Charles Macnamara
Who was Charles Macnamara?
Canadian historian, entomologist, photographer
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Charles Macnamara (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Charles Macnamara (1870 – December 23, 1944) was a Canadian amateur naturalist, entomologist, historian, and photographer from Quebec City, Quebec. He had a twin brother, Richard, known as Dickie, who passed away at age ten from typhoid fever. In 1880, when Macnamara was ten, his family moved to Arnprior, Ontario, where he would live for the rest of his life. At fourteen, in 1885, he left high school and joined his father at the McLachlin Brothers lumber firm, where he worked as a bookkeeper for over fifty years, putting in six days a week until 1936. Despite his demanding job, he managed to have a very productive life as a field naturalist and scientist.
Before Fame
Macnamara grew up in a time when amateur natural history was taken seriously in the scientific world, and self-taught naturalists could genuinely add to formal knowledge. With just a high school education, he furthered his learning through correspondence courses at Cornell University and earned a science degree. He also taught himself French and German, which allowed him to correspond with European booksellers and scientists and participate directly in international research. His intellectual life was mostly shaped by long-distance communication rather than connections with institutions, and living in a small Ontario town required him to be disciplined and self-motivated. In late 1909 and early 1910, he built a log cabin near Arnprior as a base for studying local woods and wildlife. Above the fireplace, he painted an Ojibway motto that translated to 'The dweller in the woods is always happy,' which summed up the philosophy that inspired his years of careful, methodical observation.
Key Achievements
- Discovered and described a new species of Pseudachorutes (Collembola) in August 1920
- Established the Nopiming Game Reserve near Arnprior in 1920 to protect local and migratory wildlife
- Completed a science degree through correspondence courses with Cornell University while working full-time
- Produced extensive documented observations on beavers, orchids, and soil insects, contributing articles to the Ottawa Field-Naturalist's Club and the Canadian Field-Naturalist
- Had the Macnamara Field Naturalists' Club, founded in 1984, named in his honor, recognizing his contributions to natural history in the Ottawa Valley region
Did You Know?
- 01.The Ojibway phrase Macnamara painted above his log cabin fireplace, 'No-piming en-dad jawen-imid,' later inspired the name of the Nopiming Game Reserve, which he established in 1920 near Arnprior.
- 02.Macnamara spent fourteen consecutive years observing and documenting the behavior of a single beaver colony near Marshall's Bay, producing one of the most detailed records of beaver activity compiled by an amateur naturalist in Canada.
- 03.Despite years of written correspondence with a German scientist, Macnamara declined to meet the man in person when he visited Montreal, illustrating the increasingly reclusive nature of his later life.
- 04.In August 1920, Macnamara discovered and formally described a new species of Pseudachorutes, a genus of springtails belonging to the order Collembola, a contribution recognized in the formal scientific literature.
- 05.Macnamara worked as a bookkeeper for the McLachlin Brothers lumbering firm for over fifty years, from 1885 to 1936, conducting virtually all of his scientific work outside of a six-day working week.