Lewis H. Morgan

Lewis Henry Morgan (1818 - 1881) was born in Aurora, New York and died in Rochester, New York. He is considered to be the "Father of American Anthropology," although his professional life was in the field of law. He graduated from Union College in 1840 and returned to Aurora to read law.

Morgan became interested in the Native Americans of his region and helped form a club to promote the interests to the local group, the Iroquois. With the help of his Seneca friend Ely S. Parker, he studied the culture of the Iroquois and produced the book, The League of the Iroquois. Other works include, Ancient Society, Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity, and House-life of the American Aborigines.

Like Herbert Spencer and Edward Burnett Tylor, Morgan was a proponent of social evolution. He proposed a unilinear scheme of evolution from savagery to civilization, which he believed societies progressed.

He was an adopted member of the Iroquois tribe with the name Tayadaowuhkuh, meaning bridging the gap (between the Iroquois and the whites).