William Douglas Burden

William Douglas Burden (September 24, 1898 – November 14, 1978),[1] was an American naturalist, filmmaker, and author who co-founded Marineland in Florida .

W. Douglas Burden
Born
William Douglas Burden

(1898-09-24)September 24, 1898
Troy, New York, US
DiedNovember 14, 1978(1978-11-14) (aged 80)
Charlotte, Vermont, US
Alma materHarvard University
Columbia University
Spouse(s)
Katherine Curtin White
​
​
(m. after 1924, divorced)​

Elizabeth Chace Gammack
​
​
(m. after 1940, divorced)​

Jeanne Wells Wight Booth
​
​
(m. after 1971, his death)​
Parent(s)James A. Burden Jr.
Florence Adele Sloane
RelativesArthur Scott Burden (uncle)
William D. Sloane (grandfather)
Emily Thorn Vanderbilt (grandmother)
Sage Sohier (granddaughter)
Doug Burden (grandson)

Early life

Burden was born on September 24, 1898, in Troy, New York, but grew up in Manhattan, where the family lived at 7 East 91st Street in a home designed by Warren & Wetmore.[2][3][4] He was the second son of James Abercrombie Burden Jr. (1871–1932)[5] and Florence Adele Sloane (1873–1960).[6] His older brother was James Abercrombie Burden III,[7] and his younger sister was Florence "Sheila" Burden (the wife of Blake Leigh Lawrence, a descendant of the Chanler, Winthrop, and Astor families).[8][9] After his father's death in 1932, his mother remarried in 1936 to Richard M. Tobin,[10] a banker who had been the American Minister to the Netherlands under President Calvin Coolidge.[11]

His father's family had organized and ran the Burden Iron Works in Troy, of which his father served as president from 1906 until his death.[12][13] His paternal grandparents were Mary Proudfit (née Irvin) Burden (daughter of Richard Irvin) and James Abercrombie Burden (son of Henry Burden).[14][15] His uncle, Arthur Scott Burden,[16] was the first husband of Cynthia Roche (the daughter of the 3rd Baron Fermoy and Frances Ellen Work, and a sister of the 4th Baron Fermoy, a grandfather of Diana, Princess of Wales).[17][18] His niece, Adele Burden Lawrence, married the prominent writer Louis Stanton Auchincloss.[19] His maternal grandparents were William D. Sloane, the head of W. & J. Sloane, and Emily Thorn Vanderbilt (a daughter of William Henry Vanderbilt and granddaughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt). His aunt was Emily Vanderbilt Sloane.[20]

Burden graduated with an A.B. degree from Harvard College in 1922, followed by a master's degree from Columbia University in 1926.[1] In 1922, John Singer Sargent did a charcoal portrait of Burden.[21][22]

Career
The Komodo dragon diorama in the Hall of Reptiles and Amphibians at the American Museum of Natural History.

Shortly after graduating from Harvard,[23] Burden went to the Far East on an expedition to bring back specimens for the American Museum of Natural History which led to the establishment of the Department of Animal Behavior in 1928.[24] He was elected to the Board of Trustees of the museum in 1926.[1]

He led expeditions to various tropical islands and the Arctic, but his most well known expedition was to the Island of Komodo in the Dutch East Indies in 1926. Along with his first wife Catherine and their party, he went looking for Varanus komodoensis, a direct descendant of the dinosaur which today is better known as the Komodo dragon. By using sapling traps baited with buffalo meat, Burden was the first "white man" to find and trap the giant lizards who weighed 350 pounds and were approximately 10 feet long.[1] They also collected 3,000 insect and amphibian specimens. Of the three they captured, two of the Komodo dragons were given to the Bronx Zoo, but died soon thereafter and were mounted in the new Hall of Reptiles and Amphibians at the museum.[1]

In 1930, he co-wrote and produced, with William Chanler as part of Burden-Chanler Productions, the silent film entitled The Silent Enemy starring Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance.[25]

Along with Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, Sherman Pratt, and Ilya Andreyevich Tolstoy (grandson of Leo Tolstoy), Burden founded and served as president of Marineland, one of Florida's first marine mammal parks in St. Augustine, Florida in 1938.[1] The park was conceived as an oceanarium that could be used to film marine life.

During World War II, he developed a shark repellent for the U.S. Navy.[1]

Published works

In 1927, he wrote a book about the expedition to Komodo Island entitled The Dragon Lizards of Komodo. Burden's chapter "The Komodo Dragon"—in his book Look to the Wilderness, published in 1956—describes the expedition, the habitat, and the behavior of the dragon.[26] In 1960, Burden wrote Book to the Wilderness.[27]

Personal life

Burden was married three times, with his first and second marriage ending in divorce.[28] His first marriage was to Katherine Curtin White (1902–1976),[29] a daughter of Ernest Ingersol White and Katharine Curtin (née Sage) White, in 1924.[30] Her uncle, Horace White, had been Governor of New York in 1910. Before their divorce, they lived at East 72nd Street in Manhattan and were the parents of:[1]

