Dr. Jesse Wedgewood Mighels was a physician whose passion was conchology, or the study of shells. He amassed a large collection of shells, many from Casco Bay.

Mighels was a founding member of the Portland Society of Natural History in 1843. Prior to moving from Portland to Ohio, Mighels sold his entire shell collection for $1,000 to the PSNH, consisting of more than 3000 mollusk species and nearly 10,000 specimens., Mighels wrote a telegram after hearing about the 1854 fire,
"My Dear Sir: Is it possible that my beautiful collection of shells is destroyed? Is it all ruined? Must I know I can see that collection no more? The work of nine years of delightful enthusiastic industry—is it all gone? . . . Your beautiful collections of shells, and birds, and minerals and fossils-alas, are they all lost?"