Dates

• Existence: 1877 - 1931

Biographical Note

John Eugene Law, son of John and Katherine E. Law, was born in Forest City, Iowa, on August 26, 1877. After graduating from high school in Perry, Iowa, Law attended the University of Wisconsin and Stanford University. Obtaining an A. B. in 1900, he held a series of bank positions in Pomona and Hollywood, California for the next several years before retiring from business in 1914. In 1919, he joined the California Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. Paid one dollar a year, Law served first as a curator in osteology and later as a curator in ptilology.

Though he conducted considerable research (particularly in California and the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona), published a number of papers and amassed a sizable collection of specimens, a great portion of Law's time was devoted to administrative duties for the Western Bird-banding Association and, to a greater extent, the Cooper Ornithological Club. He joined the COC in 1900 and would hold several key positions (Southern Division president, 1905, 1913-1915; vice-president, 1916-1917; secretary, 1906-1912; business manager, 1907-1925; president, board of governors, 1925).

Law married Laura Mauldin Beatty (1886-1975) in Los Angeles on January 20, 1915. Sharing an interest in ornithology, the couple often performed field work together, especially in bird-banding. John Eugene Law died on November 14, 1931.

Found in 2 Collections and/or Records: