In appreciation—George Howard Hamor, 1887–1962

Abstract

George Howard Hamor , a fr iend and host of near ly every scientist who has visited the Dominican Republic in the last four decades and a member of the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, died in Homestead, Florida on May 9, 1962. All those who shared his hospitali ty will recall, as I do, their initial impression of this tac i turn "down east" citizen of Maine who resided in Barahona. They will recall how they gradual ly became aware of his real interest in aiding what they wanted to accomplish and of his rap id ly acquired knowledge of their field of interest. Perhaps they too shared a correspondem.e for many years thereaf ter with this man who went out of his way to acquire the specimens they needed or who continued to send specimens and observations relative to their work af ter they had re turned to their laboratories. George Hamor was born in Hull 's Cove, Maine, August 13, 1887, as he ofteu said, "of Yankee stock, with a hoe in one hand and a clam rake in the other." His forefathers were ship builders, fishermen, and coastal farmers in a rugged country. Af ter graduat ion f rom the Bar Harbor High School he entered the Univers i ty of Maine, where he studied for but two years. A family a rgument ended his formal education; he wanted to s tudy engineerino' and his fa ther wanted for him a career in medicine. In 1907 he went to Puer to Rico, firs~ as an employee of the Depar tment of Educat ion and later to serve for six years as super intendent of schools in San German and Sabana Grande. He preferred, however, a contact with agricul ture and became a salesman for an import ing company operatino' in Puer to Rico and Santo Domingo. In this capaci ty he became acquainted with agricul turis ts and foresters of the area and in 1920 joined the staff of the Barahona Sugar Co. At first his work as field superintendent took him into the Enriquil lo Basin where lands below sea level, consistinto. of salt-rich soils, were being leeched by irrio'ation to grow sugar cane. He learned to know the area and its plant.~ and animals, and his talents in engineering, chemistry, and ao'riculture served him well. All too soon, and I often suspected to his secret regret, he was promoted to an administrat ive post to spend most of his time in an office. Yet it was in this capacity that he was able to help so many visit ing scientists and to enjoy in stolen hours, openly or surrepti t iously, the life of a naturalist . I met George Hamor first in 1946. My wife and I were in the Dominican Republic to collect plants in areas known to an earlier botanist. A geoloo'ist told us the man to see, the man who knew the area and its plants best, was George H a m o r in Barahona, and we called on him in his office. He invited us home for lunch, but on the way he stopped to inspect our make-shift campino' accommodations in an empty mining shack. Our protests were in vain as his driver was instructed to load our presses and bedrolls, and we were soon in the guest room at the t Iamors ' for the first of many pleasant days. The storage room of that house was to hold many plant specimens on subsequent t r ips ; the back ya rd was to serve as a dry ing area of cardboards and blotters; the gardens soon grew plants from material he salvaged from our surplus botanical collections. More than a few sterile plants, gathered in a remote locat ion flowered for the first t ime at the Hamors ' and were carefully saved as botanical specimens. The office in his home was an amazing' collection of boxes and bottles of