When was john bartram born

His drawings and meticulous observations about people and plants made Travels an instant classic of naturalist literature. Ann was educated by her uncle William and inherited his skill for illustration and the family passion for plants. With her husband, Colonel Robert Carr , the international trade in seeds and plants continued.

During the Carr era, the garden was enlarged and, at its peak, featured ten greenhouses and a collection of over 1, native plant species and as many as 1, exotics. Financial difficulties led to the sale of the family garden by the Carrs in Andrew Eastwick , a wealthy railroad industrialist, preserved the historic garden as a private park on his estate. Upon his death, the expansion of the city and burgeoning industries threatened the garden. Despite these limitations, Bartram achieved a remarkable level of acclaim and respect in the wider world.

Four years later, he was elected to the Royal Academy of Science in Stockholm. Today, Bartram's writings are regarded as displaying a fascinating mode of perception that more than made up for his writing limitations. Bartram discovered the best way to write was to make the reader participate in his text. However, John Bartram's writing and fame were surpassed by that of his son William , whom he had from his marriage to Ann Mendenhall.

William's Travels proved superior to any of his father's works and was able to secure him a position as a far better writer and an equally respected naturalist. Unlike his father, however, William was highly appreciative of the Native Americans, becoming the first real student of Native Americans and accepted as one of their own. Photo Credit: Howard Pyle. Licensed under Public Domain. Cropped to 4x3, Filled background. Source: Wikimedia. Skip to main content. You are here Home.

Primary Vocation: Science. Abstract: John Bartram of Darby was America's first botanist. John Bartram died on September 22, London: J. White, Journal Entries and Letters Excerpts on rattlesnake teeth, salt-marsh mussels, wasps, dragonflies, and aurora borealis, in Philosophical Transactions.

Bartram, sometimes called the "father of American Botany", [5] was one of the first practicing Linnaean botanists in North America. His plant specimens were forwarded to Linnaeus, Dillenius and Gronovius , and he assisted Linnaeus' student Pehr Kalm during his extended collecting trip to North America in — Bartram was aided in his collecting efforts by colonists.

In Bartram's Diary of a Journey through the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida , a trip taken from July 1, , to April 10, , Bartram wrote of specimens he had collected.

In the colony of British East Florida he was helped by Dr. David Yeats, secretary of the colony. His 8-acre 32, m 2 botanic garden, Bartram's Garden in Kingsessing on the west bank of the Schuylkill , about 3 miles 5 km from the center of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is frequently cited as the first true botanic collection in North America.

He was one of the co-founders, with Benjamin Franklin , of the American Philosophical Society in Bartram was particularly instrumental in sending seeds from the New World to European gardeners: many North American trees and flowers were first introduced into cultivation in Europe by this route.

Beginning ca. Collinson, himself a lover of plants, was a fellow Quaker and a member of the Royal Society, with a familiar relationship with its president, Sir Hans Sloane. Collinson shared Bartram's new plants with friends and fellow gardeners. Earl Petre's untimely death in led to his American tree collection being auctioned off to Woburn, Goodwood and other large English country estates; thereafter Collinson became Bartram's chief London agent.

Bartram's Boxes, as they then became known, were regularly sent to Peter Collinson every fall for distribution in England to a wide list of clients, including the Duke of Argyll, James Gordon, James Lee and John Busch, progenitor of the exotic Loddiges nursery in London. The boxes generally contained or more varieties of seeds, and sometimes included dried plant specimens and natural history curiosities as well. Live plants were more difficult and expensive to send and were reserved for Collinson and a few special correspondents.

With this position, Bartram's seeds and plants also went to the royal collection at Kew Gardens. Bartram also contributed seeds to the Oxford and Edinburgh botanic gardens. Most of Bartram's many plant discoveries were named by botanists in Europe.