John Bartram

1699-1777

American Naturalist, Botanist and Explorer

John Bartram is best known as a naturalist and as the first American botanist. His explorations resulted in the identification, collection, and propagation of much of the flora of the American colonies.

Bartram was born into a Quaker family and grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania. He received no formal education but taught himself, learning by observing the natural world closely and reading everything he could obtain on biological subjects. In 1728 he established, on his farm, the first botanical garden in America. It was here that he performed the experiments that resulted in the first successful hybridization of flowering plants in America. He and Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) became friends. He helped Franklin organize the American Philosophical Society and was one of its first members.

John Bartram traveled extensively in the wild areas away from the towns and settlements of the American colonies, exploring much of the region of the Allegheny, Blue Ridge, and Catskill mountains, the area around Lake Ontario, the forests and mountains as far west as the Ohio River, and portions of New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida. He made his exploratory trip in Florida in 1765-77 with his son, William (1739-1823), who became a noted botanist and naturalist in his own right. On these exploratory trips, he identified the native plants, collecting seeds and plants to add to his botanical garden in Pennsylvania. He and his son identified and cultivated more than 200 native American species. One species, Franklinia altamaha, that he discovered in Georgia and named after Benjamin Franklin, is now extinct in the wild; the only survivors are descendents of a specimen he brought back to Pennsylvania and planted in his botanical garden.

European botanists were anxious to receive descriptions and samples of the flora of the new world, most of which they had never seen before. Bartram corresponded with many of them and sent them specimens and seed. Among his European correspondents and friends was Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778), one of the best-known plant scientists of his day, who thought highly of his American colleague. Bartram's dissemination of information and specimens was improved in 1734 when his botanical expertise was recognized by Peter Collinson, a London merchant with numerous contacts. As a result of Collinson's encouragement, Bartram provided seed and specimens for the gardens of, among others, the Dukes of Richmond, Norfolk, Argyll, and Bedford. In 1765 King George III appointed him as the official royal botanist for the American colonies. He is credited with introduction of more than 100 new species into Europe.

In 1743 he served as a commissioner of the Crown and traveled to Canada to confer with the leaders of the American Indian League of Six Nations. On this trip he explored a section of Canada, identifying and collecting native plants of the region.

A true naturalist, he did not confine his interest to plants but became knowledgeable of the zoology and geology of the regions he explored as well. He carefully observed and collected samples and information on the shells, insects, birds, turtles, and snakes that he encountered in his travels. A moss genus, Bartramia, and the Bartramian sandpiper are named in his honor.

His interest in science and exposure to the European scientific thought of the day led him to become a deist (one who believes that God created the world but no longer has any direct interactions with it). As a result, the Quakers disowned him in 1757. He, however, never completely disengaged himself from them.

John Bartram has received well-deserved recognition as the father of American botany. His botanical garden remains in operation today and may be visited by the public.

J. WILLIAM MONCRIEF