  • Katharine Sage "Wendy" Burden (b. 1927), who married Walter Denegre Sohier.[31][32] They divorced and she married the journalist Edward P. Morgan.[33]
  • William Douglas Burden Jr. (1931–2008),[34] who was one of America's top ski racers, competing internationally, until a near-fatal ski racing accident in Italy in 1954 ended his career.[35] His life partner was Marilyn Hodges Wilmerding.[36]
  • Andrew White Burden (b. 1935), who married Meta Craig Paumgarten, a daughter of Harald Paumgarten, in 1962.[37] His wife died in a tragic avalanche on the back of Ajax in 1972.[38]

After their divorce, Katherine married Dan Platt Caulkins (who had previously been married to a daughter of banker Seward Prosser) in 1939.[39] He married secondly to Elizabeth (née Chace) Gammack (1911–2013) in 1940. Elizabeth was a daughter of Malcolm Greene Chace and the former wife of Thomas Hubbard Gammack.[40] Before their divorce, they were the parents of one son, Christopher Burden.[1]

After their divorce, Elizabeth married Grenville Temple Emmet (a son of diplomat Grenville T. Emmet) in 1973.[41] His third, and final, marriage was in 1971 to Jeanne Wells (née Wight) Booth (1922–1995). Jeanne, the former wife of John Welles Booth, was a daughter of George Houghton Wight and Vida (née Johnson) Wight.

Burden died in Charlotte, Vermont on November 14, 1978.[1] He was buried at Grand View Cemetery in Chittenden County, Vermont. After his death, his widow remarried to Dunbar Bostwick in 1983. Bostwick was the widower of Burden's cousin, Electra Webb (a daughter of James Watson Webb, Sr. and Electra Havemeyer Webb).[42]

Descendants

Through his daughter Katharine,[33] he was a grandfather of the photographer and educator Katharine Sage Sohier (b. 1954).[43]

Through his son Andrew, he was a grandfather of Princeton University graduate William Douglas Burden III (b. 1965), who became a decorated Olympic rower.[44][45]

