# Matthew Fontaine Maury



## VirginiaHuguenot (Jan 14, 2005)

Matthew Fontaine Maury is a notable ancestor of mine (I am a member of the Fontaine-Maury Society). He was born on January 14, 1806 near Fredericksburg, Virginia and died on February 1, 1873 in Lexington, Virginia. He is currently buried in Richmond, Virginia. He lived a remarkable life. 

He was the first Superintindent of the US Naval Observatory in Washington, DC (now the home of the Vice-President too). 

He was the father of modern oceanography and is known as the "Pathfinder of the Seas" because he applied Psalm 8.8 ("the paths of the seas") to the discovery of ocean currents and was the first to map them. 

After the South seceded from the Union, he became Commander of the Confederate Navy. 

Following the war, after an ill-advised attempt to settle a colony of Virginians in Mexico, he became professor of meterology at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. 

He was a devout Christian of French Huguenot ancestory.

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG97/monument/maurybio.html

http://www.historypoint.org/columns2.asp?column_id=498&amp;column_type=hpfeature

http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v11/i3/maury.asp


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## Ivan (Jan 14, 2005)

> _Originally posted by VirginiaHuguenot_
> Matthew Fontaine Maury is a notable ancestor of mine (I am a member of the Fontaine-Maury Society). He was born on January 14, 1806 near Fredericksburg, Virginia and died on February 1, 1873 in Lexington, Virginia. He is currently buried in Richmond, Virginia. He lived a remarkable life.
> 
> He was the first Superintindent of the US Naval Observatory in Washington, DC (now the home of the Vice-President too).
> ...



What a rich heritage!!


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Jan 14, 2006)

Today (January 14) is Matthew Fontaine Maury's bicentennial birthday.

[Edited on 1-14-2006 by VirginiaHuguenot]


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Jan 5, 2007)

Diana Fontaine Maury Corbin, _A Life of Matthew Fontaine Maury_ (1888)


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Jan 12, 2007)

Matthew Fontaine Maury monument in Richmond, VA:


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Jan 31, 2007)

Matthew Fontaine Maury died on February 1, 1873.


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