John Bartram Association

"John Bartram (1699-1777) was the self-taught "Father of American Botany." Bartram's career as a botanist began with the creation of his garden in Kingsessing, Pennsylvania. While Bartram's botanical garden was probably not the first in America, it soon became the largest and most impressive. He traveled extensively throughout the eastern United States collecting plant specimens. His first expedition was through Maryland and Virginia, where he traveled up the James River and into the Blue Ridge Mountains. Other trips led Bartram through the Catskill Mountains and Oswego, New York, to Lake Ontario, and later to the Carolinas. Bartram's final trip, in 1765, took him to Florida, where he served as King George's royal botanist.

"Of John Bartram's nine children, William (1739-1823) is the best known. He attended the Philadelphia Academy for four years, beginning in 1752. Despite his father's desire that he learn a trade, William was fascinated by botany and pursued his love of nature throughout his life. He accompanied his father on the 1765 expedition in Florida and, in 1773, returned to further explore the state. William spent nearly four years in the southern United States and later published an account of his travels. Two of John Bartram's other children, Moses and Isaac Bartram, were Philadelphia merchants."

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