page_title: Alexander Wilson (ornithologist)
section_title: From teaching to ornithology
hierarchical_section_title: Alexander Wilson (ornithologist) / Biography / From teaching to ornithology
caption_attribution_description: English: Painting of Milestown School (previously called Armitage School) in East Oak Lane, Philadelphia. Unknown date between 1818 (construction of octagonal building) and 1875 (replacement by new building).
context_page_description: Alexander Wilson was a Scottish-American poet, ornithologist, naturalist, and illustrator. Identified by George Ord as the "Father of American Ornithology", Wilson is regarded as the greatest American ornithologist prior to Audubon.
context_section_description: With a nephew, Wilson left Scotland in May 1794 at the age of 27 and settled in Pennsylvania. Opportunities were scarce for weavers in the Philadelphia area, and Wilson turned to teaching.
  Wilson taught at the Milestown School in Bristol Township, the present-day East Oak Lane neighborhood of Philadelphia, for five years from 1796 to 1801. He then moved on to teach briefly in New Jersey.
  Eventually, Wilson settled into a position at Gray's Ferry, Pennsylvania, and took up residence in nearby Kingsessing. There, he met the famous naturalist William Bartram, who encouraged Wilson's interest in ornithology and painting.
  Resolved to publish a collection of illustrations of all the birds of North America, Wilson traveled widely, collecting and painting. He also secured subscribers to fund his work, the nine-volume American Ornithology (1808–1814). Of the 268 species of birds illustrated in its pages, 26 had not previously been described. His illustrations of birds in poses were an inspiration for James Audubon and other illustrators and naturalists.
caption: Milestown School in the 19th century
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