c It is not known when Williams emigrated to South Carolina, but she was corresponding with members of the Royal Society in London in 1701. They encouraged her interest in natural history and one of them (James Petiver) declared that Williams was the “discoverer” of unique butterflies and gave her credit in scientific publications. He also named some butterfly species for her: Williams’s orange girdled butterfly (also called the viceroy), Williams’s yellow tipt Carolina butterfly (popularly called dog’s head), and Williams’s selvedge-eyed Carolina butterfly (known as creole pearly eye). Among the other specimens she sent to London were vipers, small snakes, scorpions, lizards, and an Indian Queen’s petticoat made of moss. Hannah English Williams was the first female in the British colonies to gather plant and animal specimens for scientific collections.
"W" is for Williams, Hanna English (d. 1722)
