Bachman, John

Bachman, John

(1790–1874) clergyman, naturalist; born in Rhinebeck, N.Y. A naturalist and a spiritual thinker from his youth, he was ordained as a Lutheran minister (1814) and led a congregation in Charleston, S.C. (1815–65). He met John James Audubon in 1831; they coauthored The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America (1845–49) and two of Bachman's daughters married Audubon's sons. Unfortunately connected with the movement toward secession (1861), Bachman was forced to leave Charleston at the end of the Civil War, but he was known for his personal kindnesses to African-Americans.