He graduated from Oberlin College in 1850 and from the Albany Medical College in 1853, where he attracted the notice of Professor James Hall, state geologist of New York, through whose influence he was induced to join in an exploration of Nebraska Territory, with Fielding B. Meek to study geology and collect fossils.
In 1870, American geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden found the first fossils of Saniwa near the town of Granger, Wyoming, and gave them to paleontologist Joseph Leidy.
Ferdinand Marcos | Ferdinand Magellan | Franz Ferdinand | Ferdinand II of Aragon | Franz Ferdinand (band) | Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria | Ferdinand von Mueller | Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor | Ferdinand I | Ferdinand | Louis-Ferdinand Céline | Ferdinand Foch | Hayden Panettiere | Rio Ferdinand | Ferdinand VII of Spain | Ferdinand de Lesseps | Ferdinand Porsche | Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor | Ferdinand II | Ferdinand Hodler | Hayden Planetarium | Ferdinand I of Naples | Ferdinand III | Tom Hayden | Nicky Hayden | Hayden Christensen | Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden | Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies | Ferdinand I of Bulgaria | Ferdinand I of Aragon |
The peak was first ascended by Ferdinand V. Hayden and Captain John W. Barlow in 1871, Bunsen Peak was not named until 1872 during the second Hayden Geologic Survey.
Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden's survey expedition of the Yellowstone area named the peak for Mary Blackmore, wife of William Blackmore, an English land speculator and philanthropist who accompanied the Hayden Survey.
The peak was named by Henry Gannett of the Hayden Geological Survey of 1878 for George B. Chittenden.
On December 18, 1871, at the urging of Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden and after learning of the findings of the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871, Pomeroy introduced the Act of Dedication bill into the Senate that ultimately led to the creation of Yellowstone National Park.