Unusual Cover With Washington Color Stamps Switched

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American surveyor and amateur phycologist. Frederick Gillan Floyd (1869-1941) was an active member and twice treasurer of the American Fern Society and developed an impressive personal collection of specimens. From South Boston, Massachusetts, he attended the English High School in Boston but was unable to go to college as he wished because of family finances. Working for his father, owner and editor of a small newspaper, Floyd disliked journalism and later trained as a surveyor. He began to work for the Massachusetts Highway Commission and in this role was tasked with building the first stone road across the island of Nantucket. Floyd spent the remainder of his working life in the employ of the Engineering Department of the City of Boston, serving them as head of street engineering in South Boston.

An early member of the New England Botanical Club, Floyd maintained a lifelong interest in botany. As a member of the American Fern Society he was among those responsible for creating the American Fern Journal, to which he contributed several papers. Interested in botanical literature he became quite an expert on the subject, developing an excellent library and also sometimes dealing in botanical books. Married to Edith Mackay, the pair moved to California on Floyd's retirement in 1929 and at this time he sold his herbarium, feeling unable to continue contributing to it. In his final years he devoted his time to philately and even published an account of postal marking and cancellations in the United States.