John Bartram Born: 23-Mar-1699
Birthplace: Darby, PA
Died: 22-Sep-1777
Location of death: Philadelphia, PA
Cause of death: unspecified
Remains: Buried, Darby Friends Cemetery, Darby, PA
Gender: Male
Religion: Quaker
Occupation: Botanist
Colonial American botanist John Bartram was raised in a successful farming family, & developed a strong interest in agriculture as a child. In his adolescence he purchased books to learn about plants, & in his late 20s he purchased 107 acres near Philadelphia, where he built a stone house & established a botanical garden still tended & toured today. His expeditions collecting & cataloguing plant life in the Blue Ridge Mountains (1738), the Lake Ontario region (1751), the Catskills (1755), & the Carolinas (1760) brought him some contemporary respect, & in 1765 he was named Botanist to King George III.
He was a key supplier of seeds from the New World to Europe, a trade facilitated through decades of mailed packages & correspondence with English merchant Peter Collinson (1694-1768). His work as seed supplier led numerous members of European royalty to support Bartram with "subscriptions" -- financial support in exchange for seeds, bulbs, & cuttings. Among the plant species popularized through this work were Kalmias, Rhododendrons, & Magnolias. He was the 1st American to hybridize plants, & visitors to his home included George Washington & Thomas Jefferson. He was described by Carolus Linnaeus as "the greatest natural botanist in the world," while noted naturalist Cadwallader Colden was of a contrary opinion, & saw Bartram as merely a collector, not a true scientist, because Bartram eschewed systematic cataloguing of botanical information.
As a young man he owned several slaves, but he later had a radical change of heart, freeing his slaves & becoming an outspoken abolitionist. In 1758, Bartram was formally expelled from his Quaker congregation; after he refused to claim the divinity of Jesus Christ, but despite the church action Bartram continued attending Quaker services. His son, William Bartram, became a noted naturalist in his own right, & together the two Bartrams discovered the Franklinia flower, named for their friend Benjamin Franklin. The elder Bartram was a founding member of Franklin's American Philosophical Society.
Father: William Bartram (d. 22-Sep-1711 Indian attack)
Mother: Eliza Hunt Bartram (m. 24-Mar-1696, d. 21-Aug-1701 childbirth)
Brother: James Bartram (b. 6-Aug-1701)
Stepmother: Elizabeth Smith Bartram (stepmother, m. William Bartram 1707)
Half Sister: Elizabeth Bartram (stepsister, b. 30-Dec-1709)
Half Brother: William Bartram (stepbrother, b. 3-Apr-1711)
Stepfather: John Smith (stepfather, m. Elizabeth Smith Bartram 15-Sep-1715)
1st Wife: Mary Maris (or Morris) Bartram (b. 1703, m. 1723, d. Apr-1727, two sons)
Son: Richard Bartram (b. 24-May-1724, d. 19-Nov-1727)
Son: Isaac Bartram (chemist, b. 17-Sep-1725, d. Jun-1801)
2nd Wife: Ann Mendenhall Bartram (b. 22-Sep-1703, m. 11-Oct-1727, d. 29-Jan-1789, 5 sons, 4 daughters)
Son: James Bartram (farmer, b. 25-Jun-1730, d. 6-Jan-1824)
Son: Moses Bartram (b. 16-Jun-1732)
Daughter: Elizabeth Bartram (b. 27-Aug-1834, d. circa 1735)
Daughter: Mary Bartram Bonsall (b. 21-Sep-1736)
Son: William Bartram (naturalist, twin, b. 9-Feb-1739, d. 22-Jul-1823)
Daughter: Elizabeth Bartram Wright (twin, b. 9-Feb-1739)
Daughter: Ann Bartramborn Bartram (b. 24-Jun-1742)
Son: John Bartram, Jr. (naturalist, b. 24-Aug-1743)
Son: Benjamin Bartram (b. 6-Jul-1748)
"Royal Botanist" to King George III (1765-76)
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Foreign Member (1769)
American Philosophical Society Founding member (1743)
Collected seeds and plant specimens, establishing a transAtlantic hub of plant exploration through his exchanges with London merchant Peter Collinson
Gathered the most varied collection of North American plants in the world
Writings:
Diary of a Journey through the Carolinas, Georgia & Florida (1742)
Observations on the Inhabitants, Climate, Soil, Rivers, Productions, Animals, & Other Matters Worthy of Notice ... from Pensilvania [sic] to Onondago, Oswego & the Lake Ontario, in Canada... (1751)
Description of East Florida, with a Journal (1769)
