Gertrude Crotty Davenport facts for kids

Gertrude Crotty Davenport (1866–1946), was an American zoologist who worked as both a researcher and an instructor at established research centers such as the University of Kansas and the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory where she studied embryology, development, and heredity. The wife of Charles Benedict Davenport, a prominent eugenicist, she co-authored several works with her husband. Together, they were highly influential in the United States eugenics movement during the progressive era.

Life

Gertrude Anna Crotty was born 28 February 1866, in Asequa, Colorado (near Denver), to parents William and Millie (Armstrong) Crotty. She graduated from University of Kansas in 1889 where she stayed as an instructor for three years until she went to pursue a higher degree. She then became a graduate student at Radcliffe College (then known as the Society for Collegiate Instruction of Women). There are conflicting facts about her time at Radcliffe. According to Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie, she was there for two years but did not complete her degree. According to Nicole Hahn Rafter, she was there for five years doing graduate work in zoology and wrote her book The Primitive Streak and Notochordal Canal in Chelonia (1896). Tamsen Wolff said that she did earn her PhD in zoology. While attending Radcliffe, she met Charles Davenport, who was one of her zoology instructors. She married Charles in Burlington, Kansas on June 23, 1894 and went on to have three children. The eldest child was Millia Crotty Davenport, who was born on 30 March 1895. The middle child, Jane Joralemon Davenport, was born on 11 September 1897. The youngest, Charles Benedict Davenport Jr., was born on 8 January 1911. Gertrude played a major role in supporting the domestic, financial, and scientific life of Charles, co-authoring numerous papers with him, sharing management of the Cold Spring Harbor Biological Laboratory, and supervising his financial concerns and expenditures. Gertrude died on 8 March 1946, in Upper Nyack, New York at the age of 80.

Scientific work

Davenport worked alongside her husband in the field of eugenics to breed better humans. They claimed that this type of eugenics, called negative eugenics, was a necessity. Gertrude worried that poorly organized marriages could result in the expression of feeble-mindedness in children. Hoping to eliminate feeble-mindedness and avoid heterozygote humans, Gertrude advocated for "segregating the weak-minded and imbecile."

While in Cold Spring Harbor, they bought a house with 6 acres on the coast. This residency was used for the laboratory staff to rent out while they did research on the heredity of humans which included studying eye, hair, and skin color of humans.

Gertrude also did research on embryology using turtles, studied the differences between Sargatia (a type of sea anemone) and starfish as well the variations on other organisms.

Published work

Gertrude and Charles Davenport had a productive working relationship which yielded many scientific works through the years. They produced two textbooks, the first of which was written for secondary students titled Introduction to Zoology. The second textbook was titled Elements of Zoology: To Accompany the Field and Laboratory Study of Animals and was to be used as a guide for zoology studies and experimentation. Charles and Gertrude's studies on genetics included Heredity of Skin Pigmentation in Man, Heredity of Eye Color in Man, and Heredity of Hair-Form in Man. During the course of these studies and publications, the Davenports explored how human traits, specifically skin pigmentation, eye color, and hair characteristics, were passed on to the next generation with Mendelian genetics. Each study also included a "practical application" statement on how the marriage of two individuals with certain traits influences the passing of said traits.

Gertrude also individually authored the monographs The Primitive Streak and Notochordal Canal in Chelonia (1896) and Variation in the Number of Stripes on the Sea-anemone, Sagartia luciae (1902).