HYDE, JESSE EARL

HYDE, JESSE EARL (2 May 1884-3 July 1936) was a well-respected geologist who taught in the department of geology at Western Reserve University (1915-1936; see CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY) and also served as Curator of Geology (1922-36) at the CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. Hyde was born in Rushville, Ohio to Eber and Flora Belle Johnson Hyde. At an early age he accompanied his father, an amateur geologist and paleontologist, into the field. Later he studied geology at Ohio State and Columbia. In 1911 he married Edna McCleery and took a job teaching at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. He joined the geology department of WRU in 1915 as an associate professor and became department chairman in 1921. Hyde's primary expertise was in stratigraphy, glacial geology, and invertebrate paleontology. At the Cleveland Museum of Natural History his work included installation of the Museum's geological exhibits and supervision of the collecting of fossil fish from the Cleveland Shale. Hyde authored about 20 technical publications, including a monograph on the geology of the Camp Sherman Quadrangle, a region in southern Ohio. He also wrote non-technical articles on the collecting of fossil fish from the Cleveland Shale. Unfortunately, Hyde's perfectionism prevented him from completing what were intended to be two of his major works, a monograph on the Mississippian rock formations of central and southern Ohio, and a revision of the Cleveland Shale fishes. Hyde died at his home in CLEVELAND HEIGHTS and was bured in Lancaster, Ohio. He was survived by his wife and two sons, William and Eber. His monograph on the Mississippian was published posthumously in 1953.