Annie Elisabeth Law (1842–12 January 1889)[1] was a British-American
conchologist, who discovered 11 species and one genus of
mollusks, but did not publish formal descriptions of them.[2] She was also a dispatch rider for the Confederate army during the American Civil War and was tried in Knoxville as a confederate informer.[3][4][5]
Personal life
Annie Law was born in 1842[6] in
Carlisle, England, the first of three children of John Law.[7] The family migrated to the United States in around 1850, settling in
Maryville, Blount County,
Tennessee.[7]
After her parents had died, Law spent time in
California, including four years in
Hollister, San Benito County. While residing in Hollister Law visited
Blount County and collected ethnological artefacts from a native American burial mound.[8] These she donated to the Smithsonian Institution.[8] She later resided at
Watsonville, Santa Cruz County, where she died on 12 January 1889.[7]
Conchology
Law collected specimens in the mountainous regions of
North Carolina and Tennessee.[2] She corresponded with
James Lewis, who published a paper describing her finds in the
Holston River,[9] and other papers formally describing the species she discovered. Species she discovered include the following, two of which were named in her honor:[7]
^Coan, Eugene V.; Kabat, Alan R.
2,400 Years of Malacology(PDF) (12th ed.). American Malacological Society. p. 595. Archived from
the original(PDF) on 9 December 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
^
abLaw, Annie (1874).
"ANTIQUITIES OF BLOUNT COUNTY, TENNESSEE". Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. 1874: 375 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
^
abcLewis, James (1 May 1875). "Descriptions of New Species of American Land and Freshwater Shells". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 27 (2): 334–337.
ISSN0097-3157.
JSTOR4624495.
^Lewis, James (1 April 1874). "Description of a New Species of Helix". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 26 (2): 118–119.
ISSN0097-3157.
JSTOR4624414.
^Lea, Isaac (1 April 1871). "Descriptions of Twenty New Species of Uniones of the United States". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 23 (2): 189–193.
ISSN0097-3157.
JSTOR4624172.
^Lewis, James (1875). "Descriptions of New Species of American Land and Freshwater Shells". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 27 (2): 334–337.
ISSN0097-3157.
JSTOR4624495.
Further reading
M. B. Williamson, 1894. Miss Annie Law, a Tennessee conchologist. The New Cycle (Federation of Women’s Clubs, New York) 7(8): 256-259