Frederick Albion Ober

Frederick Albion Ober (1849-1913) was an American naturalist and writer.

Biography

Ober was born February 13, 1849 in Beverly, Massachusetts. From 1862 to 1866 he had an occupation as shoemaker. Subsequently he attended the Massachusetts Agricultural College but due to the lack of funds he was forced to leave the college after a short time. From 1867 to 1870 he worked as employee in a drugstore and again as shoemaker. From 1876 to 1878 he made ornithological surveys to the Lesser Antilles where he discovered 22 bird taxa new to science. Two of them - the Lesser Antillean Flycatcher and the Montserrat Oriole - were named in his honor by his colleague George Newbold Lawrence. During his writing career which lasted 30 years he wrote more than 40 books mostly travel books but also bird books and biographies about Amerigo Vespucci, Hernán Cortés, and Israel Putnam. He died May 31, 1913 in his home in Hackensack, New Jersey. Frederick A. Ober was among the founders of the Explorers Club in 1904.

Works (selected)

*1880: Camps in the Caribbees: The Adventures of a Naturalist in the Lesser Antilles
*1884: Mexican resources: a guide to and through Mexico
*1888: A Boy's Adventures in the West Indies
*1895: Josephine, empress of the French
*1897: Under the Cuban Flag: Or, The Cacique's Treasure
*1898: Crusoe's Island; a bird-hunter's story
*1900: The Storied West Indies
*1901: The last of the Arawaks : a story of adventure on the Island of San Domingo
*1903: The Navy Boys' Cruise with Columbus or The Adventures of Two Boys Who Sailed with the Great Admiral in His Discovery of America
*1904: Our West Indian neighbors : the islands of the Caribbean Sea, "America's Mediterranean": their picturesque features, fascinating history, and attractions for the traveller, nature-lover, settler and pleasure seeker
*1904: "Old Put" the patriot
*1905: Hernando Cortés, Conqueror of Mexico
*1906: Vasco Nuñez de Balboa
*1906: Pizarro and the conquest of Peru
*1906: Ferdinand De Soto and the invasion of Florida
*1907: Heroes of American History: Amerigo Vespucci
*1908: A Guide to the West Indies and Bermudas: With Maps and Many Illustrations
*1910: Mexico, Central America, and West Indies

References

*Frederick A. Ober dead. New York Times Obituary, June 1, 1913
* [http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3390 The Literary Encyclopedia]
* [http://www.bookrags.com/biography/frederick-albion-ober-dlb/ Frederick Albion Ober Biography]