See also

References
  1. Campbell, Barbara (16 November 1978). "WILLIAM D. BURDEN, NATURALIST, IS DEAD". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  2. "Burden Furnishings Sold". New York Times. April 21, 1938. Retrieved 2015-08-04.
  3. "Burden Furnishings Sold. Auction Yields Total of $31,591. Old Tapestry Brings $5,000". New York Times. April 22, 1938. Retrieved 2015-08-04.
  4. Christopher Gray (July 10, 1994). "The Burden Mansion. The Soot's Coming Off, but a Blemish Will Remain". New York Times. Retrieved 2015-08-04.
  5. "James A. Burden Dead In Syosset". New York Times. June 2, 1932. Retrieved 2015-08-04. President of Iron Company Bearing the Family Name Victim of Embolism. Sequel To An Accident. Prominent In New York Society Prince of Wales Entertained at Woodside, His Estate
  6. Times, Special to The New York (11 January 1960). "MRS. R.M. TOBIN, A SOCIAL LEADER; Owner of Vast L.I. Estate Once Used by Prince of Wales Is Dead at 86". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  7. "James A. Burden Is Dead at 81. Roller-Bearing Concern Ex-Head". New York Times. May 8, 1979. Retrieved 2015-08-04. James A. Burden, a former president of the Orange Roller Bearing Company, died Saturday at his home in Locust Valley, L.I., after a long illness. He was 81 years old
  8. "MISS SHIELA BURDEN ENGAGED TO MARRY; Kin of Commodore Vanderbilt to Wed Blake L. Lawrence Late This Autumn". The New York Times. 10 October 1929. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  9. "SHIELA BURDEN WED TO B.L. LAWRENCE; Bride a Descendant of the Late Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt. 200 ATTEND THE RECEPTION Ceremony in Quaint Little St. John's Church at Cold Spring Harbor, L.I." The New York Times. 27 October 1929. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  10. "MRS. J. A. BURDEN WED TO RICHARD M. TOBIN; Civil Ceremony Held in Parism Religions One Today by Cardinal Verdier". The New York Times. 7 July 1936. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  11. "RICHARD M. TOBIN, FORMER DIPLOMAT; Ex-Minister to the Netherlands, President of Hibernia Bank in San Francisco, Dies at 85". The New York Times. 24 January 1952. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  12. "Burden Iron Works". www.albanyinstitute.org. Albany Institute of History and Art. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  13. "THE BURDEN IRON COMPANY.; PROCEEDINGS IN THE SUIT TO HAVE A RECEIVER APPOINTED". The New York Times. 1885. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  14. "JAMES A. BURDEN'S WILL.; Bequests Made to Widow, Sons, and Business Associates". The New York Times. 19 October 1906. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  15. Reynolds, Cuyler (1911). Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs: A Record of Achievements of the People of the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys in New York State, Included Within the Present Counties of Albany, Rensselaer, Washington, Saratoga, Montgomery, Fulton, Schenectady, Columbia and Greene. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  16. "A. S. Burden Dies in White Plains | Victim of Pneumonia, He Passes Away in Hospital After a Brief Illness. He was 42 Years Old. Twice Injured by Falls From His Horse. Husband of Cynthia Roche". The New York Times. 16 June 1921. Retrieved 28 August 2009.
  17. "MRS. GUY CARY, DIES; NEWPORT FIGURE, 82". The New York Times. 19 December 1966. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  18. "Deaths | CARY -- Cynthia Burke Roche". The New York Times. 20 December 1966. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  19. "ADELE LAWRENCE WED IN VERMONT; Bride of Louis Auchinoloss, a Virginia Law Alumnus, in Shelburne Church". The New York Times. September 8, 1957. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  20. "A Love Match. An American Heiress is Content to Dwell in Her Native Land With an American Male. A Wedding Which Has Cost an Expenditure of a Round Million. A Vanderbilt Gathering". The Wichita Beacon. 6 June 1895. p. 1. Retrieved August 4, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. Garner, Dwight (14 December 2010). "A Man Who Knew the People Who Mattered, and Wrote About Them". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  22. Ormond, Richard (2019). John Singer Sargent : portraits in charcoal. ISBN 9781911282488. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  23. Mitman, Gregg (1999). Reel Nature: America's Romance with Wildlife on Film. Harvard University Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-674-71571-4. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  24. "NEW LIZARD GROUP ON VIEW AT MUSEUM; Three Komodo Specimens With 'Million-Year' Lineage Shown in Native Environment. SHOT BY DOUGLAS BURDEN Engineer and Sir Alan Cobham Told of Seeing Them in Dutch Malaysia --Notables at the Opening". The New York Times. 2 February 1928. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  25. Morris, Oeter (1992). Embattled Shadows: A History of Canadian Cinema, 1895-1939. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. p. 264. ISBN 978-0-7735-6072-7. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  26. Burden, W. Douglas (1956). Look to the Wilderness. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. pp. 169–193.
  27. Douglas, William D. (27 November 1960). "The Wild; LOOK TO THE WILDERNESS. By W. Douglas Burden. Illustrated. 251 pp. Boston: Atlantic-Little, Brown. $6.50. Tangle of Woods, Crags and Streams". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  28. "WILLIAM D. BURDEN RENTS APARTMENT; Naturalist Engages the Last Vacant Space in House at 20 East 80th St". The New York Times. 2 November 1939. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  29. "Katharine Caulkins". The New York Times. 2 March 1976. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  30. "MISS WHITE WEDS WILLIAM D. BURDEN; Daughter of Ernest Ingersoll White Married by Bishop Coadjutor Oldham in Albany". The New York Times. 29 July 1924. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  31. "W. D. SOHIER FIANCE OF WENDY BURDEN; Columbia Law Student to Wed Descendant of Commodore Vanderbilt on Dec. 17". The New York Times. 1 October 1949. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  32. "Wendy Burden Becomes the Bride Of Walter D. Sohier, Former Officer". The New York Times. 18 December 1949. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  33. Lambert, Bruce (29 January 1993). "Edward P. Morgan, 82, Anchor And Reporter for TV and Radio". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  34. "Taking a run for Doug Burden". Aspen Times. February 12, 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  35. "Paid Notice: Deaths BURDEN, WILLIAM DOUGLAS, JR., DOUG". The New York Times. February 10, 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  36. Axelsson, George (1 March 1954). "WORLD SKI TITLE GOES TO ERIKSEN; Norwegian Scores in Slalom, Beating Obermueller by 5 Seconds in Sweden". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  37. Times, Special to The New York (15 April 1962). "Debutante of '57 Becomes Bride Of A.W. Burden; Meta Paumgarten Wed to Ex-Columbia Student in Whitermarsh, Pa". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  38. "Mrs. Andrew Burden". The New York Times. 11 December 1972. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  39. "MRS. BURDEN IS WED TO DAN P. CAULKINS; Justice Shientag Officiates-- Bridegroom Is a Banker". The New York Times. 30 December 1939. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  40. "MRS. E.C. GAMMACK BRIDE OF W.D. BURDEN; Daughter of Malcolm Chaces of This City Is Married Here". The New York Times. 27 January 1940. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  41. "Grenville T. Emmet Jr.; Lawyer, 80". The New York Times. 24 May 1989. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  42. "MISS WEBB BRIDE OF D. W. BOSTWICK; The Great-Granddaughter of Commodore Vanderbilt Wed at Garden City. SISTER IS MAID OF HONOR Mrs. R. V. McKim, Bridegroom's Sister, Matron of Honor Dean Sargent performs Ceremony". The New York Times. 29 June 1932. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  43. Dillon, Brian (October 27, 2019). "The Mysterious Relationship Between Pets and Their Owners". The New Yorker. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  44. Mullen, John (July 5, 1996). "After Retirement, U.S. Picks Up Burden". Washington Post. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  45. "Princeton's Olympic medalists: A brief history". Princeton Alumni Weekly. 21 January 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
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