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Memoir
Abram Sager
Hinsdale and Demmon, History of the University of Michigan 222
Hinsdale and Demmon, History of the University of Michigan 222
Abram Sager was born at Bethlehem, Albany County New York December 22, 1810. His ancestors were Dutch. He was graduated from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1831, and from the Castleton Medical College, Vermont, in 1835.
In 1837 he was appointed chief in charge of the Botanical and Zoological Department of the Michigan State Geological Survey. He made a report in 1839, accompanied by a catalogue; the specimens catalogued being those, which laid the foundation of the present Zoological collection in the Museum of the University of Michigan.
He presented to the University his herbarium, containing twelve hundred species and twelve thousand specimens collected in the Eastern and Western States.
He was Professor of Botany and Zoology in the University of Michigan from 1842 to 1850; of Obstetrics, Diseases of Women and Children, Botany, and Zoology from 1850 to 1854; of Obstetrics, Physiology, Botany, and Zoology from 1854 to 1855; of Obstetrics and Physiology from 1855 to 1860; and of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children from 1860 to 1875.
Up to the time of his resignation in 1875 he had been for several years Dean of the Medical Faculty. In 1852 the Regents conferred upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts.
He was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, the American Medical Association, and other learned bodies. He was throughout his active life a frequent contributor to the medical journals of the country.
On December 12, 1838, he was married to Sarah E. Dwight, of Detroit; and eight children were born to them, two of whom survive: Cynthia A. and Susan A. (Mrs. Hardy), both of Ann Arbor. A granddaughter, Sarah Sager Hardy, was graduated Bachelor of Arts from the University in 1904.
He died at Ann Arbor, August 6, 1877.