Mrs L.M. Moorehead wrote this short memoir of the life of her uncle James Pollard Espy. Mr Espy was born in Cumberland County in Pennsylvania in 1785. He trained as a lawyer and taught school for a time, but was best known for his work as a meteorologist. He worked at this for the U.S. War Department and the U.S. Navy. He continued this work at the Smithsonian Institute.Mr Espy developed a theory about the science of cloud formation and how storms were born. He began the use of the telegraph to collect weather data. His book "The Philosophy of Storms " was published in 1841.