Rev. Wesley Johnson (dates unknown)

Reverend Wesley Johnson is a mysterious figure in the Academy’s history. It isn’t even clear whether his first name was Wesley or Westley. Most of what we know of him is from the 1844 Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, number 2. It states that the late Dr. Westley Johnson of Liberia gave 7 bird skins and eighty species of African plants. Other records state that the Rev. Wesley Johnson gave these specimens. A file in the Academy’s archives records that Dr. Westley Johnson became a member in 1841. In any case, two of those 7 skins turned out to be precious type specimens of the West African birds, the Yellow-spotted Nicator and the Crimson Seedcracker. Perhaps at some future date, more about Rev. Johnson will be revealed.