoreau.” Henry had two sisters and a brother. Helen was the oldest sister, John Thoreau Jr. was Henry’s older brother and Sophia was Henry’s younger sister. The house Henry was born in belonged to his maternal grandmother and is located on the outskirts of Concord on Virginia Road.

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Henry Thoreau’s father John Thoreau was the son of Jean Thoreau and Jane Burns. John Thoreau was born on October 8, 1787 in Boston. John Thoreau turned 21 in 1808 and he mortgaged his share of his inheritance to his stepmother, Rebecca Kettell for $1000. John used this money to open a store in Concord. His residence was located immediately above the store. In Concord, John was active in the Concord Fire Society and served as its secretary for several years.

While in Concord he met Cynthia Billings. Cynthia was born May 28, 1787 in Keene, New Hampshire. John Thoreau and Cynthia Billings were married on May 11, 1812. Their first daughter, Helen, was born in October, just five months after the wedding. John and Cynthia seemed opposite with regards to their personality. John was described as “a quiet mousy sort of man” while Cynthia was noted for being outspoken and having a strong personality. Cynthia joined the Concord “Female Charitables Society” in 1825 and, for a time, served as vice-president. Some of Henry’s friends nicknamed the society the “chattibles.” The couple did share one very important interest which had a lasting effect on all of their children. The two enjoyed nature and were often out exploring the surrounding world on picnics and day trips.

Helen Thoreau was Henry’s oldest sister, the first of John and Cynthia’s four children. Helen was born October 22, 1812, just five months after her parents were married. Helen attended the Concord Academy and after her graduation, began teaching school in Taunton, Massachusetts. In 1838 she left her teaching position in Taunton because of an illness. Helen had a severe skin inflammation which forced her decision to leave her job. Helen and her sister, Sophia, later started a school in Roxbury,

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Massachusetts, but the school was only open a short time. Helen died on June 14, 1849. She had contracted a case of “consumption” otherwise known as tuberculosis and died at the age of 38.

John Thoreau, Jr. was born on July 5, 1815. John Jr. was outgoing and jovial, sometimes described as his father turned inside-out. John was often considered to be the more promising of the Thoreau boys; he was definitely more popular than Henry.

John had a great interest in birds and this interest spurned his younger brother’s, Henry, interest in ornithology. John kept a notebook about birds, from which Henry learned a great amount of information.

John and Henry shared many interests, including one woman, Ellen Seawall. Both brothers courted Ellen Seawall and both proposed to her. Both were also rejected because of their transcendental beliefs. John and Henry also re-opened the Concord Academy and were teachers. At the Concord Academy the students often favored John more than Henry. On January 1, 1842, what seemed a slight injury would lead to John’s death. John cut the end of his left hand ring finger with a razor. The cut was very slight and John bandaged it immediately, without washing the wound and it became severely infected. John contracted lockjaw and died on January 12, 1842 at two o’clock in the afternoon. He died in Henry’s arms at the age of 26. The next in order of birth was Henry. The third of the four siblings, Henry was born July 12, 1817.

His younger sister, Sophia, was born on June 24, 1819 in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. She attended Miss Phoebe Wheeler’s Dame School and later studied Latin at the Concord Academy. She attempted to paint, but was not very good. She also

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engaged in making sketches, and probably her most famous sketch is of Henry’s Walden Pond cabin which is found on the cover page of Walden; or Life in the Woods. She taught with her sister in Roxbury, Massachusetts for a short while. Later in life, when her father and Henry died, she took control of the family leadworks business which her father and brother had run and was responsible for its operations. Around the same time she was taking care of the family business Sophia began editing Henry’s unpublished manuscripts for publi